Comments on: D.A.R.E. to Stop Wasting Time and Money

By: chad

chad — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:41:39 +0000

And that “police as the enemy” view is largely fueled by the war on drugs, of which DARE is an aspect. Of course it’s also fueled by a bunch of them being dicks, but that’s not as easily correctable.

Thinking back to 5th grade, I resent the time I spent on DARE and the stupid XXL tshirt that STILL doesn’t fit me even after I grew a couple more feet. I don’t remember anything I was taught but I’m sure a lot of it was lies. Invading school to teach falsehoods makes me hate the police a bit.

By: Caitlin

Caitlin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 06:24:40 +0000

Jon,
If you re-read my comment, I was not talking about my own community, I was talking about study results that said the D.A.R.E. program improved the relationship between the police and community. You may have that “respect” relationship, but there are plenty of communities that see the police as the enemy. In some of the studies, D.A.R.E. seemed to ameliorate that view somewhat.

By: jon

jon — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:10:45 +0000

Caitlin – don’t know what community you live in, but I have about the right amount of rapport with my law enforcement officials as I want. We don’t fear them; we respect them. But we also don’t need to be “buddies” with them. I’ve never understood that. I mean, we tell parents, “Don’t be their FRIENDS; be their PARENTS!”

Wouldn’t the same dictum hold for the cops? “Don’t be their FRIENDS; be their PROTECTORS and AUTHORITY FIGURES!”

By: Christine Harbin

Christine Harbin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:55:41 +0000

I learned a lot of great songs in D.A.R.E. Unfortunately, I forgot all of the dances!

My mind is my own!
I’ll reap what I’ve sown!
I know I can be drug free!
Yeah, yeah!

By: Sarah Brodsky

Sarah Brodsky — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:54:34 +0000

D.A.R.E. now does dance lessons, which sound a lot more fun than the workbooks I had in fifth grade:
http://www.dare.com/home/dance/dance.asp

By: Caitlin Hartsell

Caitlin Hartsell — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:31:45 +0000

And to be fair, some of the studies showed that DARE created a much-needed rapport between the police officers and the community, so there is some value in that. (Does it necessitate 10 weeks and $1 million? Probably not.) I haven’t seen any studies on the reincarnation of DARE, but I’ll keep an eye out for some.

By: Jake Voss

Jake Voss — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:34:20 +0000

The WashMo’s guy name was Officer Ed, not Officer Dan. My bad, and thanks to Pat Eckelkamp for pointing out my mistake. Officer Ed did a good job of keeping the two of us drug free back in fifth grade at Our Lady of Lourdes, of course, out strict Catholic upbringing might have contributed as well. I don’t have the econometrics background to figure out a formula deciding what contributes to drug use, but I’m sure DARE would be in there somewhere.

By: DaveG

DaveG — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:04:11 +0000

I did not realize that DARE had such a lack of documented success over the years. I must admit that I was not interested in joining back in the 80’s and 90’s myself.

One thing I did notice was that the research and articles linked above appeared to be about 10 years old for the most part. Then when I clicked on the link to the DARE website, it appears they are attempting to reinvent themselves with a whole new approach with their “New” DARE Program. “Gone is the old-style approach to prevention in which an officer stands behind a podium and lectures students in straight rows.”

Perhaps there is some hope for the program yet…

By: jon

jon — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 22:14:16 +0000

My daughter won the DARE essay contest when she was that age. Prolly because she waxed eloquent about how great Officer Whoever was who ran the program (not much in that essay about drugs, now that I think of it). Since she dropped out of high school, she has been in treatment twice, drug court, you name it. Yeah. Ask me all about how the program works. (Good news: She’s back on track and a productive adult citizen now.)

My oldest son, on the other hand, told us how ridiculous he thought it all was and got our permission to NOT graduate from DARE. We were OK with that. But we sure got weird looks from the teachers.

By: Joe Nonnenkamp

Joe Nonnenkamp — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:21:43 +0000

D.A.R.E is a terrible joke. All it does is encourage curiousity. Thuggish cops who get off on throwing people in jail for having a plant in their basement should be kept away from children. Drugs abuse education can be taught at home and by regular teachers without the extra waste of money.

By: Jake Voss

Jake Voss — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:21:29 +0000

This is a shame. I learned a lot about meth from D.A.R.E. There are very few Washingtonians who wouldn’t recognize Office Dan, the area D.A.R.E. instructor. He is truly a legend and his program will be missed. Is it effective as a preventive? No, not really. But it did educate nonetheless. My nostalgic feelings are clouding my judgment here.

By: Sarah Brodsky

Sarah Brodsky — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:00:01 +0000

Remember the D.A.R.E. cartoons? Those were scary.

I’m waiting for someone to insist that all the police officers who teach D.A.R.E. get their teaching certificates.