Attention Schools, Students Need Help

By David Palmer

Some of today’s college students are taking themselves way too seriously with their demands on college administrations which, in turn, are taking the students and their demands much too literally. It’s not good for either of them, but the colleges are supposed to be the adults after all. By chance I came across a recent issue of the New Yorker (a once dominant liberal humor publication in the nineteen thirties and forties) which contained a spoof of current student demands by author Paul Rudnick. Rudnick also makes fun of Christians, but the emphasis is on the students.

“Leah Ellen Altschuler,” Rudnick’s imaginary student at the imaginary “Shower of Blessings Junior College” in Claramore City, Nebraska, opens with ten demands “on issues that affect me and at least two other students in my quad every day. “These demands,” she continues, “are well thought out, passionate and non-negotiable, and if they are not met within twenty four hours, I will barricade myself in the snack bar in the library basement, purchase every last Powerbar from the vending machine and eat them all. I mean it.” Number 5 on Leah’s list is, “I would like my boyfriend to be more attentive, by which I mean that he should e-mail me fun videos of baby goats in pajamas, just in case I’m feeling blue or studying too hard.” Number 6 is “I would like a boy friend.” In the final item, number 12, Leah says “I would like the college to create a safe space for any student who wishes to sit quietly, her eyes shut, ear buds securely in place, wearing a cardigan with sleeves that cover her hands as she makes tiny graceful movements with her head and torso to express her solidarity with any song about having confidence, daring to dream, and still having a boy friend, preferably one who enjoys discussing Scripture without becoming overly graphic.”

Times, of course are different now. When I entered Hamilton college in 1947 at age 18, half the guys in my fraternity were returning World War II veterans many of whom were very serious or very angry or both and also drank a lot. Today’s children are up against it these days and their sometimes ridiculous demands should not obscure the horrible facts that families are breaking up like never before and drugs are a serious contributing factor. A laissez fair response, particularly by liberal arts college administrations (I’m thinking of Cornell as a good example), in these times of rioting in the streets is completely inappropriate. Here are some facts about children and drug abuse to think about:

1. 5.7 million (26%) of public school students ages 12 to 17 say that their school is both gang-and drug-infected (drugs are used, kept or sold on school grounds)
2. Teens who attend schools infected with both gangs and drugs are five times likelier to use marijuana, three times likelier to get within a day or less and nearly five times likelier to have a friend/classmate who uses illegal drugs like acid, ecstasy, methamphetamine, cocaine or heroin.
3. In 2009, more than one third of teens (8.7 million) said they can get prescription drugs to get high within a day, nearly one in five teens (4.7 million) could get them within an hour.
4. 70 percent of abused and neglected children have parents who are risky drinkers or use other drugs.
5. Children and teens that begin drinking before age 15 are four times likelier to become alcohol addicted that those who do not drink before age 21.
6. Each day more than 13,000 children and teens take their first drink.
7. 25.9 percent of underage drinkers meet clinical criteria for alcohol addiction.
8. Teens who have infrequent family dinners are more than twice as likely to have used tobacco, almost twice as likely to use alcohol and one and a half times likelier to have used marijuana.
9. A child who reaches age 21 without smoking, drinking or using other drugs is virtually certain never to do so.

At One Day at a Time, our response to these disturbing facts lies in promoting individual community programs, such as what we have proposed in our “Little Rock Roundtable” model program. It provides for the faith-based leadership of evangelical churches (Fellowship Bible Church, in our case), secondly, the medical resources needed to diagnose and treat mental illness, thirdly, treating addictions based on AA, Alanon and other established twelve step programs and finally, providing job training emphasizing an entrepreneurial approach.