Isobel Kleinman

Drug Abuse: So, what can a PE teacher do about it?

Written by: Isobel Kleinman (biography, website)

As I watched Bode Miller receive his gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, a medal which eluded him in the past, I marveled at his maturity, serenity and wondered why he looked relatively passive on the podium. He accepted the crowd’s cheers without the wide grin and enthusiastic body language that usually accompanies such accolades. At least I knew that he got the monkey off his back because his words and promise were finally matched by his results.

I felt pride for him. He was able to live up to many years of hype. I was even more proud because I had seen him interviewed before the Olympics and bought his story that, as a new dad, he was determined to be a responsible role model for his daughter. As I shouted praises for him to my friend in the other room, in the usual “men are from Mars and women are from Venus” scenario, my friend said that he couldn’t care less. Shocked, I followed up with an explanation of what thrilled me, and he responded, “How can I possibly care about such an idiot?” I didn’t know what he was talking about until he followed saying, “What kind of idiot skis drunk?”

So many men and women that our children worship, our idols of the day, play with fire by doing incredibly reckless things. In their passive way, and I am sure, without thinking about their impact, they encourage kids to do the same. Bode Miller is not the only athlete who has been wasted while performing.

Need I mention the growing list of athletes who wanted to enter the halls of fames in their respective sports but who have been denied, exposed for their use of substances that either enhanced their performance, their strength, or their body frame? Isn’t it amazing how few seem to care about the long term effects in their search of fame and fortune? Isn’t it disheartening to realize that they are willing to compromise their life for short term gains, destroy the creditability of their accomplishments and records, and break the rules of their league and the laws of the nation, all with kids watching and learning from them?

When will it stop? How can we, at the grass routes level, become effective in convincing kids that drug use is not the way to get to a greater goal?

One thing is for sure. If we don’t tackle this issue before it becomes a problem, if we don’t take the steps necessary for prevention, if we don’t teach our students to keep the Genie in the Bottle, if we can’t keep Pandora’s Box closed, our students will find it harder to stop their use and eventual abuse later on. The job is ours to start, and if we do it well there might not be the need for others to intercede down the road.

A National Institute publication: Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents is a great source of information for educators, community leaders, and health providers charged with setting up family strategies. Here are some of its conclusions, all of which were arrived at after a lengthy national study.

1. Risk for adolescents increase if their parents and/or friends are, or have been, drug involved.
2. Prevention should address legal as well as illegal drug over and under use. It should include discussion of the law and all the associated medical risks.
3. It is necessary to target local risk factors and focus on behaviors that are modifiable.
4. Students who face more risk than others are also the ones who usually do not find academic and/or social success in school.
5. Prevention programs for the general population are more effective if they are done in multiple settings (school, church, community center) and are part of a long-term plan that repeats the message, focusing it differently as the population matures but making sure to REPEAT the message in an ongoing way.
6. Effective teacher management skills can be instrumental in providing students with the self-confidence and self esteem they need to avoid the risk factors that make them prone to drug and substance abuse. They are:
   • recognizing and rewarding appropriate behavior
   • fostering academic and social achievement
   • instilling academic motivation
   • and building strong school bonding

The five identified risk factors which I list below - along with a general way to modify them - can turn a kid into a troubled substance abuse adolescent. Sometimes, just one risk factor is enough to do it. More often than not, several risk factors are at work and are the underlying causes for eventual drug and alcohol abuse.

1. Early aggressive behavior - modified by teaching impulse control.
2. Lack of parental supervision - modified by parental monitoring.
3. Substance abuse - modified by academic as well as social success.
4. Drug availability - modified with anti-drug use policies.
5. Poverty - modified by developing strong neighborhood attachments.

Of the five, the first – early aggressive behavior – is easily spotted in our social setting. If you spot a student exhibiting this risk factor in class, it is best to share the information with the pupil personnel department. Frankly, physical educators do not and should not stop there. We can be instrumental in thwarting this particular risk factor by doing what comes naturally – helping students sublimate their need to attack so that instead of being offensive and creating bad vibes and mistrust, they use their energy in a positive, more socially acceptable way. If we focus on doing that for them, we can help them gain a sense of success and build the social skills necessary to create the bonding that this national study has shown to be effective in avoiding risky behaviors.

While it is true that some kids have such deeply rooted problems that they need more help than you can give, it doesn’t mean that you should not give any at all, nor does it mean that if you spot a risk-associated problem that your colleagues have too. Do not assume that there has already been some follow-up, or that parents and other teachers have seen what you are able to see. You teach in a social setting that brings out all kinds of behaviors most people would never get to see. So, if you are observing overly aggressive behavior that seems inappropriate, it probably is, and you should follow up by alerting your school psychologist or the student’s guidance counselor and ask them to follow up. Making a referral does not make you a bad teacher. It makes you a better one. Then, you can continue doing what you can do as a teacher to help your student sublimate his or her inappropriately aggressive behavior.

Sometimes we veterans forget strategies that worked to manage students who are too aggressive, disrupt the class, and scare their classmates. New teachers, as well as veteran teachers, find it tough to deal with the kid who gets their goat, has no respect for others, is out to show how strong and good he or she is at the expense of others in class, or is just too dangerous to be around because he or she is so impulsive and wild that everyone wants to steer clear of him or her. Yet, for the teacher, the class, and because of the risk factors mentioned above, dealing with inappropriate aggressive behavior is essential. Here are three strategies that worked for me.

1. Find something that you can honestly compliment about in the child’s performance, behavior, demeanor, ability, and/or appearance, and do it publicly and as often as possible. This builds student confidence that you are on his or her side -- sometimes. Such a relationship makes constructive criticism more acceptable to him or her because you have demonstrated caring.
2. Even if the student is driving you crazy try to confer privately, and when you do make it seem as if you are trying to take him or her into your confidence. Share some of your personal experiences. It helps break the ice and build up trust. Then share ways that he or she can help you in class, and ask him or her for that help.
3. Find a reasonable way to give the student some responsibility. It could be leading the class in warm-ups, keeping score, timing a dash, or being a squad leader. Responsibility gives students a whole new sense of themselves. So, give them a stopwatch if something needs to be timed, or a clipboard if a record needs to be kept, or a whistle if there needs to be a start signal or a halt signal for some in-class game officiating. If you do this, if you let them take charge once in awhile, the most difficult students – no matter what their presenting problem is – will rise to the occasion. Once they do, the problem dissipates and you gain a class aide. Once more, you have helped build their confidence and given them a sense of self-respect. From then forward, they will be a different student, one who is more and more successful, who starts to build bonding relationships that are so important for avoiding risk factors, and one who regains the trust of their classmates.

Lastly, may I suggest that when you have problems in class – and this should probably be first – it is always a good idea to ask your colleagues how they would deal with similar situations. I found the three suggestions I gave you worked miracles. Hopefully you will too, and it will go a long way in helping kids avoid the risk factors that make them feel alienated and want to seek refuse in drugs and alcohol.

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