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Closing the smoking pit was a poor decision
I’m all for the prevention of teen smoking, really, I am. However, I don’t think we’re going about it the right way. I realize the school is just complying with state law, which is awesome. I always think it’s great when we don’t get our funding cut or Mr. Ellis doesn’t go to prison, or whatever happens to non-conforming American high schools. Since the school is just following the recently changed state law, the law is what I’m taking issue with.
Most of the smokers at Ralston Valley probably took up the habit a year or more ago, when it was legal to possess and smoke cigarettes. That’s right; it was those people allowing the students to have tobacco who were breaking the law. Some kind of dream come true, right? I mean the concept of someone else getting pegged for your deviance from the law; to be able to pursue your illegal hobbies while someone else is punished for it. However, that’s not true anymore—I’ll get to that part in a minute. Anyway, these kids probably started smoking before it was illegal for them to do so. Tobacco is an addictive substance, as pretty much anyone who’s ever even glanced in the general direction of a rudimentary medical center is sure to know. So obviously, when the law changed this didn’t mean that students would automatically stop smoking. Not only does it take hard work to quit, but we’re talking about teenagers. I can say with only two exceptions that I have never met a fellow teen who won’t openly defy something he or she thinks is unfair. So when smoking itself became illegal, smokers naturally decided they would just have to stop doing it in plain sight of law enforcement—in other words, across the street.
As far as I can tell, this means students have to go farther off-campus to smoke. They could just not-smoke if they weren’t used to being able to during the school day and, as I’ve mentioned before, probably addicted. Describing what it’s like to abruptly stem one’s nicotine intake, one student said, “[School is] harder, it’s not as focused.” Seanpaul Batchelder, an out-and-proud smoker, described the difference of school without a smoking pit. “I just had to drive off-campus to smoke a cigarette,” Batchelder told me at 2:20 one blue day, having just arrived back from the trip. Uh, class starts at 1:15, Sean.
While it probably doesn’t make all students a whole hour late, this tardiness is hardly a one-time occurrence. Mrs. Spirk (Biology) mentioned to me that other teachers had had students arriving late to their classes; one student she claimed had spent fifteen minutes driving around the school so as to smoke without being on-campus. Sure, the students could just not smoke, but as Batchelder mentioned, it’s hard to focus on one’s class when they’re low on chemical additives that their bodies are now accustomed to having.
An alternative solution might be to, uh, open the pit back up—yeah, you didn’t see that coming. Obviously, the new law will assist those who haven’t taken up smoking at this point; their chances of taking up smoking in the state of Colorado have decreased drastically. However, those who already smoke are just getting hurt academically either by being unable to focus or by missing class. It’s not like the new law was a high priority—it was first passed in October of 2008, but not implemented until August of 2009. Why? To save money on printing new Student Conduct Codes. I know the smoking pit’s “closing” is actually the lack of students idiotic enough to smoke where a police officer might spot him or her rather than the school’s measures to halt smoking by minors; therefore, I guess I’m addressing the state legislature when I say this is the opposite of helpful.
Some people may feel that if the closing of the pit causes at least one student to quit smoking, that’s enough. Well that’s fantastic, good for you. Seriously, I’m happy for you. However, in 2005 it was recorded that 23% of high school students admitted to smoking a cigarette within the last month. At RV, that leaves approximately 68.7 student smokers to struggle with a dependency, not to mention they are more likely than not to be late or unfocused, deteriorating their academic ability and lessening their chances at a decent career. That’s almost 70 kids living out of their parents’ basement, working the graveyard shift at the convenience store-slash-gas station on the corner.
Anyway, congratulations to that metaphorical solitary student.
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As a former member of the “Pit,” and having friends who still attend Ralston Valley High (I left school and received a GED in my junior year-I would have been a member of the class of ’09), I appreciate the views stated in this article by Ms. Kribs. Last week was my second try at breaking my addiction to nicotine, and once again, I am smoking. I agree with the belief held by the proponents of the new ban, because if I had the choice I would have never started smoking. However, several of my friends (seniors this year) have been smoking for years-just like me. Nicotine is harder to quit (statistically) than heroin (Blakeslee, http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/29/magazine/nicotine-harder-to-kickthan-heroin.html). And I remember the sunny (and below-zero) days of showing up late to class (or not showing up at all) because I was busy smoking across the street. Were I still attending Ralston Valley, you could bet that I would be dodging security, police, and anyone else who tried to stop me from smoking. It is unfair for smokers-nicotine addicts-to have to hide and take hits to their school performance in order to feed an addiction that, if unfed, ruins your mood, concentration, energy level, and general ability to interact with teachers and other students. However, there is a question that is begging to be asked-how do we keep kids from starting smoking, so that they don’t have to work around the law?
In conclusion, I appreciate this article for it’s truth and use of current statistics to analyze the new ban. I also applaud the author for having the gall to take any semblance of a pro-smoker (not pro-tobacco) stance. I know what it’s like to deviate from the norm at Ralston Valley-ignore the losers, tell the truth.
ya but just sayin now not as many kids will keep that habit until they are an adult. I Dont care if other people smoke, but if they go and smoke at the pit then it is terrible to walk behind them. It is absolutley terrible to come within five feet of them and at ten they could still be smelt. I have heard so many people complain about a smoker kid who smells terrible. It makes class distracting because everyone is trying to stay away from the bad smell. I don’t know why but the pit just made kids smell even more. Maybe it was because it would be about twenty cigaretts in a tight little group. Not to be mean to anyone at all but i just don’t think the other students should have to put up with the smell of the little group of smokers. Now when a kid has a smoke in the car or just with some friends they dont smell, or at least i havn’t noticed anyone who has smelled like that this year. Sory to you few addicted teens at RV but i like not having a pit.
Regardless of if the pit is open or not, smokers will continue to smoke; and it’s quite honestly sad that we live in a society where we still are trying to make choices for 15, 16, 17, and even 18 year olds. Kids are growing up slower than ever before — you can now stay on your parent’s health insurance policy until you’re 26 years old, just a year before the average man in America gets married for the first time. You can’t see a Rated-R movie in a theater until you’re seventeen, and you’re part of an extensive graduated license program until you’re twenty-one years old.
You should either fail or succeed based on your performance; not based on whether you were suspended for carrying a cigarette around. For all we hear about the dangers of secondhand smoke, the only real victim to smoking is the smoker himself. If anything, removing legal penalties for teen smoking actually gives students a second chance at success in the school system. Back in the 50′s, American schoolchildren outperformed much of the Western World, and a significantly larger percentage of them were smoking. Sure, it’s unhealthy, but it’s not damaging to student performance, especially compared to things like candy bars and soda — things that students won’t ever be feasibly banned from possessing.
America is a land where we’re legally free to make terrible decisions (provided they’re victimless,) and then choose to learn from them. We oughtn’t be babied through life, and pay billions in taxes to enforce unnecessary laws. A lot of the smokers we saw in the pit are likely to graduate from college and become integrated members of society; involved fathers and mothers; businesspeople; that just happen to have a bad habit. The societal benefits of having tighter smoking laws, especially in regards to teens, are outweighed by the downsides. The biggest one being that we simply refuse to let them grow up.