WEEKEND binge drinking is taking a severe toll on the performance of our teenagers in the classroom, with hung-over students unable to learn and resorting to disruptive behaviour.
One in three teens aged 12-17 are consuming alcohol even though it’s not legal for them to do so.
And school principals are warning that parents have to start taking responsibility for a major social problem that could harm their children’s future and their developing brains.
A survey of 218 principals in Catholic, public and independent schools found that in many cases it was parents who purchased the alcohol for underage drinkers.
“Unsupervised parties a significant factor — fallout the next week can be major — unprotected sex, extreme drunkenness, drug use,” one principal told the survey.
Another shock finding of the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD) survey was that many kids were driven to drink by cyber bullying.
The survey found a significant amount of time is spent by teachers in the classroom trying to help students who drank on weekend catch up on their work or in dealing with disruptive behaviour while other students look on and wait.
Students who drank alcohol and used other drugs came to school late, tired and often with a poor attitude.
They were also in danger of developing a pattern of non-attendance.
While three out of four schools run drug and alcohol education programs, principals are resisting the idea they must play a greater role in managing what goes on outside their watch on weekends.
From Here
