Surprise! You could end up peeing in a cup before competing in an after-school debate tournament.
High school students already have some limits on their privacy. School officials can conduct locker checks throughout an entire school to look for weapons or drugs. And they can also search a specific student’s locker if they have reason to believe something fishy is going on.
But the latest ruling on what’s cool in school has some students and teachers raising eyebrows. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that high school administrators can randomly drug test any student who participates in an after-school activity that involves interschool competition — that means sports, drama club, chorus, and yes, even the chess club!
The ruling is a relief for schools concerned about their students’ health and safety, as well as with how their student bodies are viewed by others. It may be dangerous to permit students to use drugs to compete in strenuous athletics, and administrators want those representing the school in other types of tournaments to be sharp and clean, too. The theory is that the students who are most dedicated to their sports and activities will choose to perform at their highest level, drug-free, rather than quit their extracurriculars and use drugs.
However, while random testing may be considered constitutional today, it still troubles some teachers and students. “We’re raising [kids] to believe the government is allowed to randomly search them without cause or consent,” said Penny Pace, a high school teacher in Jackson, NJ. “As adults, we know the government can’t do these things without warrants or cause.”
Kate Meyer, a 17-year-old high school student from Jackson, agrees. “Unless they’ve got suspicion, and I mean good reason for wanting to drug test me, I don’t think they should have the right to do it.”
However, Ian Collier views students’ rights differently. “I think that as a teenager, you are more or less resigned to the fact that your rights are limited during school hours,” the 17-year-old from Seaford, NY, says. “As much as it may seem unfair, you come to accept the fact that school is not the real world, and certain cards are already stacked against you.”
Are schools unfairly singling out kids who put in extra hours at basketball practice or prepping for a big band competition? Jessica Sanchez, a 17-year-old from Elizabeth, NJ, thinks this is exactly the case. “What right do they have to say we’re the ones acting up, that we’re the ones being bad?” she asks. “The kids who are involved in things after school are less likely to be doing drugs because they’re so preoccupied with an activity. With marching band, I was at band camp and drilling five, six days a week.”
Teacher Penny Pace sees an additional problem here: “Kids that fail the tests will be kicked off their teams. This means that they will now have every day free after school to do nothing, giving them more time to do drugs. For students that occasionally smoked a joint on the weekends, this could turn an occasional activity into an everyday activity.”
But whether or not it’s fair doesn’t mean teachers shouldn’t try to help students battle drug problems.
“Teachers and people getting involved in general…they can change somebody’s life,” Jessica says.
Ian and Kate agree, and both recommend that schools bring in drug prevention speakers, especially those who have battled similar problems in their own lives. “Educate students. Don’t catch them in the act,” Kate says.
Penny has another idea. “How about taking the kids who aren’t in activities [who test positive for drugs] and strongly encouraging them to partake in after-school activities? This will take up more of their time, giving them less time to do harmful things.”
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