Survey Shows Public Schools are Breeding Grounds For Immoral Activity

By: Bill Wilson, Daily Jot News Service Senior Analyst

(Washington) – August 20, 2010 - The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, headed up by former Carter Administration Health, Education and Welfare Secretary Joseph Califano, has released its annual survey of American attitudes on substance abuse. Consistent with its findings over the 16 years of surveys, the Center's survey of some 2,000 teens and nearly 500 parents indicates that the public school system is failing miserably in protecting America's children against drugs and violence. Even the liberal Califano can see that there is trouble with the public school system, although he has no understanding of to fix it. 

Califano writes, "Perhaps our most important finding from so many years of surveying teens and other research is this: A child who gets through age 21 without smoking, using illegal drugs or abusing alcohol is virtually certain never to do so. And, for better or worse, no one has greater power to influence a teen's decision whether to drink or use drugs than that teen's parents." The report says, "Our nation's public schools are riddled with gangs--and schools where there are gangs are likelier schools where there are drugs...some 5.7 million public school students attend schools where drugs are used, kept or sold and where gangs are present."

Califano says, "If you want to know one of the reasons why so many public schools are failing our children, consider the difference our survey reveals between public schools and private and religious schools: 46 percent of teens at public schools say there are gangs at their schools compared to only 2 percent of teens at private and religious schools. Think about this situation: compared to private and religious schools, public schools are 23 times likelier to be gang infected." In 2001, the report stated that 62% of public schools were drug free compared with 43% today. Some 79% of private and religious schools, however, were drug free in 2001, and the number is virtually unchanged a decade later.

Take note: the infiltration of public schools by radical anti-moral, humanist liberals and organizations like the National Education Association and the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network have ruined schools and generations of children. You cannot condone an immoral culture and expect to produce good character. Public schools are locally controlled by taxpayers. And taxpayers are us. We must take a stronger role in the schools to hold them accountable to our moral standards. Organizations that do not match our morals should be booted. Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  This is no time to be asleep at the switch.

Bill Wilson is the Senior Analyst at the Daily Jot News Service and author of the book “Warshod.” His articles are used by news services nationwide, and are enjoyed by a global readership. For more information about the book, or how to order, click on the picture.

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