Smoking

For a long time now many people have had different views about smoking in public places. Smokers feel it is their right to smoke where and when they want. On the other hand non-smokers feel smokers violate their rights and endanger there life. However, our school has decided to institute an “Anti-Smoking” rule. By instituting a rule of no smoking on school grounds we can protect today’s youth against the harms of smoking. This rule would bring many benefits.

At the end of the last school year we ruled that smoking on school grounds would not be tolerated. Any student caught smoking on school grounds would be given demerits and have the incident placed on their permanent record. After being caught (and given demerits) for smoking three times the student would be placed under disciplinary advisement, that would be provided by the school. This was known as our “Anti-Smoking” program. We hoped this would prevent students from smoking on school grounds and hopefully prevent other students from starting smoking. During the summer before the start of the next school year the “Anti-Smoking” program was met with harsh feelings from students, parents and even teachers. Students were angry because it seemed the school was trying to put nose were it didn’t belong. Parents were happy that the school was watching out for the health of their children, but they didn’t like how being caught would show on their permanent record. They were afraid that colleges might misconstrue their records and deny their child entrance into college. Teachers also thought that putting the incident on their permanent record would hurt the students in their quest for entrance into college. The students, parents, and teachers proposed an idea to the school board that would not list the incident on their record. Still the students and many parents were still against the school taking away the students right to smoke when and where they want.

The original “Anti-Smoking” program and the revised