Archived: The Educational System in the United States: Case Study Findings

Drugs, alcohol, and tobacco use. 
Drug, tobacco, and alcohol use is pervasive and
begins early, a fact that has been confirmed by national studies, but which is all
the more powerful when seen in its effects on individual lives throughout this
study. One eighth-grader estimated that ‘‘60 percent of the boys and girls around
here my age smoke. You know, you just have to stay away from it. If you stay
around it, they’re just going to try to impress you into smoking.’’ Students gave
similar and sometimes higher estimates for the use of marijuana and other illegal
drugs in the high schools.

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National studies indicate that although drug use among American teenagers during
the 1980’s declined from the high rates observed in the late 1970’s, drug use has
been increasing in the 1990’s. For the third year in a row, the percentage of high
school seniors who reported using illicit drugs rose in 1995 (University of Michi-
gan, News and Information Services 1995). In 1995, 39 percent of high school
seniors reported using some kind of illicit drug once in the previous year, and
23.8 percent responded that they had used an illicit drug at least once in the pre-
vious month.
There has been only a modest increase, however, in the rate of adolescent drink-
ing (University of Michigan, News and Information Services 1995). More than one
quarter of high school seniors surveyed, 29.8 percent, responded that they had
had 5 or more drinks in a row during the 2 weeks preceding the survey. This
was up from 28.2 percent and 27.5 percent in 1994 and 1993, respectively.
The use of cigarettes among American teenagers has increased slightly in recent
years (University of Michigan, News and Information Services 1995). In 1993, 19
percent of high school seniors reported using cigarettes daily. This rose to 19.4
percent in 1994 and 21.4 percent in 1995.
A student at a suburban high school commented on the prevalence of drug use
among various groups. He thought the primary pressure the wealthy students
faced was:
Drugs and alcohol. It is pretty pitiful at our school. It is pretty bad. Not only
alcohol and dope, but also acid . . . . You can be rich and this does not
mean that you do not have problems. They are under pressure to perform.
Their problems go deeper and these problems are covered by money. And the
heavy rocker group, they are into the drugs too, but for different reasons than
the rich kids. They really like to get into it. They are into it for the fun and
experience of it, rather than for escaping like the rich kids. And then there
are the black kids who are really into weed . . . . Personally, I think every
kid has his drug . . . . Some kids may use it to cover up their problems, oth-
ers may use it just to take risks and get wild.
The school librarian at Metropolitan talked about drug involvement that began as
early as fifth grade, as students became ‘‘involved in the drug trade either as look-
outs, messengers, or delivery people.’’ She reported having observed from the
window of the school regular drug activity in front of a nearby apartment building
where many of the newly arrived immigrant students lived with their families.
Drug use within students’ families was another concern. Asked to identify the big-
gest problem teenager’s face, a South Central student said,

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Their mother or father being on drugs. And child abuse. And how they gonna
eat tonight. And whether or not their father or mother sold something out of
their house for drugs. Drugs make people do that.
Teenage pregnancy. 
Especially among minority students in the inner city, many
said that the biggest problem facing girls is pregnancy, with all the ensuing prob-
lems that the birth of a child would represent: social changes, responsibilities of
parenting, financial burdens, and whether to continue schooling. The same situa-
tion, however, may bring heightened male status. A Hispanic student at Uptown
said that ‘‘A lot of girls get pregnant and when they do they get less respect from
guys. They think that they are whorish or easy. The guys get respect though, be-
cause they got a girl pregnant.’’
Although teen birth rates have declined in recent years, they remain high. In
1994, the birth rate among 15–17-year-olds was 37.6 per 1,000, down 1 percent
from the previous year (NCHS 1994). Despite this decline, the 1994 rate was still
higher than any year between 1974 and 1989. In 1990, 10 percent of women be-
tween the ages of 15–19 became pregnant and either gave birth or had an abor-
tion (MMWR 1995).
At South Central students spoke of sexual activity beginning young. Female stu-
dents reported that girls ‘‘start having sex around 11 and 12, in sixth and seventh
grade.’’ A teacher at Metropolitan reported:
Within the last couple years we’ve had girls graduating (from the eighth grade)
either a bit pregnant or who have had a baby . . . . I walked into a class-
room and walk up to a new girl and I notice she has a band on her arm. It’s
a hospital band, an ID, and I say . . . . were you sick? And she said no, I
just had a baby. Now this is a seventh-grader having a baby . . . . How is a
12- or a 13-year-old to raise a child? We’re seeing too much of that . . . . Yes,
pregnancy is definitely an issue in the area.