Introduction
Education is usually the key element a government is supposed to put more effort into so as to bring development in various issues of life. For this case, the ministry concerned has a very hard task of ensuring there are no critical issues that are left unsolved that relate to education, failure to which will affect the performance of students in schools which in turn affect the economic growth of the country (Provenzo, 2006).
Drug Abuse and Alcoholism
Drug abuse and alcoholism among the students are one critical issue in education that is usually overlooked when it comes to tackling critical issues in education. Many students in both public and private schools abuse drugs and take alcohol, and as a result, performance in school has significantly deteriorated.
Many students get involved in drug abuse and alcoholism in schools as a result of peer influence. As a result, they become drug addicts, and for this case, they lose concentration in class. When students are under the control of drugs, understanding any concept in class becomes a problem since their mind is just thinking about their next drug-taking session in class.
Students who take drugs tend to have deviant behaviors such as bullying others; they become violent and, at a time, even stealing. Since they purchase drugs out of the little pocket money they are issued to them by the parent, they tend to source more money by stealing from other students and even neighbors. This is to ensure they have enough money to buy drugs they have already gotten addicted to it. Many parents end up spending a lot of money when trying to rehabilitate their sons and daughters from diseases related to drug abuse and alcoholism. Some students end up even dropping from school as a result of staying for many months or even years in the rehabilitation centers. Some students even become drug peddlers and traffickers, which is a serious crime according to the law and they end spending most part of their lives in prisons (Provenzo, 2006).
The adolescence stage is a very crucial stage in life that comes up when a student is in high school, and for this case, the students require proper guidance and counseling since they usually think they can make their own decision. This is a very difficult stage in the human growth and development of an individual who must be guided on how to go about difficult challenges in life. This is the stage many students begin using drugs such as cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine, and Cannabis sativa.
Conclusion
The issue of drug abuse and alcoholism should be taken more seriously by the government and school administrators to ensure that students do not get involved in drug abuse and alcoholism. For this case, the measure should be taken to counsel those students already taking drugs in an effort to rehabilitate them. Education standard will not improve if drug abuse and alcoholism in schools are not controlled. This will, in turn, lower the economic development of our country that solely depends on the human resources of the citizens, and if the schools will not produce a competent workforce, it means there will be no development. This will mean the country will have to hire expertise from other countries, which is very expensive and as result, this expertise spend their money in their home country instead of our country. Our country will be very resourceful as far as human resource in various fields is concerned if we fight drug abuse and alcoholism in our school and economic development of our country will always be improving.
References
- Lewis, J.J., Bookbinder, R.M. and Bauer, R.R. (1999): Critical Issues in Education: A Problem-Solving Guide for School Administrators: New York, Prentice Hall
- Provenzo, E.F. (2006): Critical Issues in Education: an Anthology of Reading, London, Sage Publication