Teen-age drinking ‘not a problem in schools’

Press, 26 June 1978, Page 21

Teen-age drinking ‘not a problem in schools’

There seems to be little doubt in educators’ minds that the consumption of alcohol by secondary schoolchildren is increasing, but this has apparently not casued any problems at schools. The chairman of the Christchurch Principals’ Association (Mr J. Orman) said that he had no personal knowledge that alcohol was a growing problem among teen-agers, but said: “I would be naive to believe that they are not experimenting with alcohol. One hears about week-end parties and we assume that liquor is usually involved.” He said he knew of no problem which had arisen during school hours. The president of the Association of Heads of Independent Secondary Schools (Mr I. T. Galloway) said: “I believe it is

generally known that schoolchildren today have more ready access to alcohol than they did several years ago. They are being introduced to it at a much younger age than in the past.” He said that the trend as far as teen-age social functions were concerned, included the availability of alcohol. Mr Galloway also said it was evident that parents were more permissive in their attitudes towards their children drinking than they were a few years ago. “If they are going to be permissive in this regard,” he said, “they must also accept the responsibility for the dangers of mixing drinking with driving.” He noted that teen-agers seemed to be more successful in disguising their ages and gaining access to

hotel bars. Mr Galloway said that he was impressed with the impact Dr Morgan Fahey had had in pointing out to schoolchildren the dangers of mixing drinking with driving, and said: “I fully commend this sort of approach to the problem.”