Nearly 85% of adolescents use e-cigarettes, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. This number is uncomfortable for students, parents and teachers. As students become more and more addicted, they bring these devices everywhere, including schools.
School bathrooms are supposed to be a safe place, yet with the new up-and-coming problem, it can be very uncomfortable. Students refrain from using the restrooms because they are afraid. Some are worried about peer pressure, others are worried about getting framed for smoking or vaping while they’ve done nothing wrong. This creates a terrible environment for innocent students just trying to relieve themselves. They are forced to avoid certain bathrooms or go at abnormal times, which can be extremely unnecessary and feel inconvenient.
So far, our school has tried but has not been more successful. They first tried with hallway sweeps—the logic being that they can either catch kids in the act or force them to make it to class on time. This hurt innocent kids more than the kids doing things wrong. Students just slightly late to class from talking to their friends are forced to call home and get in trouble with their parents. This did stop tardies, but it had a minimal effect on the smoking and vaping in the bathroom.
Another strategy was to straight up lock the bathrooms. This feels like good logic, but if kids have to go pee, they have to go to pee. The school should not be stopping students from going to certain bathrooms as it makes them very late to their classes. This has a negative effect on students’ learning.
Not only are kids not paying full attention to this problem, but it’s also hindering other kids’ learning. Students are more likely to be a distraction to others, which hinders everyone’s learning. The teachers become distracted and unfocused as they are more worried about limiting the distraction than they are teaching the students who actually want to learn.
The last strategy they used was to stick an adult in every bathroom during passing times. This was their best effort yet, as it stopped kids from doing bad things during the passing times. Still, though, kids were willing to skip class and go smoke or vape whenever they could. So, in the end, this only stopped so much. Having an adult in the bathroom at all times can also make students extremely uncomfortable.
If all of these things didn’t work, what could our school do? One sneaky alternative is to put smoke detectors in the bathroom. Even if they don’t work, they could be used to scare kids off and make them nervous. However, this could be a money issue as it might feel like too much of an effort to stop what feels like an easy fix.
Another alternative is increased punishment. Of course, you don’t want to ruin a student’s life, yet there needs to be some sort of middle ground. Students should be scared of what will happen if they get caught and must know that it will not be taken lightly. This also comes down to the parents ais s they must understand it is not okay for their student to be smoking or vaping and not tolerable. Much like there is a one-day suspension for students leaving out the wrong door, they could also implement this or more for students caught vaping or smoking.
Students also should be heavily educated on the consequences vaping has on their bodies—especially athletes, as that can have extremely negative effects on their sport. If students can understand the long-term or short-term consequences of vaping or smoking, they would be more likely to stop or at least not do it in school.
With so many teenagers vaping (85%), the school has to find ways to make the school a safe environment for learning. The goal is to help the students who want to learn in school to be able to in the end, so hopefully, Park can soon find a way to fix this problem.
