You Won't Believe What They're Asking Our Kids
There has been talk recently of extending the academic year to accommodate increased instruction time, ostensibly to give students more time to concentrate on academic tasks. But some parents wonder whether the schools are using the time they already have to the fullest advantage. Parents in some Minnesota school districts got their answer recently, when students were asked to take time away from their regular studies to participate in a survey called "Search Institute Profiles of Student Life: Attitudes and Behaviors."
Colleen George of West Saint Paul requested a copy of the survey from her son’s school, Henry Sibley High in Mendota Heights. After reviewing it, she asked that her son be excused from answering the survey.
While George’s son and one other student were sent to an isolated area of the school for free study time, other students in the class took the 35-minute survey. Yet the time spent taking the survey--time away from instruction--was the least of George’s concerns.
Parents were assured that individual survey answers would be anonymous and confidential. Yet it was not the answers that concerned George--it was the questions. George said the survey was filled with suggestive information. "Is this a survey, or does it lean more toward indoctrination of young, emotional, impressionable minds through the technique of repeated suggestion?" George questioned, noting objections to several items in the 152-item survey.
The survey includes 29 questions related to parent-child relationships. Examples:
- If you came home from a party and your parents found out that you had been drinking, how upset do you think they would be?
- If you had an important concern about drugs, alcohol, sex, or some other serious issue, would you talk to your parent(s) about it?
George said, "I got the impression from this survey that there is an attempt to denigrate the role of parents and their authority and morals, implying there are others perhaps more qualified than parents to help young people."
The survey includes 33 questions related to alcohol, drug, or cigarette use, and asks students to report how many times, if any, in the last 12 months they have:
- Used chewing tobacco or snuff
- Used heroin (smack, horse, skag) or other narcotics like opium or morphine
- Used a drug called alawan
- Used a drug known as crack
- Used PCP or Angel Dust
- Used LSD ("acid")?
The structure of the questions seems to suggest that substance abuse is a normal part of student life, and that if the student taking the survey hasn’t indulged in such illegal pursuits, their classmates certainly have.
There are 14 questions related to self-esteem. Indeed, the survey poses self-esteem questions in such a way as to suggest a sort of natural progression of activity. Examples:
- How often have you felt sad or depressed during the last month?
- In the last year, how often, if at all, have you thought about killing yourself?
- Have you ever tried to kill yourself? [multiple choice answers to this question: no--yes, once--yes, twice--yes, more than two times.]
The survey asks seven questions about sexual activity. Examples:
- When you have sex, how often do you and/or your partner use a birth control method such as birth control pills, a condom (rubber), foam, diaphragm, or IUD?
- The first time you had sex, did you and/or your partner use birth control?
Other survey questions deal with a variety of behavior and attitudes. Students are asked to report how often during the preceding 12 months they have:
- Gotten into trouble at school
- Stolen something from a store
- Gotten in trouble with the police
- Hit or beat up someone
- Damaged property just for fun
- Taken part in a fight where a group of your friends were against another group
- Used a knife or gun or some other thing (like a club) to get something from a person.
Again, the structure of the questions implies that attempted suicide, sexual activity and armed assault is normal teenage behavior, rather than the exception.
A note to parents at Henry Sibley High said: "We will use the information in the study in many ways--to revise programs in order to address problems students face, to assess strategies for positive youth development, to set program priorities, to affirm effective programs already in place, and to share with other youth-serving organizations in order to improve programs and services to our families and young people."
In response to this, George said, "I don’t know how you measure success, but the statistics on adolescents look rather dismal to me. I question whether Search Institute is adding to the problem instead of working toward a solution."
George concluded, "I urge all parents to go to school and take a look at this survey." Search Institute has been conducting research on adolescents for over 30 years.
Back to the PFN Front Page