拒絕毒品課程

Susan著 小哭譯

過去的幾個月裡，我上了一門叫做“D.A.R.E”的課程。“D.A.R.E.”是“拒絕毒品的教育”的首字母縮寫。如其字面意義，這門課的目的是教育我這麼大的年青人，有關毒品可能會被如何濫用以及如何對這事兒說“不”的。 “D.A.R.E.”課由C 警官上，他時常到我們學校和學生們在一起。C 真的是一個很不錯的人。他與###學區的學生們合作了很久。除去我和幾個新搬來的學生，多數人是從他們上小學時起就認識了C 警官。說每一個人都喜歡C 應該不算過份，他是整個學校中最受歡迎的成年人之一。

可能是因為這個原因，每個人都很喜歡D.A.R.E.課。通常，我不會期待一組初中生會喜歡上一門教他們一些象“如何對某人說不”或“為什麼大麻對你不好”這樣的課程。從我過去的經驗來看，教授生活技能的課程不會是最受歡迎的一類。然而，我們班的同學們卻在第一次聽說C 警官將在今年來教D.A.R.E.課時欣喜若狂！由於他們對我本以為會是很枯燥的一門課程的奇怪反應，激起了我想去看看D.A.R.E.都在講什麼的興趣。

終於等來了上課的這一天。在一個星期四的第五小節，我們上了第一次課。通常第五小節是用來上ELA課程的，但是學區認為D.A.R.E.課是如此地重要，決定讓C 警官每周四的ELA時間過來教D.A.R.E.。這門課不是只有我們班自己上，是所有八年級的學生一起上。事實證明，D.A.R.E.課真的比我想象的要好多了（我沒有想過它會有多麼地糟，但是我也沒有期望過它會有多麼地好）。C 警官真的是一個了不起的人。他有幽默感，平等地對待所教的學生，這一點幾乎沒有幾個成年人能夠成功地做到。於是我也相當地喜歡D.A.R.E.課了。

好了，關於C 說得夠多的了。你可能更想知道我們實際上在課堂上幹了什麼吧。第一天，我們做了三個手工：名字標牌、作業套裝和課堂套裝。名字標牌就是：在一個名字卡上寫上我們的名字，做成標牌，以便C 警官知道管我們叫什麼。作業套裝很鮮艷，在一個像是塑料一樣的紙上已經整齊地打印好了內容。套裝其實很小，只有丁丁點的地方填寫我們不得不填寫的東西。上面的問題是那些能夠讓我們思考如何將我們在課堂上學到的東西應用在生活中的問題。其中的一個問題是“我們今天在課堂上討論了回絕不好的請求這事兒。請寫下五個你曾經在哪兒見證過的某人拒絕某事的情形。他們是屬於挑釁性的、冷漠性的還是堅決的？”我喜歡這個作業套裝，因為它能夠幫我弄清楚如何把學到的東西應用到生活中。

課堂套裝主要是圖片和照片以及C 警官所教東西的解釋性文字。每一年，C 警官都來教D.A.R.E.課程，每一年的主題都不相同。今年，D.A.R.E.主要的關注點可以用另一組首字母縮寫“R.E.A.L.”來表示。“R.E.A.L.”表示“拒絕、解釋、迴避、離開”。那些就是C 警官這幾個月來反覆教授我們的四個策略。我發現它們絕大多數都是常識性的知識：“如果一個人供給你毒品而你並不想要，拒絕。如果這個人之後繼續提供給你毒品，你應該解釋為什麼拒絕。如果這樣還不行，離開這個環境。甚至還有一些更好的辦法：要在下次避免那種環境，這樣你就用不着不得不去處理那些令人棘手的麻煩了。”這很簡單。然而即使那是常識，每一個人都知道常識正是青少年所缺乏的並且需要的。D.A.R.E.是非常有用的課，它讓我對拒絕毒品時要說什麼有所準備。如果不是因為D.A.R.E.課，我可能直到那一天來臨時，都不曾思考過到時候要去說什麼。

除了R.E.A.L.，我們在D.A.R.E.課上學會的另一件重要的事情是關於毒品的一些事實。C 警官教給我們關於迷幻藥的知識，說它可能會以一種看起來象糖一樣的藥丸的樣子出現。他教我們怎麼樣去區分它們，告訴我們那些小藥丸可能帶來的那些有害的作用。那種被設計成讓人們感覺“興奮”的毒品，聽起來就像我曾經對毒品的預料一樣，真的很可怕。他也教我們關於大麻和煙草的知識，還有一點關於酒精的知識。他說那些是“入門毒品”，因為人們通常從這裡開始，然後才進入到越來越刺激的如可卡因或甲安菲他明等毒品。這些確鑿的信息最令人興奮。我了解了以前一點都不懂的關於非法毒品的知識。C 給我們看現實生活中的實例。他給我們看隱蔽攝像頭拍攝的毒品交易的紀實片段，以及接下來警察是怎麼來的並且逮捕了毒販子。他甚至帶來了一個真正的大麻煙管，我們都聞了，味道很糟糕。

幾個月後，D.A.R.E.課進行了期末考試。那不是一種真正的考試，更象是一個小測驗。考得真的很簡單，我想每個人都通過了。然後，就在一天早晨，我們舉行了畢業典禮，是D.A.R.E.課的畢業典禮，不是八年級的畢業典禮。我曾以為這個典禮會象是一個正式的典禮，我們每一個人都會被叫到台上領取一個證書什麼的。然而，其實一點也不令人激動。

典禮的第一部分是一個展覽，關於警察局如何使用警狗。H村沒有一個警犬部，但是隔壁鎮有，所以就把他們的警犬（他們也只有一隻）和訓練員，一個警官，都送到了我們學校，給我們示範了一下。警犬的訓練員給我們演示警犬是如何找到毒品的（他為此在講台上藏了一丁丁點），還有警犬是如何服從指令的。土土（我不知道那是否是他的名字，反正我知道是T開頭的）這兩點都做得非常地好。我從來沒有見過一隻訓練得更好的狗。除了圓滿地完成了任務，土土也非常地可愛！這是一隻品種高貴的德國牧羊犬。

第二部分，也典禮的最後部分，是關於三個孩子的令人傷心的故事。他們一個17歲，一個18歲，一個即將19歲（最後這個獲得了我們年級響亮的歡呼，我們都預祝他有一個快樂的生日）。他們都曾是毒品上癮者，現在都在康復期。他們給我們講了自己的故事，還回答了我們的一些提問。我注意到，他們三個都來自於真的很艱苦和貧窮的社區。很明顯在他們的成長過程中沒有受到如我們一樣的毒品教育。這件事真的讓我意識到我是多麼地幸運，D.A.R.E.課是多麼地重要！如果他們年少時也曾有機會如我們一樣地上過D.A.R.E.課，他們可能就不會是今天這個樣子了。

對這三個客人的提問環節過後，畢業典禮就結束了。結束了！就那樣。我們被告知ELA老師會在下次課時給我們發證書。雖然這個典禮不是我所期待的那樣，但這樣其實更好。聽警犬訓練員和三個孩子對我們所說的話，比一個跟着一個上台領證書更有趣兒。每一個人，包括我自己，都覺得其中一個男孩子的故事非常地有趣兒。他不斷地不自覺地說髒話，因為那已經成為了他的一個習慣。接着他就不斷地為此道歉，因為說髒話很不好嘛，特別是在學校里。我想這三個孩子能夠和我們分享自己的故事，真的很勇敢，他們表現得很棒！

總的來說，我認為D.A.R.E.課很成功。它教了我許多東西，我為自己能夠擁有這樣的課程很感恩。我想感謝C 警官和所有那些讓D.A.R.E.課程能夠開課的人們。對我來說，這門課是一次非常有趣的體驗。

【小哭介紹背景】我才譯完第一稿就忍不住寫這個背景介紹了。模糊地記得兩個月前讀完小文的感覺還是不錯的，可是很快這小文的內容就從我的腦子裡被擠出去了。今天邊讀邊譯邊感動着，以至於譯到最後幾段，眼淚就流出來了。也許是和我上周出了一次小小的車禍有關，忍不住去想人生的目標和方向到底在哪裡。一味地努力和向上，如何才能避免忽視了精神層面的追求？如何才能避免忘記了感恩於每一天一家人都能夠平安和睦地生活在一起？

毒品，還有性侵害，我想很多媽媽都會在女兒進入青春期後不止一次地思考並感覺無助吧？什麼事情會發生，我們根本不能控制，無論如何地努力，也沒有辦法能夠保證孩子不出現意外。這就如你開車一樣，就算你一切都好，可是也不能避免被違規的車輛撞上啊！車在路上，禍不由已；人在江湖，身不由已。孩子們在學校，我們能夠控制多少，甚至能了解多少呢？初來小村時，就有人提醒我，別看這是好學區，可是高中生中毒品的問題，與學區好壞沒有多少關係，甚至，越是有錢的學區，學生們越有錢買毒品，毒品問題越嚴重。OMG，毒品，真的是讓人覺得無助。這是社會問題，我們只能做自己的這一份，結局根本就不在自己的手裡。一想以往看過的那些報導，那些被壞人盯上的人，被偷偷下藥和打針然後令其上癮的故事，就覺得毒品這個東西，真讓人無助。

Susan在上這門課的過程中，經常告訴我課上有了什麼收穫，看到、聽到、聞到了什麼了，非常地興奮。她對畢業典禮相當地期待，一直拖着不寫這門課的介紹，理由就是一定要把畢業典禮也寫進來。但是最後的典禮卻讓她有着不少的失望，好在她動手寫文章時，已經從那種失望的情緒中走了出來，對畢業典禮的評價更為成熟理性。

當我知道她有機會聞過大麻後，感覺相當地好！不給她機會聞，也許有一天她就會從好奇心開始，走進一段誰也無法預計的旅程。給她機會聞？我們也沒有那個能力啊！所以，如她在文尾的感慨，好學區還是好啊，至少能夠給孩子們開設D.A.R.E.這樣的一門課。她對那三個孩子有着深深的同情，也對自己擁有的學習機會有着強烈的感恩。這個社會是如此地不平衡，不只是中國，在美國也一樣。我們小百姓，真的有幾人會願意住進差學區，志在幫助那些更弱的人們呢？

其實我對性侵犯這一塊的教育也挺關注的，可是沒聽Susan講過很多。前幾天我想認真地和她談談，結果她卻說：媽媽，現在社會的信息渠道是如此之多，你不講，我也了解，你不用給我講了，我都知道。嗯，我都不知道說什麼好了。她那麼喜歡閱讀，我相信她的好奇心一定會讓她讀過這類東西了。最後，我只是說：不論發生什麼，千萬別因為任何人的威脅不告訴媽媽，不論發生什麼，媽媽永遠是你的朋友，媽媽永遠不會放棄你。

可是這事兒在我眼裡還是沒有真正解決好，特別是翻譯完這篇文章後，我又把這個話題重新提起。問Susan有關性侵犯的信息具體是從哪裡獲得的，她說是從平時閱讀的一些小說中了解的。我再問學校到底有沒有開過這門課。健康課上講的是生理衛生、科學常識，可我問的是生活常識，如D.A.R.E.課這種的，教會學生在遇到問題要如何處理這類。我希望孩子知道出現麻煩後如何冷靜地應對。於是Susan說沒學過，但是，最有可能的是那是七年級D.A.R.E.課的主題。我說那你這種後轉來的學生怎麼辦呢？我要儘快地跟學校和警察局聯繫，要求給你這種插班生補這種課的機會，因為這太重要了。Suasn爸於是說，去吧去吧，趕緊去找吧。嗯，我會的，這門課是如此地重要，而我自己又是如此地無力教授，我必須也只能去尋求社區的力量。美國房地產業不是有句口號“養孩子不僅僅是一個家庭的事情，更是一個社區的事情嗎”？我會認真地執行這一理念的。

附上英文原文：

D.A.R.E.

For the past few months, I took a class called “D.A.R.E.”. “D.A.R.E.” is an acronym for “Drug Abuse Resistance Education”. Like the name says, the purpose of the class was to educate young people like me and my classmates about how drugs can be abused are and how to say “no” to them. D.A.R.E. classes were taught by Officer C, a police officer who often wosrk with the students at my school. Officer C’s a really nice guy. He has been working with District ### students for a very long time. Most students, with the exception of myself and a few others who just moved here, have known Officer C since they were in elementary school. It wouldn’t be an overstatment to say that everybody likes him. He’s one of the most popular adults in the whole school.

It was probably for this reason that everybody enjoyed D.A.R.E. classes. Usually, I would not have expected a group of middle-school students to enjoy a class that teaches stuff like “How to say no to someone” or “Why marijuana is bad for you”. From my past experiences, classes that teach about life skills aren’t the most popular ones. However, when my class first heard that Officer C was going to come and teach D.A.R.E. this year, they were ecstatic! Because of this strange response to what I had thought would be a boring class, I was very interested to see what D.A.R.E. was all about.

The day finally came. The first class was on a Thursday, during 5^th period. 5^th period would normally be part of ELA class, but the school district consider D.A.R.E. just as important, so it was decided that Officer C would come to teach D.A.R.E. every Thursday during ELA. It wasn’t just our class, but all the classes in 8^th grade. It turned out that D.A.R.E. lessons were actually better than I had thought (I didn’t think it would be really bad, but I didn’t expect it to be very good either). Officer C really is a great guy. He has a sense of humor, and he treats his students like equals, a feat that few adults have managed to achieve. I ended up enjoying D.A.R.E. classes quite a lot.

Anyway, enough about C. You all probably want to know more about what we actually did in class. On the first day, we were handed three items: a name tag, a homework packet, and a class packet. The nametag was just that: a name tag to write our names on so Officer C would know what to call us. The homework packet was really colorful and neatly printed on a plastic-like paper. It was really small, with only few spaces we had to fill in. The questions were questions that made us think about how we can apply what we learned in class to our life. One of them was “We talked about refusing bad requests in class today. Write down five situations where you have witness someone refusing something. Were they aggressive, passive, or assertive?”. I liked the homeowork packet, because it helped me figure out how I could use what I’ve learned in my life.

The class packet was mostly pictures and photos and words explaining what Officer C taught us. Every year, Officer C comes in to teach D.A.R.E. classes, and every year, the main idea is different. This year, the major focus for D.A.R.E. could be found in another acronym: R.E.A.L. “R.E.A.L.” stands for “Refuse, Explain, Avoid, Leave”. Those were the four strategies Officer C drilled into us for months. I found that most of it was common sense: “If a person if offering you drugs and you don’t want it, refuse. If the person is still offering you drugs after that, you should explain why you refused. If that still doesn't work, leave the situation. Here’s something ever better: avoid that kind of situaion next time so you won’t have to go through all that awkward process.” It was simple. However even though it was common sense, everybody knows that common-sense is something teenagers lack and need. D.A.R.E. was very helpful, and it prepared me for what to say to refuse drugs. If not for D.A.R.E., I would most likely never think about what I would actually say until the day comes.

Aside from R.E.A.L., another important thing we learned in D.A.R.E. was facts about drugs. Officer C taught us about ecstacy, and about how it can come in little pills that can look like candy. He taught us how to identify them, and told us about the harmful effects those little pills can have. It sounded really horrible, just like what I had expected from a drug that was designed to make people feel “high”. He also taught us about marijuana and tobaco, and a little about alcohol. Those are the “gateway drugs”, he said, because people usually start with them, and then work their way up to more and more potent drugs like cocaine or meth. The factual information part was the most interesting. I understood so much more about illegal drugs that I had no idea of before. C showed us real-life examples. He showed us real footage filmed by a hidden camera about a drug deal, about then showd how the police came and arrested the drug dealers. He even brought in an actual marijuana pipe, and we smelled it. It smelled awful.

After a few months of D.A.R.E. lessons, we had a final test. It wasn’t really a test really, more like a quiz. It was really easy, and I think everyone passed it. Then, just this morning, we had our graduations. D.A.R.E. graduations, not 8^th grade graduations. I had envisioned it to be like a formal graduation, with each of us getting called to the stage to be presented a certificate or something. However, it turned out to be a lot less dramatic.

The first part of the “graduation” was a presentation on how dogs are used in police departments. Hinsdale does not have a canine department, but the neighboring town does, so they sent their dog (they only have one) and its owner, the police officer, to our school, and they gave us a demonstration. The police officer who trained the dog showed us how it can find drugs (he hid a tiny bit on the stage for this) and how it can follow orders. Toto (I don’t know if that’s his name, I know it begins with a T) could do both very well. I’ve never seen a better trained dog. And to top it off, he’s really cute! A magnificent breed of German Shephard.

The second, and sadly final, part of the “graduation” was about three kids. One was 17 years old, one was 18, and one was going to turn 19 soon (this last one got a loud cheer from our whole grade and we all wished him a happy early bithday). They were all drug addicts who are now currently in rehab. They told us their story and answered some questions for us. I noticed that all three of them were from really rough and poor neighborhoods. They obviously didn’t grow up with the sort of drug education like we were receiving then. That really made me realize how lucky I am, and how important D.A.R.E. is. If they had the chance to take D.A.R.E. lessons like us when they were young, they probably wouldn’t have been there today.

After some Q and A with the three guests, the graduation was over. Over! Just like that. We were told that our ELA teachers would give us our certificates next time we see them. Although I didn’t get what I had expected, I think what I got was better. Hearing from the dog trainer and from the three kids was way more interesting than going up one by one to receive a certificate. Everyone, including myself, had a lot of fun hearing one of the boys’ story. He kept on swearing by accident, because it has become a habit for him, and he kept on appologizing for it, since swearing is bad, especially in school. I think the three boys did great, and they were really brave sharing their story with us.

All in all, I believe D.A.R.E. was a success. It taught me a lot, and I am very grateful for having this class. I want to thank Officer C and all those that made D.A.R.E. possible. It has been a very interesting experience for me.