Results for last November’s FCD Survey on the school’s use of drugs and alcohol were released in January 2019. During the grade level meeting on January 15th, Dr. Lee and other counselors revealed some results. Although the presentation covered several important points, it is challenging to cover a 250-page-long report in 50 minutes. Here are some more 2018 FCD Survey results that may interest you:
4% of students, ages 15-18, who drank within the past 12 months, drove after drinking on at least one occasion.
From Key Findings Section of FCD Survey Results Report
Although only some students behaved this way, this is one of the more pressing issues we must address. As Chinese New Year approaches and more students turn 18, some students may consume alcohol. Drinking alcohol may be acceptable depending on family values; however, driving after drinking is unacceptable and dangerous. It is important for SASPD students to take care of their consumption of alcohol and their behavior after drinking.
Although only 26% of all students believe that the social atmosphere our school encourages alcohol use, 53% of the 12th-grade students believe that the social atmosphere in SASPD encourages alcohol use.
From Key Findings Section of FCD Survey Results Report
Some may think that this is natural: after all, 12th-grade students have easier access to alcohol and some of them can legally drink their home country. The survey results suggest that levels of alcohol use in the past 12 months alcohol reached 55%. Remember that 55% does not mean 55% of all seniors are drinking; even if they had only one cup of wine in past 12 months, it still counts as consumption.
There is a higher use of cigarettes and over-the-counter cold medicines in 12th grade compared to U.S norms for all available measures.
From Key Findings Section of FCD Survey Results Report
The statistic above does not mean that most seniors use such substances. Since we are in an environment with fewer regulations on those substances than US seniors, the rate of use is higher. Fortunately, the rate of usage for other substances such as marijuana is quite low. Since these substances have the adverse impact on our health, it is important for our community to discourage students from using those substances.
When we evaluate these survey results, we tend to focus on the negative results. However, there are many positive statistics that one can observe from FCD survey. 88% of our students feel they are “valued as a person” at SAS. 94% of our students reported that they typically never use marijuana. 61% of our students never had a whole drink of alcohol.