Consider the following: More schools are considering drug testing. More schools are considering drug testing since the Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional, observers say.... [NCPA Headlines]

While we might argue the tragic and bitter while deciding whether or not to test for drugs in the schools, I think that it must be done.

Many arguments of support are possible but the central one has to do with guaranteeing the integrity of the school as a the central public learning support resource. You can decide to protect against pharmaceutical challenge to this process on an individual basis, certainly. But the argument to protect against the challenge to effectivew function of the school as a whole, that is generated by drugged students, is more central.

The school's primary mandate is to educate. In the past it has --I would argue --mistakenly taken on other social support functions which have rarely provided direct aid to the educational function. Thise are arguments for days, however. At issue here is whether the schools , for the sake of the integrity of their mandate, work to eliminate the incursion of mind altering, disorder-making drugs. I say it must be done in order to secure the stability of the learning environments that are functioning within the schools.