School Bans Smoking For Teachers, But Not For Students

by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts) Oct 6th 2009 4:20PM

Categories: Teens & tweens, Health & Safety, In The News, Weird But True, Extreme Childhood

Teachers can't smoke at a school in Wales, but students might be allowed to indulge their addiction. Credit: stevendepolo, Flickr

A school in Wales forbids teachers to smoke on school grounds, but may create an outdoor shelter on campus where pupils can light up in between classes.

Headlands School in Penarth, near Cardiff, forbids teachers from smoking anywhere on campus, according to The Sun, but may build an area where kids can smoke while at school. "The aim is to restrict smoking to a small area," principal Matthew Burns told the British newspaper.

The British Medical Association issued a statement about the matter, according to The Sun, and called the move "inappropriate."
Inappropriate? How about crazy? This is a reverse case of "do as I say, not as I do." Adults are forbidden from engaging in a behavior most people consider to be detrimental to your health, but let's set aside a special area to let kids light up during school hours.

According to the American Lung Association, as many as 4,000 kids in the U.S. try their first cigarette on any given day, and more than 2,000 others younger than 18 become new, regular smokers. For those doing the math, that's more than 750,000 new daily smokers each year in the United States alone.

What would you do if your child's school made a move like this?

Related: School to Slaughter Pet Lamb

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Comments (2)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

AM 10-07-2009 @ 9:48AM

I'd be praising the move to have teachers be non-smoking, and fighting to have the move be a part of a universal non-smoking campus. They're policy is ridiculous in my book!
(Kids (and me) hate when teachers come back from smoking breaks...the smoke wake stinks, and their breath is worse-and teachers do talk to kids one on one...)

AM 10-07-2009 @ 9:48AM

oops: their policy...not they're...(it's early)

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