Are these students ready to learn?

By Louisa Mu

Glenwood is a small community in Western Sydney which consists of three primary schools and one high school, Glenwood High School. There has been reports from the community that there is a high rate of Glenwood High students smoking before, during and after school, thus it is important to advocate the dangers of smoking at such a young age which can lead to potential addiction and health problems. As a community, it is important to voice this message for social change. In order to achieve a social change, it is crucial to ensure that these teenagers are aware of the concept of smoking and the consequences. By creating social change, there is a varity of information listed below that creates understanding for a teenager’s perspective. Smoking already is a negative, and young teenagers smoking can do damage to the society’s nature thus it is important to limit this problem and bring up social change. Social change includes a smoke-free area and teenagers.

Everyone should know by now that smoking and breathing in smoke is bad for you. If you have a teenager, or if you are a teenager and if you have asthma, then you would really know that it’s bad. Why?

• Cigarette smoke can irritate your airways thus making your asthma worse
• Increased chances of having asthma attacks and can damage your airways for the rest of your life
• Smoking provides your lungs with tar, which can make sports and other activities harder

Despite the fact that teenagers know the detrimental effect of smoking, the number of teens who smoke continues to rise. Why? They said…

Smoking doesn’t really hurt me

WRONG!

Smoking causes more deaths every year then car accidents, alcohol, drugs, AIDS, murders and suicides COMBINED!

I exercise, so it doesn’t really matter

WRONG!

No amount of exercise can take away the damage done by smoking cigarettes. In Australia, more than 290 people die every week from smoking, whether or not they have exercised.

Tobacco is not a drug

WRONG!

Nicotine, the core ingredient in tobacco, is more addictive than cocaine or heroin. Cigarettes are the only product that when used exactly as intended causes addiction and disease and can kill the customer

It’s not like I’m hurting anyone else

WRONG!

The danger of second-hand smoke (being around someone who smokes) is common. Second hand tobacco smoke is responsible for 2,000 cancer deaths each year, as well as 60, 000 deaths from coronary artery disease. In addition, it can cause serious respiratory problems in children, including more severe asthma attacks and lung infections.

I smoke because I choose to

WRONG!

Each year more than a million teenagers “choose to” become regular smokes. Nicotine is highly addictive that if you choose to start, you will find it hard to “choose to” stop. Tobacco corporations are making more than $200 million a year by selling to and addicting a new generation of customers — you!

Smoking makes me lose weight, I’ll gain weight if I quit

WRONG!

Smoking does not keep you slim. Gaining weight can occur when you quit cigarettes, but the amount of weight you gain is a lot less harmful than smoking. Research has shown that a person who has gained more than 45 kilograms to equal the health risks of smoking two packets of cigarettes a day. To ensure that you stay slim, exercising is vital and can also beat the urge to smoke.

Smoking relaxes me

WRONG!

It sure may feel like it is relaxing you, but the nicotine in cigarettes is actually a stimulant. It speeds up your bodily functions and increases your heart rate.

I look cool when I smoke

WRONG!

Being cool should not consist of bad breath, fingers and teeth can turn yellow and their faces get lined and wrinkled faster. The cigarette companies make spend more than $6 billion each year — $16 million every day and $11, 000 every minute on advertising and special promotions to make you believe “it’s cool”.

I’m still young; I can stop when I’m older

WRONG!

Smoking is very addictive. The younger you are when you start, the harder it will be to stop when you’re older. Also, the younger you start, the greater the chance for disease.

Why do teenagers begin to smoke? Teenagers crave to be adults, to take their place in society and to be a full adult member of the tribe. So does smoking make you an adult? Hardly. Smoking is ridiculous. The real reason kids smoke to be more adult is because rebelling is the sign of being an adult. Adults make their own choices. Children have to do what their parents tell them to do. Parents tell children not to smoke. Teenagers smoke to prove to their parents they have the authority to make their own choices. Teenagers need to be strongly aware of the consequences of smoking, and many of them wish to grow up and get married, raise a family, and live happily ever after. But will your happy ever after consist of being married to another smoker, and having kids who grow up to become heavy smokers like yourself?

Have you learnt enough to stop and discontinue smoking? Would you rather spend the rest of your life struggling to do normal day activities than to do activities with ease and no difficulties? It’s up to you.

There needs to be a social change within the community of Glenwood, and students of Glenwood High should be informed of the realities of smoking. It is best to never start. And if you have started, you must stop in order to have a fulfilling life.