How to inspire students to quit smoking?

@Green Witch,

Quote:

Dag, I have no idea why people are attracted to smoking , but I think young people are more prone to think about their wallets than the fact they are making themselves stinky, yellow, wrinkly and long term sick. Therefore, I think the best approach is from an economic perspective. The message would depend on the cost of cigarettes where you are and the cost of youth prized consumer goods. In my area cigarettes cost $8 a pack, so if you smoke a pack a day you are spending $2920 a year on your addiction. If you figure a new car costs $20,000 it means in 6.8 years you could buy a new car with cash- or you could have a huge pile of empty cigarette cartons. This campaign could be accompanied by a picture of the pile of cartons next to a picture of a new car. It could also be done with a smaller item like an iphone which costs about$400. In less than one year a person could save up for an iphone or just have a pile of stinky butts. How many hours do they have to work to support their addiction is good question to ask them. Is their first hour of work everyday going to be spent on something they are addicted to? It makes young people think about what they might value more cigarettes or... (fill in the blank).

Excellent angle.

How much does a pack of cigarettes go for in Central and Eastern Europe, anyhow?

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@Thomas,

The faculty does not smoke. Neither do I - never did, actually beyond occasional social smoking in a bar. I don't do that either anymore.

I don't think I will win them over with arguments either. They all work on the side and live on shoestring budgets, so the wallet argument won't get me far I'm afraid. In fact, I doubt any argument will get me far - I have plenty of arguments, and they themselves are a smart bunch, but the need of socialization is stronger than any argument.
I am interested in finding a way for them to socialize some other way during their breaks, so that those that want to feel included do not feel pressured to take up smoking as well as tends to happen. It's the breaks between classes - they linger in front of the building and smoke. New students who want to be "in" start smoking too.
Maybe there is nothing I can do, I don't know. Students do need to hang out between classed and after, it's a big part of the school, I just regret that at our school the ticket to the in-group are cigarettes.

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@dagmaraka,

Oh, and I would certainly not browbeat anyone. That is why I posted and said repeatedly I will not lecture anyone. Just looking for fun and creativity that can help break up a pattern. I am not a motherly type, to anyone.

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@dagmaraka,

...last addition: I am mostly sorry that the first year students go through this spiral as well. They come into our school as non-smokers, vast majority of them. By now, two thirds of them smoke- within 6 weeks. At such level, I'd say the school should feel at least interest in the issue if not outright responsibility.

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@dagmaraka,

Why not hold a fundraiser for lung cancer at campus with students participating and let the proceeds go to a local cancer treatment center.
Let the students gather material and information about lung cancer, second hand smoking and diseases related to smoking. If they're researching themselves and help fight the cause, they are more likely to not only get involved but also quit themselves (hopefully).

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@dagmaraka,

Oh, and I would certainly not browbeat anyone. That is why I posted and said repeatedly I will not lecture anyone.
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Come on there is nothing wrong with browbeating and surely nothing wrong with adults lecturing young "adults" in a college setting!

Their peers are more then willing to used peer pressure to get them to smoke so counted pressure from what is in effect are parents in locus seem more then call for. The very fact that they can be effected by peer pressure to such a degree to do something so harmful to me proved they are in need of strong adults leadership.

Yes we had seen fit to grant adults rights and duties to 18 years old in the last forty years or so except for drinking but that does not to me change a moral duty to guide very young adults from the elders of the tribe.

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@dagmaraka,

I don't think you can come up with enough things to compete with "hanging out". Why not ask the students themselves? Put up some flyers around the smoking areas saying what you asked here. Nicely confront the students about this social trend you've noticed and what do they think can be done about it - if anything. Maybe they can explain why they feel the need to smoke in order to be accepted.

I don't think the health angle works at all. I know a doctor who works in a hospital that specializes in cancer treatment, as does a percentage of the nursing staff. They hook up patients to air tanks and then go on a smoke break. He likes to say he decided to work at that hospital because he knows he'll be treated well when he gets a smoking related disease.

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@BillRM,

I just don't think it would lead to any results, Bill. I don't think it's wrong or inappropriate at times, but in my particular case I believe it would be ineffective.

GreenWitch, you are perhaps right. Not sure if talking with them straightforwardly will also lead to anything, but at least I will communicate what bugs me.

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@dagmaraka,

I don't think it's wrong or inappropriate at times, but in my particular case I believe it would be ineffective.
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I disagree but then frankly I had no hard facts to back up that opinion just a feeling that there should be very strong counter pressure to help offset peer pressure.

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@dagmaraka,

Reading the initial post again.

Is it the socializing, or the socializing outside of "your" setting that's the lure? are there any nearby cafes where the students would be welcome to come in for a coffee and chat for a while?

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I don't quite understand the aversion to "lecturing"-- particularly if you are at a school. If smoking is already prevalent, it isn't going to hurt. And if done correctly-- you could reach some of the kids... and possibly save some lives.

The goal is persuasion (and I wouldn't shy away from the fact that it is a worthy and important goal to persuade these kids(1) not to smoke).

Of course lecturing and browbeating are only two points on the spectrum of persuasion. Browbeating is probably ineffective and possibly counter-productive. But... using the moral authority you have as professor can give you quite a bit leverage.

I would certainly put the health risks in these kids faces-- and make sure they understood this choice is stupid. You could also frame this as bad corporations against kids, or peer pressure not being cool.

But I wouldn't shy away from lecturing, in addition to whatever other leverage I could use to combat the peer pressure.

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Just make it so uncomfortable that they see the need or want to quit. (the campus should be a non smoking zone)

I think the even prisons are non smoking environments nowadays.

We are talking about addiction here - physical and emotional and social.

I admire your concern. It really bothers me when I see young people smoke. They have no idea what they are getting addicted to . . .

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It's not on campus where they smoke, and they are adults, if young. Lecturing won't get me anywhere, I strongly believe that. I did speak to several of them individually, but this is not really any of my official business. They know and readily admit it is a bad idea, but are not concerned enough I guess. It is only my concern and I wish to do something IF i can (not sure) -- but it cannot be forceful as it is clearly outside of my authority. This is my civil interest, outside of my job, so to speak. I did speak to other faculty who were not aware of this trend or its' scope (new students picking up smoking in large numbers at our school), and I'll see if they will show will and interest to do something as well.

Beth, I was wondering if I can find some activities...or rather offer some space where other activities would be attractive and smoking not possible (tea/coffee room?) so that they would be less tempted to stampede outside and smoke en masse and take their talking/socializing into such space. There is still smoking in Slovak cafes - less and less so fortunately and by 2012 we have to have a full smoking ban (EU law I think) in public places. I can't think of much that would not be seen as me busting in into what's none of my business.

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@BillRM,

Quote:

Come on there is nothing wrong with browbeating and surely nothing wrong with adults lecturing young "adults" in a college

Aren't you in education yourself? This is an outrageous statement given the context. An educator should never damage the student/teacher relationship by trying to further their moral Proclivities. Our OP does not like smoking, she should refrain from the urge to push her anti smoking views upon her students. Anything that damages the relationship is not in her best interests nor that of her students.

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@hawkeye10,

No I am or was in engineering not education and there is nothing morally wrong is strongly pointing out to these fools that smoking is not cool and in fact by doing so they are announcing to the world and to any possible future employer or mate that they had very poor judgment at best.

Strange you see nothing wrong with peer pressure forcing non-smokers to take up the habit but would denial a teacher her duty to informed her students of the very bad outcomes of them giving into that peer pressure.

The kids and parents going to that school are spending a lot of funds in order to increase their chances of having good lives on one hand and on the other hand reducing that chance by smoking.

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@BillRM,

Quote:

The kids and parents going to that school are spending a lot of funds in order to increase their chances of having good lives on one hand and on the other hand reducing that chance by smoking

Well hell, why stop at smoking? Lets really help these adults improve their lives by getting up in their face about drinking, unprotected sex, hooking up rather than going into committed monogamous relationships, not wearing their seat belts...After all, we know what is best for them and have an obligation to make sure they do it, right? The Madrasah is actually the ideal education model maybe? Who knew?

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

Well hell, why stop at smoking? Lets really help these adults improve their lives by getting up in their face about drinking, unprotected sex, hooking up rather than going into committed monogamous relationships, not wearing their seat belts...After all, we know what is best for them and have an obligation to make sure they do it, right? The Madrasah is actually the ideal education model maybe? Who knew?
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And we should not tell them that wearing a seat belt is the smart thing to do or that having unprotected sex with many partners is on the whole a very dumb thing to do or that bin drinking is also a dumb thing to do if you wish for a long and happy life and in fact happen to mark you more as a child then an adult?

Adults should not be allow to interfere with the results of peer pressure in any manner as peer/group pressure is far better then adult judgment on risk or benefit of actions is that your silly position?

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@BillRM,

When exactly do adults get to have the right to live their own lives without elder direction, in your opinion? It is bad enough that you think parents should run their children's lives, but now even young adults don't have the right to their own lives according to you.

What is next with you.....all adults don't have the right to violate your version of clean living??

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@hawkeye10,

Yes I know 10 years olds should be running their own lives by your standards! A ten year old surely have the wisdom to know what is in her or his best long-term interest after all!

In addition, why and when does older adults loss the ability or right to communicate their values to younger adults?

Only people within a certain age range of the young adult have the right to communicate with him or her or share opinions of the right course in life by your somewhat strange viewpoint?

If someone born in the same year as the person in question have the right to express how cool smoking would be how come someone born a few decades earlier does not have an equal right to tell him or her that smoking is dumb and why it is dumb?

No wisdom is allow to be transfer from one generation to another in your world view and yet even the non-human higher animals transfer such information in many cases.

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@dagmaraka,

dagmaraka wrote:

I was wondering if I can find some activities...or rather offer some space where other activities would be attractive and smoking not possible (tea/coffee room?) so that they would be less tempted to stampede outside and smoke en masse and take their talking/socializing into such space.

I think the idea of finding a space they can socialize in is great. As I think back to my days at uni, we wouldn't have been particularly interested in activities - we often just wanted to hang out and talk. We either went to a coffee house or pub on campus. Talked, ate bagels and drank tea/coffee/beer, and talked more - away from instructors, t.a.'s, professors. We didn't even really like going to the grad club as there were too many t.a.'s there.

I wondered if the smoking sort of gives your students an excuse to be outside/away from the official world of school. It might seem kind of awkward to just walk outside and stand around chatting - not doing anything in particular. And who wants to seem awkward in their late teens, early twenties. Gotta be doing something - and smoking is the something in their case.

1 Reply

How to inspire students to quit smoking?

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