Another Look At Values Education

A FOUR-year study of 10,000 Victorian adolescents has found that they are less likely to smoke, binge-drink or try illicit drugs if they feel safe and valued at school. They are also less likely to engage in under-age sex or antisocial behaviour such as vandalism or theft. The Gatehouse Study conducted by the Centre for Adolescent Health at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital surveyed year 8 students at 12 schools across the Catholic, public and independent sectors in Victoria. The children ...

Surgeon's Knife A Cut Too Deep

WHEN NSW Premier Morris Iemma spoke out on the subject of cosmetic surgery for adolescent girls, he struck at the heart of the current culture of obsessive perfectionism. While many people seem to have warmed to his proposal that breast implants, for instance, should not be carried out on teenagers without prior counselling and parental approval, there are broader moral issues at stake.