• Question: Do you think schools play a big part in educating children that smoking and drinking alcohol is bad for you and that it can cause diseases?

    Asked by Erin Male to Sam on 10 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Sam Smith

      Sam Smith answered on 10 Mar 2016:

      Hi Erin,

      A very good question. I think it’s very important that schools play a part in educating children. We spend a long time there (indeed to majority of our waking life!) at school when we’re kids. So making sure that at least some of that time is spent educating us on our long-term health is an important goal.

      But, how do we go about doing that? Lots of health education in schools is poorly evaluated. And what I mean by that is that we’re not quite sure if it’s working. For example, a lot of health education uses case studies of poor role models who smoke. But that can end up having the reverse effect and encouraging smoking! So while I think schools play a big part in educating children, we as researchers have an equally important role to play in ensuring that the education you receive is doing good rather than bad.

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