Miss Benning was a health teacher at the most financially challenged co-educational high school in the district. Even though she had been teaching for only one year, she had already acquired a reputation as an educator with teaching techniques that motivated and encouraged the students in her class to think and to learn.
As an illustration, one Tuesday morning at 8:30 she addressed her pupils and articulated the following: “For the next four or five days we are going to learn about some basic alcoholism facts from a more wide-ranging point of view and we are also going to learn about a number of the most common signs of alcoholism from a less general and more explicit point of view.”
“Not all of these alcoholism signs will beyond doubt demonstrate that an individual with a drinking problem is an alcohol dependent person, but the more signs that a drinker exhibits, the more likely it is that he or she is an alcoholic.”
Miss Benning then informed the students in the class that each pupil would be held responsible for researching four alcoholism signs and then presenting his or her findings to the rest of the class via a five minute oral presentation.
The Students are Enthused About Giving A Relatively Long Presentation to Their Fellow Classmates About Alcohol Dependency Signs
After learning about the different alcohol addiction signs for several days, the time had come for the oral presentations. It was at once clear to see that the pupils were excited about the subject because the material that they presented was extraordinary. To say that Miss Benning was pleasantly surprised with the eagerness exhibited by the students in her classroom regarding this subject could not be overstated.
The day after all of the students completed their presentations, Miss Benning passed out a piece of paper with a list of all the alcohol dependency signs that were presented and discussed in class and in the presentations. Miss Benning then asked the pupils in her classroom to go over the list and rank the top ten alcohol addiction signs that were most indicative of alcoholism. After about twenty minutes, Miss Benning collected the sheets of paper and informed the pupils in her class that after she assesses the results, she will discuss her findings the next school day.
There was some real anticipation by the students while they were exiting Miss Benning’s class. One could swear that her students couldn’t wait for the next day to come so that they could find out the outcome of their in-class research.
The Pupils Contrast Their Answers With the Results From A Board of Substance Abuse Authorities
When the next school day arrived, Miss Benning gave out a sheet of paper that listed the top five alcohol dependency signs according to the pupils’ rankings. To the left of these results, she added another column that was labeled “experts’ answer.” She then told her pupils that the numbers in the second column she added were the conclusions that were put together by a panel of drug and alcohol addiction specialists.
Miss Benning asked the pupils in her class to go over the data on the sheet of paper she handed out and then to raise their hand if they had any issues, questions, or concerns. Within 20 or 30 seconds, just about every student in the class raised his or her hand. It was obvious that the pupils had some questions, issues, or concerns about their results versus the answers given by the authorities. For instance, virtually every person in the class disagreed with the highest ranked answer given by the specialists, to be exact, “Do you feel very sick when you quit drinking?”
The Principal Difference Between Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol Dependency is the Physical Dependency That is Experienced With Alcohol Dependency and Not With Alcohol Abuse
Miss Benning then informed the pupils in her classroom why this answer was the most straightforward indicator of alcoholism. She emphasized the fact that the principal difference between alcoholism and alcohol abuse is the physical dependency that is experienced with alcoholism and not with alcohol abuse.
In essence this means that when a person who is alcohol dependent abruptly quits drinking, he or she will go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
Miss Benning then explained to the students in her classroom that alcohol withdrawal symptoms are responses by the brain and by the body to the lack of alcohol to which they had become accustomed. Stated differently, alcohol withdrawal symptoms are messages from the brain and from the body telling an alcohol dependent person that something is dreadfully out of kilter and needs to be rectified. These messages consist of several uncomfortable, painful, and dangerous withdrawal symptoms that can potentially result in a loss of life if the appropriate treatment is not immediately obtained.
Miss Benning then went over the multitude of alcohol withdrawal symptoms that can be gone through when an alcohol addicted individual suddenly stops drinking.
The fact that Miss Benning tried to emphasize was this: an alcohol abuser can experience almost any and every one of the alcoholism signs that the students had ranked, but the one symptom or sign that few, if any, individuals who engage in alcohol abuse ever experience is alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
To state this as plainly as possible, Miss Benning stressed the point that alcohol abusers, unlike alcohol dependent individuals, are not alcohol dependent and as a result, when they quit drinking, they almost never go through alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
The Students Think They Have Uncovered A Deviation With the Findings From The Board of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Professionals
The students also had an issue with the second ranked answer given by the alcoholism specialists, specifically, “Have you ever had a drink the first thing in the morning to get rid of a hangover or to steady your nerves?”
Miss Benning informed the students in her class that this sign does not necessarily denote that the problem is alcoholism, but that it does underline the need that alcoholics have to drink in order to avoid alcohol withdrawal symptoms.
After Miss Benning explained the importance of alcohol withdrawal symptoms in the life of the person who is addicted to alcohol, the students started to comprehend the essential difference between alcohol abuse and alcohol addiction.
To add a sense of closure to the subject matter, Miss Benning asked the students in her class to take out a sheet of paper and answer the following question: “if every individual who is an alcoholic knew about every one of the alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs we have studied, what percentage of them do you think would get alcohol dependency treatment?”
After roughly one or two minutes, Miss Benning asked for the pupils’ responses. While many pupils reasoned that roughly 70 to 80 percent of individuals who are addicted to alcohol would ask for alcoholism treatment if they knew about the facts related to alcohol withdrawal symptoms and alcoholism signs, most of the pupils believed that this number would not be less than 55 percent.
The Pupils Were Amazed to Find Out That Only 25% of Alcohol Dependent People in the United States Get Alcoholism Treatment
To the surprise of most of the students, Miss Benning proclaimed that according to different scientific studies, only 25% of the alcohol addicted people in the United States get alcohol rehabilitation. This shocked most of the students because they thought that exposure to the disgusting facts and statistics associated with alcohol dependency would motivate most of the alcohol addicted people to ask for alcohol dependency rehabilitation.
Miss Benning then explained that alcohol dependent people not only need alcohol everyday in order to function but they also need alcohol on a daily basis so they can avoid possible alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Clearly, the alcoholic’s need to drink on a daily basis is stronger than logic or facts. Undeniably, due to the fact that the desire for alcohol is “reality” to the person who is addicted to alcohol, this is a challenging issue that is hard to change.
A few minutes later the bell rang, signifying the end of the class. Based on the enthusiasm exhibited by the students when they were leaving the room, Miss Benning recognized that she had motivated and stimulated the pupils in her classroom to stop and think about an important health and social problem that exists in our society.