Illinois Trends in Elementary School Drug Education: “The Soft Sell”

Elementary school drug education in Illinois has recently undergone some major philosophical changes. Elementary schools are changing from a fact centered, “hard sell” crash program approach to programs emphasizing value activities and personal decision making about drugs within such health areas as nutrition, human growth and development, safety, disease, and mental health. Existing drug education programs have been selected from three different levels to illustrate the soft sell approach: 1) the recently published drug education curriculum guide from the Illinois State Department of Public Instruction; 2) the Drug Education Project of the Health Education Institute, Inc., of Hinsdale, Illinois, and 3) a research and development project on teacher preparation in elementary school health education at the University of Illinois.