Letter: Curriculum teaches kids to weigh risks

Thursday, Aug. 23, 2001 | 9:26 a.m.

Recently, an article and editorial in the Las Vegas Sun ("Panel weighs gaming curriculum for kids," Aug. 6; "Can math, gambling really mix?" Aug. 10) described events associated with the development of our curriculum, "Facing the Odds: The Mathematics of Gambling and Other Risks."

Critics raise appropriate concerns: Will the curriculum teach children how to gamble, should gambling be taught in the school system, should the gaming industry be involved?

Gambling is risking something of value on the outcome of an event that is uncertain. We all gamble in everyday life, and children are no different. Research shows that by the time they graduate from high school, almost 90 percent of young people will have gambled by placing a bet or a wager. By the time they enter the seventh grade, about 50 percent of young people already have gambled.

Our curriculum does not teach children about casino games or how to gamble. The curriculum does teach children how to calculate the risk they take when, for example, they smoke or spend money on a state lottery. Among other things, it also teaches them how to figure the return on an investment and compare it to money gambled away.

My colleagues and I conceived and wrote this curriculum before the American Gaming Association came into existence and, therefore, before they provided any funding for our research. The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health provided the primary funding for the development of the curriculum. Long after it was written, like others, the AGA reviewed the curriculum and decided to support reproducing copies for distribution.

The first principle of medical ethics is to do no harm. Every educational effort must be evaluated carefully to ensure that it causes no harm and does what it is supposed to do. Our curriculum is no different. We must train teachers rigorously and evaluate its effects carefully -- no matter where the funding comes from.

Our children, who continue to perform less well in mathematics compared to their peers around the world, deserve nothing less.

HOWARD J. SHAFFER

Editor's note: The writer is director of the Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions, which is located in Boston.