School's dumb parental re-education policy hurts kids

Speaking of Big Government Conservatism, this seems awfully paternalistic: A school district in South Lake, TX, is requiring PARENTS to undergo drug education classes before their kids can participate in extracurricular activities. Apparently the district thinks parents are basically clueless. KLTV News reported that the policy was motivated by:

A survey of parents last fall [which] found that 80 percent believed their children didn't drink beer, wine or liquor, while 95 percent thought their children didn't use marijuana. A survey of students, however, showed that 68 percent of juniors and 77 percent of seniors drank alcohol, while a third of juniors had tried marijuana.

So since when are privately held delusions any of the government's business? I remember for a while 70 percent of the American public thought Saddam Hussein was responsible for 9/11, but I don't recall the Bush Administration proposing any mass re-education program to address it. The irony is, where parents might resent such a course or be too inattentive to their children's welfare to attend one, extracurricular activities could offer their children role models and avenues for staying off drugs. If they're barred from the band, or sports, or the debate club, after all, teenagers are just that much more likely to spend their afternoons hanging out smoking pot.