Mention the words “social norm survey” to a Paly student, and it is likely that a look of hatred or despair will flash across his or her face.

Why is this? Is it because the annual survey, which students will take today and tomorrow, deals with controversial topics? Is it because the student has some deep moral objection to tell others whether he uses drugs? No, the most common belief is that the survey is a frivolous waste of time.

This thinking is dead wrong.

The social norms survey is important for several reasons, beyond simply having the opportunity to spend part of an English period in the computer lab checking the latest ESPN scores.

A common complaint about why the survey is a waste of time is that the survey assesses a problem that we already know about. Yes, we know that drug abuse exists at Paly. However, people’s conceptions of the extent of drug abuse vary wildly. No accurate information about the extent, the number of people using drugs, would exist without a social norms type survey.

Gathering information about the extent of drug abuse is more important than people may initially realize. Not only does the survey influence individual decisions, it also provides that information to those in positions of power. If lawmakers and civil servants do not know how prevalent drug abuse is, they cannot make intelligent and informed decisions. Whether they are actually capable of making intelligent and informed decisions is not a failure of the social norms survey.

Certainly, there are problems with the survey. Attempts to spread word of the result seem like attempts to whitewash the results. On the back cover of the 2005-2006 Paly planner, it claims 67% of Paly students have never used marijuana. This obviously means 33% of the student population has used marijuana. Nobody can seriously believe this is good news, unless their goal is the promotion of drug use.

People say they lie on the survey, submitting falsified answers and clicking random choices. Accounts of people smoking across the street in the Town and Country parking lot while the English department is administering the social norms survey add a pathetic underscore to the situation. However, these issues are not a problem inherent in the survey. If people treat the survey as a joke, they cause the survey to actually be a joke, allowing those same people to complain about the survey being a joke.

The social norms survey is not a joke. We must understand a problem — for instance, drug abuse — if we are to do anything about it. The student population must treat the survey seriously. It is important as a student, as a citizen, and an intelligent human being.