Friday, November 26, 2010
medicalization of children
Okay so for my history class we are doing research papers and I chose to have the topic of medications and children. Before doing this I had a little idea about the topic but I did not know how big an issue it was out there. There are so many people who are for or against it. I personally believe that we should only give the drugs to kids that need them, but after other measure have been tried. There was one thing that i found interesting and very strange. Read this article "Seeking straight A's" it is an article talking about how parents have been seeking drugs suck as Ritalin and Adderall not because their kids need it but they want their kids to focus more in school. Why is it that parents think that they need to drug their kids to focus more? Yes it is true that some kids do in fact need those drugs but the reason why some people are against it is because of this misuse of it. It is shocking that parents think that their kids need drugs to get good grades and do not have this faith that they can do it themselves. Now I just wanna know what you guys think about the topic. There are other means to treating kids than just sticking them on drugs but our society demands quick fixes. Should it be harder for parents to get kids these drugs?
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Tim, this article and blog are very interesting. I was shocked to see that the article only focused on the fact that parents want their children to excel in school and not that the parents may be confused about what ADHD or ADD is and how to notice the symptoms. It is disturbing to me that so many parents and teachers don't really know the symptoms of ADD and ADHD so they believe that because the child becomes disinterested in school or are having a hard time because of another issue that the child has it. I believe that it is our job as teachers to keep the student interested in the academic material and to know the signs of ADD and ADHD so we can inform the parents.
ReplyDeleteI know when i was reading this article I kept thinking parents actually are doing this. It also like you said people do not know the symptoms and who gets hurt in the long run the student who in fact do need the drugs. Even today, in college students can easily get adderall like it is tylenol. What is school coming to when students decide they need drugs to be able to get by? Also something I thought was interesting was that these drugs come with drawbacks like nausea, dizziness, and is some cases depression. It is disturbing like you said a parent would risk the health of their child so they could get good grades.
ReplyDeleteWow, this is really disturbing! I have personally seen the side effects of medication such as Ritalin in children, and some of them are not pretty. It's amazing to me that parents would consider putting their children's health at risk for grades. I can understand where they'd want them to excel, but my goodness, drugging them? A good education is important, but it isn't everything. The underlying message that they're sending to their children (in the cases of giving medication to children who do not have medical reasons for it) is that they don't have to work hard to achieve something, we'll just give you a pill and that will take care of it. That does not teach a child motivation, or a good work ethic. If they can't make it through middle or high school, then clearly they will not be able to handle college without adjustments in their study skills/learning habits. It seems lazy to me that parents would opt to give their kids medication instead of working with them, doing homework with them, getting them a tutor, or teaching them better organizational/planning skills.
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