Academic Doping...

[Beauty Mark]

Quote:

But same as an athlete can train and eat and work for the sport and train specifically for it...should an academic be any different than an athlete?

They can train, but if you get caught using illegal drugs, you get busted. I don't see how it's different with academics.

The drugs are too dangerous to use for that purpose. What if people decided heroin was the drug of choice to ace the SATs and earn straight A's? I'm against medicating yourself for unnecessary reasons in general.

If I were a parent, no drug would be worth risking my child's health. S/he can always do something to be more educated, more whatever in society, but s/he may not regain their health to where it should be.

Off-topic, but it annoys the hell out of me how there's such a push to have smart kids. I think it's great, but why is there not an equal push to have well-mannered, nice children?

 

[fredinbed]

hello i am a teacher

in most cases giving kids ritalin is an easy way out. adhd is over-diagnosed, i think the figures are up around 1 in 10 now and there is not even a conclusive test that defines what is a kid with adhd and what is a kid who is just messing around. it excuses bad teaching practices and parenting, and neglects to consider the social circumstances of the child

give a kid ritalin and and you turn the child into the problem. personally i think it is much better to look at the whole picture first. consider what is happening in the classroom that might be making it difficult for the student, what is happening at home, etc.

as for giving out amphetamines to increase student performance in tests, that is just ridiculous. what sort of parent would even consider such a selfish act? why don't we just start passing around speed to students as they sit down for exams?