Academic doping.

[Doodler]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14590058/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14590058/)


Academic doping — using these stimulant prescriptions in an effort to enhance focus, concentration and mental stamina — first started on college campuses, especially Ivy League and exclusive, competitive schools. Now, the problem is filtering down to secondary schools, Yates says, and more parents are playing a role in obtaining prescription ADHD medication for their teenagers.
Yates isn't entirely surprised that parents ask for it. He believes that most families simply have a heartfelt — if shockingly misdirected — desire for their children to do their best.

Wow....there just aren't words (at least none I can post here, anyway). Except maybe that parents trying to live vicariously through their children to THIS extent should be sterilized for the benefit of the species.

[Matherly]

Except maybe that parents trying to live vicariously through their children to THIS extent should be sterilized for the benefit of the species.

Um... wouldn't it be too late?

[Doodler]

Um... wouldn't it be too late?

Day late, and an offspring short, but never too late to stop them while we're behind. :)

[Gillianren]

If your kid is in high school, you're probably not planning to reproduce again anyway. But yeah, these people shouldn't be allowed to treat their kids that way. I've known a few of the results of this kind of flawed parenting in my day.

[Doodler]

If your kid is in high school, you're probably not planning to reproduce again anyway. But yeah, these people shouldn't be allowed to treat their kids that way. I've known a few of the results of this kind of flawed parenting in my day.

Yeah, I have too. I watched a straight A student in my senior year have a complete emotional meltdown over her first C. You'd think someone had shot her.

[LurchGS]

Drugs weren't involved, but I had a cousin commit suicide over his first "B". It's been 20 years, and I still haven't forgiven my aunt and uncle.

[Donnie B.]

Drugs weren't involved, but I had a cousin commit suicide over his first "B". That's exceptionally sad. :cry:

[farmerjumperdon]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14590058/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14590058/)



Wow....there just aren't words (at least none I can post here, anyway). Except maybe that parents trying to live vicariously through their children to THIS extent should be sterilized for the benefit of the species.

Most wholeheartedly agree.

[Doodler]

Drugs weren't involved, but I had a cousin commit suicide over his first "B". It's been 20 years, and I still haven't forgiven my aunt and uncle.


Cripes...:sad:

[Ozzy]

My understanding is that ADHD medication is like speed. Imagine taking speed every day for months, you'd be an emotional, sleep deprived, wreck. Finally there seems to be a change in medical thinking, as teenagers are suiciding due to their medication (the cure being worse than the disease).

My older brother would probably have been diagnosed as ADHD, but luckily in the '70's he was just called hyperactive. He did lousy at school, but was a sporting legend.

I feel sorry for the kids under so much pressure to perform that their parents resort to drugs. I also remember in the '70's hearing about Japanese students who were suiciding due to performance stress, and thinking how awful it was.
Luckily we had a counter balance of many parents who disapproved of homework, saying that 6 hours of tuition a day should be enough for the teachers to teach what they had to teach.

[Tobin Dax]

Yeah, I have too. I watched a straight A student in my senior year have a complete emotional meltdown over her first C. You'd think someone had shot her.

Eh. Make 'em learn algebra on their own (because the rest of the class isn't there yet) and get D's on their own assignments that they grade themselves. That's what I did in eighth grade. :) Of course, my first C in high school was in a cooking class that missed weeks of due to surgery. I was upset that it happened, but didn't care that much. I only earned one more C grade, and that was the following semester. Still left with a 3.8+.

[BigDon]

And you know the people who were used in that example just kept going to other doctors until they got what they wanted. I know the type.

[Gillianren]

My understanding is that ADHD medication is like speed. Imagine taking speed every day for months, you'd be an emotional, sleep deprived, wreck. Finally there seems to be a change in medical thinking, as teenagers are suiciding due to their medication (the cure being worse than the disease).

I know at least some of the medication I've been on (new meds Monday!) is contraindicated for anyone under 18. Their brain chemistry isn't settled yet, for one, and fiddling with it can have pretty snarly consequences.

[Doodler]

Eh. Make 'em learn algebra on their own (because the rest of the class isn't there yet) and get D's on their own assignments that they grade themselves. That's what I did in eighth grade. :) Of course, my first C in high school was in a cooking class that missed weeks of due to surgery. I was upset that it happened, but didn't care that much. I only earned one more C grade, and that was the following semester. Still left with a 3.8+.

I sputtered to a 2.23 finish in high school due to constant relocation and a family meltdown. Wasn't pleasant. A few years ago I started up in college working on an AA in Computer Aided Design, was managing a 3.65 (maths never were my strong suit), Dean's List, and all the good stuff.

Honestly, having become a fairly independent adult and gotten through all the crap with my family, and the fact I was piling debt on in my name to pay for it, put things in a different perspective and helped shore up on the discipline front.

[Lurker]

I know at least some of the medication I've been on (new meds Monday!) is contraindicated for anyone under 18. Their brain chemsitry isn't settled yet, for one, and fiddling with it can have pretty snarly consequences.
It's tricky business... some are and some aren't.. I do wish venlafaxine had been available when I was about 10 to 12 years old... I could have had a life...

[Andromeda321]

As mentioned earlier on FWIS...
My sister graduated from college last semester from a college that required everyone to complete a senior thesis and is pretty big on the honor code. At the time there was a big controversey because one girl finished her thesis in one night while using Ritalin, and the college did not punish her under the academic integrity code.
Personally, I figure if you're dumb enough to take such things regularly when you don't need them, then you shouldn't be surprised when your life falls apart a few years later. It does pain my heart to hear of a parent so shortsighted that they are willing to put their child's health on the line so they can brag at the office. The parents are, after all, supposed to be the ones protecting their children from the evils that can harm them.

[Tobin Dax]

As mentioned earlier on FWIS...
My sister graduated from college last semester from a college that required everyone to complete a senior thesis and is pretty big on the honor code. At the time there was a big controversey because one girl finished her thesis in one night while using Ritalin, and the college did not punish her under the academic integrity code.
Personally, I figure if you're dumb enough to take such things regularly when you don't need them, then you shouldn't be surprised when your life falls apart a few years later. It does pain my heart to hear of a parent so shortsighted that they are willing to put their child's health on the line so they can brag at the office. The parents are, after all, supposed to be the ones protecting their children from the evils that can harm them.

So this makes me wonder if these types of pills are any better caffeine pills. It seems like they can be used the same way in some cases.

[Ronald Brak]

Wow....there just aren't words (at least none I can post here, anyway). Except maybe that parents trying to live vicariously through their children to THIS extent should be sterilized for the benefit of the species.

I don't think it would really be good for the species. While extreme punishments such as sterilization might have a strong deterrent effect, extreme punishment and behaviour in one area can leak over into other areas and could contribute to someone doing something extreme with nuclear weapons or genetically engineered viruses which could potentially wipe out the species. This is why I'd be in favour of something milder to deal with the problem.

[mugaliens]

Beer. It's the only dope I did in academia.