Should the government force drugs on kids?

WorldNetDaily ^ | November 15, 2003 | Samuel L. Blumenfeld

[xrp]

Neal Boortz rags on the Ritalin generation all the time on his talk show. He's absolutely right. Drugging kids is the quick and easy fix for kids who are energetic and imaginative. The teachers don't want that, they want automotons. I was an extremely energetic and imaginative kid and whenever I had energy to burn, my mother would just make me run around the house 10 times. It worked wonders. Nowadays they just pop em full of pills.

Of course, it doesn't surprise me that government employees (teachers) want to force a more docile generation of pansies, err Americans.

[EggsAckley]

Are American children more mentally handicapped than Chinese children? Are they afflicted with a mental disease that is more prevalent in the United States than anywhere else on the globe?

Are Chinese children spending 6, 8, 10 hours a day hooked on Nintendo and television? Hate to answer a question with a question, but this one seems like a no-brainer.

[cyborg]

except for the miniscule percentage of children that actually need ritalin, forcefully pushing 'America's babysitter' is to ignore so many vital social issues on so many levels.

Let's see I can think of a few:
child abuse of all kinds, sexual,physical,etc.
malnutriton/neglect (this can be tied in with abuse)
bullying
parents divorcing
parents drug abusing
parents drinking and other social diseases
basically parents not doing their job, including putting material things/people before their children

[Zipporah]

The violent behavior of elementary school children is beyond belief. I have worked in the elementary schools for 16 years and it's becoming more and more prevalent. Recently I was attacked by an 8 year old child and there was no stopping him.. he was determined. By the time the incident was over, he had hit me at least 20 times .. then hit me repeatedly with an object and head butted me ..all within about 15 mins or less. We have had at least 10 such incidents since September. What the answer is .. I don't know.

I was fortunate enough to meet Sam Blumenfeld about 10 years ago. If the pedagogs had listened to him then, our education system wouldn't be in the sad shape it is today.

[Abe Froman]

Perhaps not Chinese children, but you can bet that Japanese kids are, probably to a larger degree. So do they have the ADD issue that is apparently endemic to American kids?

[Tax-chick]

my mother would just make me run around the house 10 times

LOL - I have my sons jump on the trampoline! (We can do the running thing when we have grass instead of mud :-).

I thought it was interesting that the Chinese school was starting the day with exercise. I've been thinking that we should do that here, and I just haven't implemented it yet ... hard for me to demonstrate calisthenics when I'm 7 months pregnant ... But I'll bet it makes a big difference in how alert the students are to start the school day.

[Abe Froman]

I have an answer, explusion.

[Steve Eisenberg]

The forced drugging of American schoolchildren has become pandemic

If this was true, the teachers unions would have opposed something making their jobs harder and the bill would have been controversial rather than passing 425 to 1. Actually, schools rarely try to force parents to give a drug they don't want their kid to have. This is a feel-good bill for what is not really a problem.

Do school staff sometimes express their opinions on Ritilin strongly? Yes. So do many on FR. That is not forced drugging.

I visited a school where I was able to observe about 500 children doing their morning physical exercises in the schoolyard. I asked my host how many of these children were on Ritalin. He asked me what Ritalin was. He had never heard of it.

Remember the stories about the Chinese kids forced to spend half their school day working, including manufacturer of firecrackers. This is the true sink or swim approach to combatting ADD.

[Tax-chick]

I think I remember reading an article that said Japanese children watch as much TV as Americans - although the Japanese do much more homework, too :-). Much depends on what the schools are like, and what the culture tolerates.

I also seem to recall (sorry about the vagueness :-) that the Japanese, like the Chinese, are experiencing an increasing problem with youth delinquency and disrespect ... the "little emperor syndrome" of overindulged only children.

[suijuris]

Are Chinese children spending 6, 8, 10 hours a day hooked on Nintendo and television? Hate to answer a question with a question, but this one seems like a no-brainer.

I'm no behavioral scientist, but I've believed for some time that what we call ADD is the result of all the stimulation from TV and other electronic baby sitters while the brain is still being "hard wired" in early childhood development.

[netmilsmom]

>>Are Chinese children spending 6, 8, 10 hours a day hooked on Nintendo and television? Hate to answer a question with a question, but this one seems like a no-brainer.<<

Both of you are blaming this on the parents and I'm not saying that lazy parents do not have something to do with it, but those schools suck too. The Liberal administrators have taken away all forms of discipline that teachers can use so there is chaos in the class.

My daughter who is tested to read on a 4th grade level is failing reading in 1st grade because the teacher doesn't keep the class quiet. My daughter can't concentrate and does not finish her work. I have begged the teachers to sit her with her back to a wall so she has no one talking behind her but GEEZ. The responsibility of remaining on task is given to my 6 year old with no help. When I was in school quiet was expected.

[Steve Eisenberg]

Just found a link that they do use Ritilin in China. Not too surprising since if the generic drug companies didn't have to defend lawsuits, it would be cheap enough even for the poorest to afford:

In China, the same attention deficit problem has been noted, and Ritalin has been used as a therapy.

The link above toots specific Chinese herbal meds for ADD. Probably do about the same as Ritilin.

[joathome]

You forgot one of the worst offenders: bad daycare. Studies show that kids who spend many hours in daycare before the age of four have more ADD problems, more aggression proglems, and higher levels of the hormone cortisol in their bodies.

[joathome]

You forgot one of the worst offenders: bad daycare. Studies show that kids who spend many hours in daycare before the age of four have more ADD problems, more aggression proglems, and higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their bodies.

[cyborg]

OH MY GOD>>> Don't get me started on teachers... well yes I know it sounds like I'm blaming parents, but oh well... didn't want to sound like I woke up on Saturday on my soapbox.

This is the reason why they need to bring back reform schools and kick out badly behaved children. They're keeping back the good kids.

[netmilsmom]

I love you! Daycare is a big buggaboo of mine!

[ladylib]

Kids working in little groups just invites trouble. Lousy reading and math curriculum just exacerbates the situation.

You'd think the educators would have realized that by now.

[cyborg]

Oh yes yes of course... I was SHOCKED that women actually give up their babies after only six months!!!! This means so much on so many levels. Some women have no choice, but do they really? I mean you had the baby, now government through DSS encourages dumping little babies in daycare mills. My aunt runs a little day care, but thank goodness she's actually good. I wonder about some of these day care places though.

[netmilsmom]

>>This is the reason why they need to bring back reform schools and kick out badly behaved children. They're keeping back the good kids.<<

Last year my angel was one kid in a class of 19. Nine of those kids had problems one with CP, a girl who's parents were going nuts trying to have her neurological problems diagnosed, one with horrendous allergies, one who needed an adjustment in Ritalin (bouncing off the walls until meds at 1:30, sleep by 2:30) and five that the teacher was trying to have evalutated. This teacher and a group of parents tried to have some of these kids moved to the other classes. It didn't work. When my daughter zoned, the teacher told me that she thought she had ADD. I laughed.