Posted by ed_uk2010 on August 26, 2010, at 14:56:47
In reply to Re: Need advice, posted by emmanuel98 on August 25, 2010, at 19:25:11
>I think the issue is that, back in the bad old days before medication, children who couldn't sit still and concentrate on school work -- i.e, high-energy, boisterous children not academically inclined, were whipped, beaten with rulers, set to work in factories. The energy was basically beaten out of them. Now we are more humane and have outlawed child labor, corporal punishment in schools and frown upon child abuse in the home. So we medicate these children instead.
I don't think the demise of corporal punishment is in any way related to the increased use of medication :)
Corporal punishment has been banned because it is thought to be wrong, not because children are now on meds. Here in England, only a small minority of children are medicated, but this doesn't mean that we need to use corporal punishment.
In my opinion, a large proportion of children are not academically enclined. They don't like school work. It bores them to tears. They find it difficult to concentrate and so they feel restless. This shouldn't lead to a diagnosis of ADHD. This is not a mental health problem, it is normal behaviour. We need to accept that school is not actually a suitable place for many older children. Rather than prescribing drugs and encouraging such children into further education, we should allow children to leave school faily early (eg. at 14) and get them into work. Apprenticeships would be fantastic for a lot of young people. Some kids are practical, not academic. If they were able to do something useful instead of messing about at the back of the classroom, this would surely be beneficial to everyone.
poster:ed_uk2010
thread:959607
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20100821/msgs/959984.html