My name is Dylan, and Im 8 1/2 years old. I dont like going to the doctor. But my mommy said I had to go today. She said the doctor would make me better. Thats good, I guess. But I dont feel sick at all.
But it wasnt so bad this time. Normally I go and see Dr. Chung when Im sick and he uses a tongue depressor and gives me pink stuff and I dont like the tongue depressor cause it makes me gag, but I really like the pink stuff. Its really good.
Anyways, this time I went to see Dr. Ciba. Dr. Ciba was really nice and he didnt use any tongue depressors at all. He just wanted me to play with things and answer questions. After Id say something hed make a mark on his paper but he didnt write as much as Dr. Chung does when Im sick.
Sometimes when the teachers talking about something I really want to go outside and I really like recess cause we get to go outside and play games. Sometimes I want to go outside so bad I cant sit down and I want to start playing a game right in class. Mommy says thats why Im sick and that I have to take a pill every day that will make me better.
She says lots of other kids have to take the pill, just like me.
Mommy is right. A lot of other kids in America have the same problem as Dylan, and they have to take the pill too.
One of the cutest things I notice about little kids, little boys in particular, is their eagerness to play. Give them someone who wants to play wrestle, and instinct completely takes over as they crawl and grab every body part they can climb. At restaurant meals, it is absolutely impossible to maintain more than one 5-year-old. They are just too energetic.
Theyre born that way. Little kids motors run faster than ours by design. At this stage of their development, they want all the movement and play they can get.
It doesnt help that the modern, fast-paced way of life that runs us so dogged also affects them. If theres ever a dull moment, kids have access to chat rooms where they can talk with 20 people at the same time, or a CD-ROM where they can command an army of spaceships against some aliens.
And if none of these are accessible, theres always Lucifers Box, a strobe light that pacifies kids into zombies with rapid, three-second scene depictions of the most exciting parts of adult life. At my parents house, my sister has a menu of around 300 channels to choose from. Children grow up used to a constant stream of entertainment.
In todays society, their minds are flying just as fast as their bodies. And the pharmaceutical industries solution to our childrens difficulty concentrating is to give them an amphetamine we know nothing about.
Hailed as a wonder drug, Ritalin makes kids more docile and easier for teachers and parents to control by removing their creative impulses to use their imaginations and let their minds wander. It also makes them less prone to want to play.
It wouldnt be quite so outrageous if doctors had any idea what they were doing. But Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) dont manifest themselves physically. These things kids are taking pills for are not diseases. Theres no physical examination a doctor can do to determine if a child has ADD or ADHD. And theres no evidence whatsoever to indicate that it results from a malfunction in the brain or body.
Were expected to believe all those kids in American classrooms forced by their parents to take amphetamines just have bad chemicals in their brain. Right. And I suppose because boys are diagnosed five times more than girls, boys are five times more likely to have these bad chemicals.
But, Andrew, you say, my doctor wouldnt give anything to my sibling/child that they didnt understand. Think so? Well, lets look at the manufacturers definition of how Ritalin works. It works like this: There is neither specific evidence which clearly establishes the mechanisms whereby Ritalin produces its mental and behavioral effects in children, nor conclusive evidence regarding how these effects relate to the central nervous system.
Uhh OK. Thanks. Well, what do we know about it? Its classified by the government as a Schedule II drug - the same category as cocaine and heroin - with a high potential for abuse. Its highly addictive, and it certainly stunts growth in children. Thats about it.
Its an amphetamine. Thats all. Thats what millions of kids all over America are being prescribed for their disorder every year. That it works is completely irrelevant. Its dangerous, its synthetic and, most of all, its unfair.
Kids need to learn how to deal with all their mental and physical energy. And I think the first step, as simplistic as it sounds, is to unplug that ever-present television. No human can possibly concentrate on a teacher for eight hours straight. How can we expect our children, with all their energy, to do it when they dont even know how to be alone with their thoughts?
Chemical stimulants are nothing new to our culture, and it is with a sense of irony that I finish my second cup of coffee as I write this conclusion. But to force an amphetamine we know nothing about upon an entire generation of youth to make them more pliable is horrifying. In my eyes, its like me showing up at your house every morning and forcing you to snort a line of cocaine.
These drugs are a simple and lazy solution to a very complex problem that needs more than prescription. It needs attention.
Andrew Banyai, a political science and pre-law junior, can be reached at banyaian@msu.edu.