“The ethical issues surrounding brain enhancement concern the social effects of brain enhancement: How will it affect the lives of all students, including those who may prefer not to enhance their brains?” (Philip, 185).

It is true that students who prefer not to enhance their brains will feel pressured through competition to participate in the use of such drugs. However, the ethical issue I am most concerned with is what will become of students who are too young/immature to make educated decisions about what is best for them. Teachers and parents will have to act as advocates for these children’s best interest.
This concern stems from experience. In the fourth grade both my parents and my teachers thought I had ADHD. Upon referral, the school counselors tested me and determined that I was on the fence of a positive diagnosis, having displayed enough symptoms to warrant prescribed medication, but not severe enough to require it. I faced a future of dependence on brain-enhancing drugs that would, I truly believe, have deadened me to the joys of learning and the world of knowledge. Instead, the most influential teacher in my life insisted that my behavior was a symptom of boredom. He insisted I simply needed to be challenged and engaged. He provided those stimuli and the behavior that was once considered worthy of medication became one of my greatest assets for academic success. I found myself able to harness my energy to engage deeply in subject matter and my novel, albeit strange, way of thinking allowed me to make creative, abstract connections that would establish a foundation for a love of knowledge.
This experience made me a firm opponent of brain enhancing drugs. I believe that even individuals who are properly diagnosed can learn and live entirely fulfilling and successful lives without such intervention. All that is required to do so is a teacher willing to work with that student’s particular way of thinking. It goes without saying that I am a vehement opponent of prescribing such drugs to individuals of “normal” cognition.