When thinking about medicating children, I often recall a New York Times article by Alan Schwarz that begins: “When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.”
Category Archives: Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond
Will you be my mentor?
“Gilligan contends that ‘relationships between girls and adult women may be particularly critical during the transition into adolescence” because girls at this juncture are eager to “seek out and listen attentively to advice from women” (p.6)”
-Rhodes,Davis,Prescott & Spencer, 2007, p. 143
I found this reading to be personally relevant. I in my higher education career have been constantly hoping for a mentor to appear to me, perhaps with a clear sign that they are the person destined to be my mentor. When I hear adults speak highly of their mentors, I long for this relationship in my own life. However, I have found that a mentor does not just choose you and perhaps I need to do more of the seeking out myself. The text states that “mentors, who are well positioned to offer guidance and growth-promoting challenges as girls strive to develop their full potential, may be particularly important” (143). Continue reading Will you be my mentor?
Paying for success
“The social implications of using chemical memory-enhancing drugs in youth and adults are far reaching.” (Philips, 2006, p. 186)
There is no doubt that students in high school today feel immense pressure to perform and succeed. As Philips explains, this pressure may be so great that students turn to drugs to enhance their performance. This is concerning on many levels, two of which I want to mention here. Continue reading Paying for success
But surely my brain won’t become desensitized
“Meanwhile, pathways associated with other interesting stimuli are left idle and lose strength. The pre frontal cortex, the pat of the brain associated with judgment and inhibitory control, also stops functioning normally.” (Phillip, pg. 165)
Life is a perpetual series of experiences, feelings, smells, sights and sounds that produces the widest range of emotions. There are highs and lows, up and downs. Some weeks I’m on top of the world and sometimes, well, I’m not on top of the world. All of the feelings that we experience are what makes us human. Continue reading But surely my brain won’t become desensitized
Hang on, let me just take this pill to graduate
“In a world where mental function can be tweaked with a pill, will our notion of ‘normal intelligence’ be changed forever?” (Philip 184).
Upon reading this passage, one may recall a film produced a few years back, titled Limitless. The story involves a writer who has lost the zest for life. He lacks a muse, his relationship has fallen apart due to his lack of motivation, and his home is far from livable. One day he comes across a pill called NZT48 Continue reading Hang on, let me just take this pill to graduate