Why is it now "socially acceptable" to drug young boys to the point of them being nothing but little lambs?

Question

It seems any behaviour that is not consistant with the herd menatity is being punished.

Boys are aggresive, loud, demanding, physical, and basicly, little monsters by nature.

That's what boys are. That is also how they position themselves for life. How else will they learn to be either the leader or the follower? Are we breeding a generation of, soon to be, men as nothing but a flock of subserviant sheep?

Or is it just so much simpler to drug the boy, have him sit quietly, rather than have hin grow to be a man?

Shinerkazzmo

The schools have "professional " staff that sells the parents on the need for medication.

Answer 1

I am not sure how to answer this question. I assume you are referring to drugs like Riddilin. When I first started to teach I encountered a few students who were on Riddilin, and the drug did seem to help the student(always hyperactive boys) to focus on the assigned activity. However, over time I found that the number of students who were diagnosed with ADHD had tripled and quadrupled, and has gone up from there. It is a condition that is grossly over diagnosed. It is an easy one to give if parents want an acceptable answer they can live with. Pharmacuetical companies make millions if not billions of dollars selling these drugs, so it is in their interest to have them over prescribed. If it used as it should be and prescribed only when necessary, it does have value and a place in the classroom. But there are so many abuses. I taught a student who was arrested by the police for selling his Riddilin medicine to non-ADHD students. There is no cure for ADHD. Children with it grow up to be adults with it; they just learn how to channel it.

Answer 2

Amen, brother!

I won't repeat my answer to your other question about masculinity, except to echo that this is also part of the emasculation of men -- taking efforts to make them docile.

[I certainly understand why some women, having been victimized by a brutal man or men, would generalize that ALL men are vicious beasts. However, though I can understand it, I'm against such blanket prejudice.]

I presume you're talking about medicines for those "attention deficit" diagnoses that I think are utter crap. Some children are high-spirited. I was VERY high strung as a child, but my parents taught me something called -- and I know this is considered an obscene term nowadays -- self-restraint. Jesus, did you know that there are some school districts that have done away with recess time in elementary schools? I learned that only last year. Recess, that time for kids to release their excess energy, is gone simply because it would be some sort of catastrophe if little Johnny got so much as a cut on his finger. And then teachers are dumbfounded when Johnny runs around his classroom because he can't sit still. The solution -- give him a pill. Utter insanity.

And you're right, there's no social interaction like in the old days [I'm only 45, by the way]. So boys don't know how to behave, either with other boys or with girls. Look at all the folks in their teens and 20s nowadays -- so much disrespect and lack of etiquette or social protocols, not to mention a lot of disaffected jadedness.

Answer 3

Mark, I am totally with you on this one. I have said it for years that drugs are prescribed to make parents and teachers lives easier.

EXAMPLE: My granddaughter's teacher in the third grade told my daughter that my granddaughter had ADD. (Strange since she didn't have a shingle outside of the classroom door with doctor's credentials.) I went ballistic. My daughter took her to the doctor. Doctor said there was nothing wrong with her and she was just advanced for her age. A couple of weeks later, the teacher called my daughter again asking why my granddaughter had not been given medication. Again, I go ballistic.

In a nutshell, we had my granddaughter tested by a psychologist who confirmed what the doctor said and that my granddaughter might be "gifted." We had her tested and she was boosted a grade (getting her away from the lazy teacher) and she was put into a "gifted" program. So what some see as ADD is merely a higher level of intelligence. So, while the teacher was taking time to deal with laggers, my granddaughter got bored.

Now that scares me if we as a people are drugging the gifted. Where will our Einsteins and Edisons be?

Great question, I applaud you!
Enjoy your day!
Let us pray!

Answer 4

Well...it's mostly all been said Mark...
I just want to add...that also I believe that schools have evolved to suit a particular kind of academic learning and many boys aren't suited to this...not enough teachers consider different ways of learning ( sometimes this is also because of constraints on their time and the straightjacketed curriculum teaching that is expected)

medication is often a sticking plaster on a problem ..the easy way out..

Answer 5

fI had a friend who has all her children on medications for almost anything you can think of. It is wrong and she says she can't handle them when they're not on meds.
I have children and will never allow anyone to put them on medication to turn them into quiet little shells of themselves. I have the time and patience and ability to deal with healthy children who are noisy and normal and it will stay that way.
It is too easy to hand out drugs and not have to deal with a child the way a parent should. Yes, the schools try to tell parents that meds are good for children. Have heard that one from my old friend.

Answer 6

I agree that young boys are encouraged to not act like young boys. Many boys in my son's class have been put on drugs to "calm" them. (My son is NOT one of them. In fact, he's in the advanced classes.)

If you've noticed, young girls have become the "new boys". Girls are now the ones who are aggressive, loud, and demanding. In school, when a boy acts the way the girls act, the boys are called down. When a girl acts that way, nothing happens.

I am thoroughly disgusted with the entire situation and truly haven't a clue about how to fix it, other than continually going to the school to check in.

Answer 7

Excellent!

Answer 8

I understand what you are saying but I definitely am not doing that with my kid...he's probably the smartest kid I've ever met-not just saying this cause he's mine...and he actually would understand what you are saying as well...he's not quiet but he understands who he needs to mind-me basically...he also knows he must question authority to survive in life in order not be oppressed...My kid takes flinstone gummies and that's it :)

Answer 9

Schools, and parents have lost their power to discipline children and therefore, they feel they have no other recourse but to put little Billy on ADHD meds and make him comply.

Answer 10

Are you talking about ADD and Ritalin? I 100% disagree with how that has been over prescribed.