Los Cuatro Ojos has a funny and eye-opening comparison between the public school system in 1957 and 2007.
Here are some of my favourites:
Scenario #2: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.
1957 – Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal… Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin… Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADHD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario #5: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English, goes to college.
2007 – Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher… English banned from core curriculum… Pedro given diploma anyway… but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario #6: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.
1957 – Ants die.
2007 – ATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home… computers confiscated. Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.
(Thanks, Rebecca.)
Sorry Reed, you’re normally on the money, but I’m not buying this one. And as someone who actually has ADHD and knows of quite a few people who grew up in the 40s and 50s who nearly (or did) drop out of school because of it, I’m not buying this ridiculous assertion that any brain chemical imbalance can be fixed lickety-split by some shaming and corporal punishment.
As for scenario 6, it’s nice to know that Johnny got away scot-free back in the good old days. I’m curious how it would have gone if he’d been found reading Karl Marx.
I know you’re joking, but this entire list is poorly thought out, inaccurate, and clearly shows an ignorant idealism on the part of whoever wrote it.
Comment by Andrew — 6 June 2008 @ 1:22 pm
Andrew, I can assure you that in a battle between you and me over who is more ADHD, I would beat the hell out of you and then promptly get bored with it and start jumping around the room. You know that whole bouncing up and down while yelling “woo hoo woo hoo woo hoo” thing? Daffy Duck stole that from me.
I don’t agree 100% with the list, nor did I say I do. Usually when I agree 98-100% with something, I say it’s “spot-on” or something of the like. I don’t agree with the author that Ritalin is best replaced by beatings, but I agree with the author that the current scenario of pumping the kid full of medicine to make him “normal” and classifying it as a disability that the schools can cash in on (and they do) is grade A bullshit. I have Tourette’s Syndrome that was most likely caused by overexposure to Ritalin, Concerta, Strattera, etc. as a child. I have a friend who was also pumped full of those medicines as a child and now has a very pronounced muscular tic and some obvious physical development issues. If the child is too ADHD to function in school (I would gnaw holes in my clothing and pull my desk against my chest so hard I would bruise to keep myself from running around the class room.) enough medication for them to function as a mildly ADHD student is sufficient. To pump them full of medicine until they’re “normal” is highly dangerous and irresponsible. Mildly ADHD children shouldn’t be given medicine at all. More interactive and hands-on teaching methods can completely solve the problem of mildly ADHD students failing.
I don’t have to agree 100% with anything I find funny or enjoyable. Nor do I have to agree 100% with anything I repost here because some of my readers might find it as funny as I do.
I’m a big fan of Sexy Secularist. I’m thrilled to know you read my blog, Andrew.
Comment by Rev. Reed Braden — 6 June 2008 @ 1:48 pm
Touche.
I’m not actually qualified to disagree, since the way I eventually got over (ha!) ADHD was through about two straight months of daily 20-minute meditations in the morning.
It’s a shame that the jokes you featured weren’t as spot-on as you were. I tend to have a knee-jerk response to anything comparing us to the 1950s (generally speaking, unless segregation, anxiety pills, mccarthy, and suburban racism make it into any analysis, joke or not I dismiss it out of hand).
I’m a huge fan of your blog too. I’m in awe of your ability to actually make regularly good posts. My posting frequency has gone down to about once a month…eep.
Comment by Andrew — 6 June 2008 @ 7:37 pm
Reed: Nice position, and pretty much what I would think.
But, if the chemical is PROVEN to be harmless, would it hurt then?
Oh, and by the way, I’ve put out a DMCA to you for stealing that little routine off me – I’ll have your arse in the dock in 48 hours.
I should easily be able to pay the legal fees, since my wealth has vastly increased from the court settlement with Mr. Duck. If HE was not untouchable, YOU won’t be either.
See you in court.
Comment by Tom — 6 June 2008 @ 9:45 pm
Andrew: Meditation just makes me angry. I have very strange thoughts when I’m not preoccupying myself with other thoughts. They occasionally turn into great comedy sketches. Usually they just make me hate humanity.
I don’t consider the 50s (or any other period of human existence, for that matter) an idyllic period of rational bliss. Every decade has its cultural tragedies (20s: fiscal ignorance and irresponsibility, 30s: the irrational public infatuation with bread and soup, 40s: Nazism, 50s: McCarthyism, 60s: hippies, 70s: more hippies, 80s: hippy aftershocks, 90s: sporadic hippy-remnant
infestationscommunes, 00s: Emos), and if I considered each tragedy whenever I made a joke or retold a joke referencing past cultural movements, I would be even more cynical than I am now. That would be a near-fatal level of cynicism.Also, I don’t understand what you mean by “regularly” and “good.” I occasionally write long posts, and I could consider them as something just above mediocre… maybe supermediocre. Thanks for the compliment, but I reject it out of vain humility.
Tom: I am untouchable. I’m actually a semi-intelligent gathering of dense mist.
Comment by Rev. Reed Braden — 7 June 2008 @ 2:17 am
Reed:
There was that question I asked you, which you haven’t answered yet. Did you notice it?
Comment by Tom — 9 June 2008 @ 9:18 am
Your question is nonsensical.
It hasn’t been proven to be harmless. In fact, there is far more evidence for the opposite.
But of course if it was harmless it wouldn’t harm anyone.
Your entire comment made absolutely no sense.
Comment by Rev. Reed Braden — 9 June 2008 @ 11:27 am
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