From: spl@alex.uucp (Steve Lamont)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Re: Drugs in the Classroom  (Was - Re: Re: Creed.)
Date: 1 Oct 1992 18:40:13 GMT
Organization: University of Calif., San Diego/Microscopy and Imaging Resource
NNTP-Posting-Host: alex.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Oct1.140122.5963@balrog.dseg.ti.com> keith@balrog.dseg.ti.com (Keith A. Schauer) writes:
>If a child can't remain seated, can't stop taking, and disrupts the classroom,
>you call this CREATIVE?  Wow!  Life would be pretty easy wouldn't it.  Stand
>up, walk around, talk loudly and don't listen to a teacher means being 
>INDIVIDUAL.  Well, if 29 out of 30 students don't have this problem in a class
>why is the teacher failing?  Or is it the child?  I would love to see this
>situation taking place in your children's class.  Daddy, I didn't learn anything
>today becase Joey wouldn't sit down or keep quiet.  The teacher had to chase him
>around the room a couple of times.  We missed an hour of math and now our class
>is behind the rest of the school.  But thats OK, Joey is just being creative
>and individual.  

... and the teacher is too uncreative and the coursework is so
unstimulating that probably half the class is bored to tears.  The
point is that the curriculum should be interesting enough and
challenging enough for Joey that he won't *want* to disrupt the class
because he'll be so fascinated with what he's learning.  The easy
solution is to brand the kid hyperactive or emotionally disturbed or
whatever and feed him Ritalin (probably more likely than Prozac, which
is an antidepressant) to quell his "Attention Deficit Disorder" or
"Hyperkinetic Child Syndrome" (source: _Physician's Desk Reference,
1991_, p. 865) until he shuts up.  There's a difference between a
child who is unchallenged and bored by his educational environment and
one who is disturbed or hyperkinetic.

>And don't forget, that now the other 29 children have a learning environment
>they can handle.  Joey, since he can now control his own emotions and actions,
>can learn also.  He can learn how to interact with the rest of civilization.
>He can learn appropriate behavior for the classroom, and maybe the office.
>Maybe, he can actually succeed in society.  (and make BIG BIG bucks like 
>scientologists do)

Well, he can fit into a society that is so badly broken it's hard to
know where to begin fixing it but I don't call that a small-w "win"
for Joey or for society, in the long run.

[BTW, I'm not now nor have I ever been a Scientologist, nor am I an
apologist for a Scientologist.  I haven't even been able to get
through LRH's SciFi]

>BTW, do you have any experience with hyperactive children?  Worked with them or
>know them/or their parents personally?  Know any children on Ritalin?  Have
>children of your own, children in school?

I can say that I'm thankful that I've managed to avoid bringing any
more mouths to feed to this planet.  (And so are you, no doubt :-) )

I have observed a few children over the years, however, and seen what
the whole system can do to an energetic, creative, intelligent young
mind when it decides that it's "disruptive."

I've just looked up Ritalin in the PDR, too.  A few extracts
[typographical errors are, of course, mine]:

"CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY

"Ritalin is a mild central nervous stimulant.

"The mode of action in man is not completely understood, but Ritalin
presumably activates the brain stem arousal system and cortex to
produce its stimulant effect.

"There is neither specific evidence which clearly establishes the
mechanism whereby Ritalin produces its mental and behavioral effects
in children, nor conclusive evidence regarding how these effects
relate to the condition of the central nervous system." 

...

"INDICATIONS

"Attention Deficit Disorders, Narcolepsy"

"... Ritalin is indicated as an integral part of a total treatment
program which typically includes other remedial measures
(psychological, educational, social) for a stabilizing effect in
children with a behavioral syndrome characterized by the following
group of developmentally inappropriate symptoms:  moderate-to-severe
distractability, short attention span, hyperactivity, emotional
lability [labile: unstable, liable to displacement or change -- spl
from the Concise OED], and impulsivity.  The diagnosis of this
syndrome should not be made with finality when these symptoms are of
only comparatively recent origin.  Nonlocalizing (soft) neurological
signs, learning disablilty, and abnormal EEG may mor may not be
present, and a diagnosis of central nervous system dysfunction may or
may not be warranted. ...

"WARNINGS

"... Sufficient data on safety and efficacy of long-term use of
Ritalin in children are not yet available.  Although a causal
relationship has not been established, suppression of growth (i.e.,
weight gain, and/or height) has been reported with the long-term use of
stimulants in children.  Therefore, patients requiring long-term
therapy should be carefully monitored. ...

"Ritalin should not be used for the prevention or treatment of normal
fatigue states. ...

"Symptoms of visual disturbances have been encountered in rare cases.
Difficulties with accomodation and blurring of vision have been
reported."

Just the thing to feed to a child whose only problem is most likely
boredom.  (Remember, that's what we were originally discussing, not
profoundly disturbed children, just profoundly bored ones.)

>>Wholesale, indiscriminate drugging of children isn't the answer to
>>anything.
>
>I agree. indiscriminate drugging of children isn't the answer.  Where is the
>indiscriminate part? Does that mean that all drugs are evil?  That no one
>should take drugs?

No.  But if you read that into my comments, then I guess I'd better
toss it in right now.

If I was anti-drug, I wouldn't be working with people who are studying
the neurochemistry of the brain.  I am dubious, however, of a system
that seems to be relying more and more on drugs and other easy answers
to maintain a docile and pliant populace.
-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (619) 534-7968 -- spl@szechuan.ucsd.edu
UCSD Microscopy and Imaging Resource/UCSD Med School/La Jolla, CA 92093-0608
"If you don't think people are this crazy, you need to move to LA!"
                                     - Gary Stollman
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology