Post by maxwellsearcy on Aug 7, 2011 18:23:32 GMT -5
Reading David Brooks's "The Organization Kid," I couldn't help but recall a cartoon we stumbled across in English class last year. Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) sits hunched over piece of paper, scribbling furiously as his imaginary tiger friend looks on astonished. The tiger makes a remark about Calvin's newfound work ethic and the boy responds with, "Mom says the pills must be working." The cartoon's point (and the question posed by Brooks near the middle of the article) is simple.
Is it right that we should alter our children's personalities to make them more like Brooks's Organization Kid?
Certainly there are plenty of cases where Ritalin, Adderall and similar drugs are necessary parts of a child’s health regimen, but how can a society so grounded in self worth and the principle of individuality argue for altering so many kids— “The United States produces and uses about 90 percent of the world's Ritalin and its generic equivalents.” (Brooks)– to make them more like, what seems to me, adults? As David Brooks mentions in the article, “Some physicians believe that 10 percent of all children have the sort of conduct disorder… that could be eased with Ritalin or some other drug.” Children, though, are supposed to play; they naturally imagine and create and run. The natural process of childhood involves a deficit in attention and an opposition or defiance towards authority.
Constantin Stanislavski, the founder of modern realism in theatre wrote of how differently a group of children on a play’s set would react compared to a group of adults. Of children, he wrote, “You would see their imagination sparkle; their games would be real games.” The author later asks why his pupils can’t be more like the children. As someone who is, more often than not, focused on imaginary happenings and playful energy, it is difficult to find fault with a child’s rambunctiousness.
That being said, there is an obvious difference between violent and destructive raucousness and happy, free play. The two types of frivolity coexist in most children, and perhaps the latter rears its head more often in kids with disorders treated by medicines like Ritalin. The comon solution— zapping a young person’s personality with behaviour altering chemicals— though, should be reserved for young ones that are truly in need.
Though Brooks seems to recognize a trend towards overtly preppy and hardworking students in modern society, I see a trend towards overmedication for the short-term benefit of authority figures. The prevalence of the Organization Kid might be a looming issue we have to face one day. Perhaps at some point we’ll all refuse to question authority and begin speaking in nothing but simultaneous, apologetic sentences. Until then, though, I’d recommend we all toss our Ritalin prescriptions in the trash and go out for a snowball fight with our imaginary tiger friends.
Stanislavsky, Konstantin. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood. An Actor Prepares. New York: Theatre Arts, 1936. Print.
Is it right that we should alter our children's personalities to make them more like Brooks's Organization Kid?
Certainly there are plenty of cases where Ritalin, Adderall and similar drugs are necessary parts of a child’s health regimen, but how can a society so grounded in self worth and the principle of individuality argue for altering so many kids— “The United States produces and uses about 90 percent of the world's Ritalin and its generic equivalents.” (Brooks)– to make them more like, what seems to me, adults? As David Brooks mentions in the article, “Some physicians believe that 10 percent of all children have the sort of conduct disorder… that could be eased with Ritalin or some other drug.” Children, though, are supposed to play; they naturally imagine and create and run. The natural process of childhood involves a deficit in attention and an opposition or defiance towards authority.
Constantin Stanislavski, the founder of modern realism in theatre wrote of how differently a group of children on a play’s set would react compared to a group of adults. Of children, he wrote, “You would see their imagination sparkle; their games would be real games.” The author later asks why his pupils can’t be more like the children. As someone who is, more often than not, focused on imaginary happenings and playful energy, it is difficult to find fault with a child’s rambunctiousness.
That being said, there is an obvious difference between violent and destructive raucousness and happy, free play. The two types of frivolity coexist in most children, and perhaps the latter rears its head more often in kids with disorders treated by medicines like Ritalin. The comon solution— zapping a young person’s personality with behaviour altering chemicals— though, should be reserved for young ones that are truly in need.
Though Brooks seems to recognize a trend towards overtly preppy and hardworking students in modern society, I see a trend towards overmedication for the short-term benefit of authority figures. The prevalence of the Organization Kid might be a looming issue we have to face one day. Perhaps at some point we’ll all refuse to question authority and begin speaking in nothing but simultaneous, apologetic sentences. Until then, though, I’d recommend we all toss our Ritalin prescriptions in the trash and go out for a snowball fight with our imaginary tiger friends.
Stanislavsky, Konstantin. Elizabeth Reynolds Hapgood. An Actor Prepares. New York: Theatre Arts, 1936. Print.