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Would You Drug Your Child to Enhance Academic Performance?
Filed under: Opinions
Giving kids stimulants like Ritalin can give them a competitive edge, but should healthy kids be drugged into success? Photo courtesy of sxc.hu.
Parents of non-ADHD children would be willing to give their kids ADHD drugs to enhance their academic performance, according to a recent article about neurologically enhancing drugs in The New Yorker. This troubling trend is on the rise, health experts say, thanks to our cutthroat culture.
A study in the journal Nature found that parents of children who do not suffer from ADHD or ADD would be willing to give their younger kids neurological stimulants in order to help them power through their academic experience. While that surely raised my eyebrows, it doesn't surprise New York City pediatrician and Cornell University instructor Dr. Anatoly Belilovsky.
"These stimulants have been in use, particularly by various military forces, since at least World War II," says Belilovsky. "We know cocaine as a rapid-acting, highly addictive drug today, but its 'sustained-release' formulation, chewed coca leaves, allowed many generations of Andean warriors to maintain peak fighting efficiency. It was clearly destructive in the long run, but as it improved their chances of survival in battle, it allowed them to have a long run in the first place."
OK, so the military uses it. But giving it to kids? Just to make sure they ace that math test? Doesn't that seem a little extreme? Sure, says Belilovsky -- extreme, but not all that unusual. He cites stage moms, pageant parents and the academically competitive as "archetypes" who would be willing to enhance their kids' performance by any means.
"This is a more common situation and tendency than many might realize," he says. "Asking for stimulants to beat other competitive school applicants is not a far step from yelling 'Kill him!' at a hockey game. It is perhaps worth noting that ours is not a society that eats the runts of its litters, but enough families act as if it were."
Giving children these drugs (when they are not medically necessary) can give them an edge over their "un-enhanced peers," says Belilovsky. "Imagine your thoughts jumping around inside your brain like middle-schoolers at recess," he explains. "Stimulants make them behave more like Marines on maneuvers."
Getting into Harvard certainly would be a coup for any child, but there are side-effects from these drugs, and using them for this purpose is "off label" (not approved by the Food and Drug Administration). "While many physicians are prescribing these drugs for non-ADHD patients, I do not recommend this at all," says Belilovsky. "The side effects, like dehydration, crash and burn, appetite loss, and nausea outweigh the benefits when someone is able to function normally and be productive through their own focus, without the aid of drugs."
There is also the risk that kids could suffer from a hyper-focused state, become obsessed with non-essential tasks, or even experience clinical paranoia. They could also have sleep issues, says Belilovsky.
Sounds like the risks outweigh the benefits to me. Then again, my kids are 4 years and 9 months old. What lengths would I go to in order to see them succeed? While I'd like to think I would allow them to develop naturally, I've already experienced bursts of hyper-competitiveness: She can't do the right pencil grip! He isn't waving bye-bye!
My husband is a Harvard graduate and a doctoral candidate. I was a lackluster student whose unrealized potential haunts her. I'd say we have lots of reasons to push our kids to do well, and society is so focused on outward success. I hope we never succumb to these pressures, but I sure can see why you would.
Would you give your kids unnecessary drugs to help them do better in school?
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
5-11-2009 @ 2:07PM
FJ said...To answer the question in the header: NO! :)
The idea of giving kids drugs intended for those with ADHD just builds the walls higher and higher around kids who don't use those drugs and who don't have a natural need for them (actually, ADHD is overdiagnosed, so even most that "have" ADHD don't need these drugs).
Parents are so afraid that their kid won't be the smartest one in the class that they're willing to do this? I was never the smartest one in the class but was happy with my chlidhood & upbringing...that's a hell of a lot more important than being stoned all the time at the hands of parents for the sake of a few points on a test (and it probably won't work anyway).
Kids have minds that wander...let them. They are not meant to be 100% focused on work all the time. In fact, neither are parents - humans aren't wired that way. To the parents who would do this, I say, stop tryiing to turn your kids into robots.
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5-11-2009 @ 3:24PM
LS said...What. the. H***?????
When did we become a society that.... oh, the heck with it. This country is becoming more and more pathetic by the day.
Drug the kids to "make them smarter", then wonder why they dope up to make the football team.
Teach them that their only worth is revealed when they get into Hahvahd, then wonder why they end up dead from a stress-induced heart attack at 30.
Honestly, these people call themselves "parents"??
I call them incompetent.
There's more to life than monetary success and climbing the corporate or societal ladder.
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5-11-2009 @ 9:05PM
Tammy said...Children who are tested extensively by a psychologist and are diagnosed with ADHD or ADD as ours were, benefit from medication to help with their disorder. We didn't have our children tested because we wanted A students but because they were making D's and F's and felt like they were stupid and unworthy (classmates can be very cruel). As parents we knew that they were intelligent kids but that there was a problem, a problem that could not be solved by tutors, more studying or punishing them when they brought bad grades home (all of these options were tried). No we are not aiming for them to be doctors, lawyers, or some corporate CEO, but to graduate from high school and hopefully college with a degree in the field of their choice. Testing included test to diagnose learning disorders which thankfully they do not have. They only take their medication on school days, not at all on weekends, holidays and during the summer break. Their doctor tells us they will most likely be able to stop taking medication for their ADHD when they are older, usually around the age of 16, the ability to remain calm and attentive comes with age. Unless a person has experienced ADD or ADHD with their own children or personally know someone who has, they really should not judge those of us who do deal with it on a daily basis.
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5-12-2009 @ 9:35AM
LS said...Did you read the article? Your kids are obviously under a physician's care, and the meds are necessary and monitored. The article was not referring to you, nor to parents like you, who are trying to help their kids by giving them legitimate assistance.
The article is about parents of "normal" (non-ADD, ADHD, etc) kids, who are giving them drugs to enhance their academic performance, just like those who give kids steroids to improve their performance on the football or baseball field.
It's pathetic, and it's wrong.
5-11-2009 @ 10:46PM
SKL said...I have been thinking about this issue for a while. Why is the news full of athletes being demonized because they take performance-enhancing drugs, while nothing is said about academic performance-enhancing drugs used by school kids? Either it's ethical or it's not.
It ought to be illegal in most cases - and I'm pretty sure it is - so what the heck? Well, this is a result of people pushing so hard to make ADD kids more accepted/understood. It gets to the point where kids on these drugs appear to be the best students in the class, if you believe everything you read. Naturally if some kids appear to be getting an advantage, others are going to want it too. We never hear about the side effects or long-term cons.
Whatever happened to good old fashioned responsibility, discipline, hard work, and having to "earn" rewards?
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5-12-2009 @ 10:23AM
Mary Sullivan said...I have to respectfully disagree that this is a result of pushing for ADD/HD acceptance and kids with these disabilities suddenly becoming the best students in class. That has NOT been the case for my sons, 2 out of 3 of whom have ADD. They have to work 10 times harder than typical peers and are certainly not at the top of the class, despite using carefully prescribed (and physician-monitored) medication. Same with the handful of friends they have who are treated for attention problems. Even with medication, it takes my 12-year-old 3 hours to write a paper that peers can knock off in 30 minutes.
Parents drugging kids with no clinical problems bear 100 percent of the responsibility. This is not about societal pressures or any other B.S.--it's about parents stepping up and being parents. There are definite risks to these medications. You use them only when the risk of NOT using them--e.g., the risk of developing depression after years of negative feedback from basically everyone around you, due not only to school problems but social and life skill deficits--true ADD/HD affects all these things; safety issues related to very poor or inconsistent focus; potentially higher risk of substance abuse (some studies show untreated ADD/HD kids end up "sellf-medicating" more with street drugs and alcohol)...etc. It is a major decision that, for me personally, took years to make for my kids.
You'd have to be a complete idiot to give your kids stimulants or any other prescription medication without a legitimate diagnosis. I hope the doctor quoted is grossly overestimating this trend. If it's not illegal for doctors to write these Rxs, it sure should be.
Mary
http://www.squidoo.com/focusbetter
5-12-2009 @ 5:55PM
Tammy said...LS
My comments were not aimed at people like you who understand that there is a need for medication to help kids with legitimate ADD or ADHD like mine. I am somewhat bitter on the subject because it has been my experience that many people believe that giving medication is about not being a good parent. I personally don't know any parent who is purposely giving their kids these drugs just to enhance their test skills. I have to believe that the person who wrote this article has over exaggerated the number of people who do this. Drugs to treat ADD and ADHD have been black listed and many doctors will not prescribe them because of the paper work that is involved. Unfortunately most anyone who wants these drugs can buy them off the streets and if they are over medicating they are harming themselves.
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5-15-2009 @ 4:12PM
Sara said...I see where you're coming from, but we also get to remember just how much pressure some parents, and kids, are under. We probably are NOT talking about parents who blithely hand their children pills so that they can get an A instead of a B. That might happen, but probably not in many cases.
Most likely, we are talking about parents who are hyper-sensitive to their child's successes and failures. Someone who is very focused on the importance of each test score will probably be extra-worried over any bad marks. That person is also more likely to hound their doctor for medications to fix "the problem", but out of concern. So parents don't have to be evil or stupid to over-medicate their children... they just have to lose sight of the big picture.
5-15-2009 @ 4:04PM
Sara said...Like most people commenting, I don't like the idea that children without a real medical issue are being given drugs to meet short-term performance goals. Most of my reasons are the obvious ones: it's not good for them physically or mentally, it promotes an unhealthy amount of pressure, etc.
Here's another reason, though: drugs become a crutch, and crutches can be taken away. Thirty years down the road when these children are hitting middle-age, they might have to make a choice between giving up the drugs or giving up their health (mental or physical). Then what? Their careers have been built using these drugs, and they've never had to train themselves to focus on their own. Or perhaps there's a disaster and they're deprived of their drugs for an extended time.
Besides, I happen to believe that the process of learning to focus teaches us a great deal, and depriving our kids of that process is a disservice.
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7-09-2009 @ 3:06AM
Eva said...I am ADHD and I do just fine in school. Im in top 20% of 500 kids and i scored fine on my SAT & ACT. ohh and I DONT take any drugs what so ever. I tap my foot, and i teach myself what i wasnt payin attention to the teacher for. its simple, ADHD or not the drugs really dont help that much. I compete with children taking ritilin and welbutrin everyday and I beat them, the best part is I truly am ADHD and i gaurentee half of the others are eaither sneaking the drugs or have been wrongly diagnosed. its pathetic that parents give these pills to their children wilingly just because they want them to perform better. when in reality, if your kid sucks at school, they suck at school. get over it. dont ask your family practitioner to look into an ADHD diagnosis, its actually very difficult to diagnose so he/she will most likely just give your kid the drugs and see what happens. I on the other hand was properly evaluated and given the drugs and did nothing differently so I stoped taking them after 5th grade... its the difference between wanting to suceed and thinking youve found a way to cheat and still win. Your kids problem isint that they cant sit still or listen, its that they dont want to so they dont try.
Ohh & side note, ive watched multiple "ADHD" students be taken to the hospital due to albutrin&ritilin related issues, and they were on perscription, and they hadnt over dosed...its just that harmful.. watch what you give your kids people, your really not helping anything or anyone...
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7-26-2009 @ 7:23PM
kumikoemi said...The degree at which ADD / ADHD is exhibited varies by individual.
You are one of the lucky ones unlike myself.
Yes obviously taking high doses of any medication will be detrimental to anyones health. Medication is necessary for some and not for others, it is unfair for you to judge the usefulness of medication for ADD and ADHD so generally when it is a disorder that is unique to each individual.
7-26-2009 @ 6:45PM
kumikoemi said...I'm 17, have ADD and do take medication. However, I do not believe I have an advantage over my peers in any way. Although the medicine helps me focus and be organized it does not make me any smarter or faster at doing school work: For examples
1. I struggle with organizing my thoughts and then forming them in relevance to question being posed to me (whether it be in writing or speech)
2. My train of thought would be interrupted easily by noises that normally would not bother others doing the same task.
3. Attention span, as defined by the name of the learning disorder. I find it boring to make eye contact during conversation, I actually have to tell myself not to look away if it continues past a minute.
4. Fidgeting = problems and distractions
5. ANXIETY and POOR SELF ESTEEM
These problems especially 1-3 are helped by my medication greatly due to how it stimulates my briain. With problems 4-5 it is an after effect of the medication, through it I regain self confidence in my intellegence in comparison to my peers as well as feel more relaxed knowing that I am not stupid or dumb.
Thus I find it offensive that parents think that these medications will magically give their children some genius. The medication is meant for children with ADD / ADHD and parents whom give it to their children as a stimulant drug might as well just give em' cocaine.
The medication is not an advantage to me, it enables me to have the same potential as them. In fact those whom take these medications that do not have the learning disorder have the advantage over me. (disgusting, repulsive, the list could go on but I regress. . . .)
Harvard does not care about grades alone, it is also character. So parents whom drug their kids for that reason may find themselves at a loss when the rejection letters fly into their hands.
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