Abstract
The paper discusses the problem of academic performance, in the context of stimulant treatment. The idea stems from the suggestion to employ psychopharmacology, at school, as the means of treating low learning progress and ADHD. The argument, which is offered in this work, states that the regular use of stimulants, in school years, provokes addiction to psycho-stimulating medicine, in adolescence. Moreover, it is claimed that psychopharmacology may be quite discriminative, at school, since the therapy, usually, targets specific social groups such as race and national minorities or children from low-income families. Conclusively, it is offered that modern educational techniques, in cooperation with psychological approaches, have to be employed to treat low school performance and create a new space for learners’ self-development without the use of stimulant medications.
Introduction: The Use of Pharmacological Interventions at Schools
The study provides a critique of the use of psychopharmacology as the means of improving academic performance in the groups of struggling children. The practice, originally, stems from the idea that it is impossible to treat all learners from low-income families, who face some problems in mastering school subjects, in individual form. Alternatively, it was offered to give stimulating medicine to learners to prevent A.D.H.D. and raise pupils’ involvement in the process of study (Schwarz, 2012). The evidence states that the extensive flow of psychopharmacology, in schooling environments, provokes off-label stimulants’ use, which may evoke negative reactions in learners. In this work, it is claimed that the sustention of similar practices has to be canceled because the misuse of stimulating medicine evokes addiction to medicine both in school years and adolescence. The claim relies on the practical investigation of professional literature, due to which stimulants’ misuse, in school-age children, varies from 5% to 9% while the percentage reaches 35% among adults, who were previously treated with stimulants.
Stimulation as performance-boosting Methodology: Visceral Evaluation
The conception of using medicine with the aim of engaging children in the learning process is frustrating, on the intuitive level. In this way, society may give up the attempts to progress in inclusive education and the specialists of the sphere prefer providing learners with artificial incentives rather than trying to develop new inspiring theories. The idea comes as particularly disruptive if one regards the issue of off-label prescription, according to which serious damages to learners’ health may be delivered. Thus, it is logical that school environments, which involve hundreds of learners, in every separate institution, can not provide high-quality control over the perceptiveness of medication by each student. Therefore, some individuals may reveal adverse reactions to stimulants.
Addiction to Stimulants: The Critique of Psychopharmacology
The appropriateness of psychopharmacology use to boost academic performance may be rebutted by the study of stimulation implications. The study was designed as the literature review and targeted the groups of children and adolescents, who are or were treated by stimulant medicine. The emphasis is given to social and racial minorities as well as the members of marginalized fraternities or sororities. The theory of performance stimulation relies on the supposition that the learners with low grades, usually, are the students from low-income families as well as discrimination-directed environments. That is why the target group is the primary subject of stimulant treatment. The analyzed review shows that 35 % of adults, who have psychopharmacology history and belong to minorities, tend to adopt stable addictions to stimulants, throughout their lives (Wilens et al. 2008).
The methodology of the study operates efficient design since it evaluates the complete profiles of individuals, who become stimulant-addicted as the result of school treatment, as well as embraces multi-dimensional perspectives on the issue. That is why, in this work, we disagree with the statement that the use of drugs, in school, may serve as the leverage for social justice for two reasons. First, it violates the basic rules of medical care since it delivers prescriptions without previous investigations of the patients. Secondly, the claim about the necessity to overtake the practice may be rebutted, because stimulation targets a specific profile of individuals – low-income and discriminated children, which is a prerequisite for imposing minority bias.
Psychology and Personal Implications
If one relates to the major implications, in the context of psychology evolution, one can distinguish certain medical aspects, which are traced through the general use of stimulants. Thus, the primary warning factor that may be taken into consideration is a physical withdrawal, which often arises when people discontinue the use of the respective medicaments. The experts report that after the treatment stops, the learners face some physical and mental reactions, which evoke repetitive stimulants’ taking. Specifically, a break in treatment preconditions long depressions, fatigue, and sleeping disorders. The constant use of stimulants, in outer-school conditions, contributes to addictive behavior, which provides serious damages to individuals’ health. Mainly, regular stimulants’ use results in psychosis, which involves hallucinations, paranoia, authoritative or aggressive conduct, etc. Finally, the medical professionals claim that taking stimulants, in most cases, leads to the gradual addictions to other drugs, which may endanger human lives (Risks of stimulant misuse, 2011).
Concerning the correlation of the issue with my personal experience, I had the experience of interacting with people, who suffered from ADHD and were treated with stimulants, in their school years. The individuals report that boosting their activity at school contributed to their inability to manage their emotional stability, in the external conditions. As a fact, many learners started using psychopharmacology medicaments when they interacted with friends, in informal environments. Moreover, the individuals who are assigned stimulants, at school, receive emotional traumas since they regard their treatment as the revelation of their abnormality. Therefore, it must be noted that learners, who receive stimulation, may boost their academic performance but, from the other side, overtake strong psychological complexes and barriers, which prevent them from full-value development.
Conclusion: The Condemnation of Psychopharmacology Practices
To sum it up, the practice of employing stimulants, at school, does not find its rational justification, according to the evidence of the damaging effects of medication on human health. Thus, the literature review, which is used in the work, shows that the attachment to stimulates evokes addictions to respective medicaments, throughout life. Moreover, the application of the personal experience proves that the use of stimulants may provoke serious discriminative patterns as well as psychological disorders, in target groups of learners. Therefore, it may be recommended for contemporary educators to embrace individualized learning methodologies, which would approach low performance, not as a psychological problem but rather an academic difficulty that may be solved with the help of modern educational techniques.
References
Risks of stimulant misuse. (2011).
Schwarz, A. (2012). Attention disorder or not, pills to help in school [Press release].
Wilens, T., Adler, L., Adams, J., Sgambati, S., Rotrosen, J., & Sawtelle, R. (2008). Misuse and diversion of stimulants prescribed for ADHD: A systematic review of the literature. Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(1), 21-31.