Bells and Whistles
It's been a few weeks since I stopped teaching, and I think the time has allowed me to view the situation more objectively. Don't get me wrong- I still hated it- but now my criticism should be more disciplined.
If I had to nitpick one basic character trait among my students, it would be the fact that (almost) none of them could or would focus on any one topic for more than fifteen minutes. Countless times I tried to engage them in conversations where I anticipated exploring different mental passages in a voluminous cavern only to have them give the "textbook answer", smile at themselves smugly, and wait to move on. There was no interest to actually question the response or ponder what would change if the situation were different. They are water-bugs, gliding soundlessly over the pond of thought. They give no heed to the depths, content to move quickly across the surface.
In high school, I liked to take a problem and work it around a while. There's a mysteriousness to silence I've always enjoyed. It is refreshing to just sit and let the mind think sans distractions.
My students were exact opposites. They searched out distractions, as if afraid of what might happen if they stringed more than two thoughts together. They were afraid to be alone with themselves, if only for a moment.
Of course, the modern recourse is to shout, "ADD!" and all is necessarily forgiven. I believe that ADD is a true condition (parts of which I suspect I may have) but overall I thinks it's wildly over diagnosed and used as an excuse for every single behavior.
If I were a physician, I would administer the following test for ADD. I would sit the kid in a room and bring in a huge stack of one dollar bills. I would tell the kid that for ever dollar he counted he could keep, but he had to know the exact count when the experiment was over. A true sufferer of ADD would quickly lose focus and look for something else to do- whereas the average student on medication would sit for hours and hours counting the money, stacking it into little neat piles and keeping count. Why? Because kids can't focus on schoolwork because they don't want to do it. I've seen some of the worst students spend hours on the library computers designing their race cars- choosing paint colors, adding rims, spoilers, the works- but they can't sit and work on vocabulary for ten minutes.
ADD my ass. They're not learning because they have no vested interest to do so.
Sidebar: I've told countless students that I suffered from SUB-tract disease- not a one of them ever got it.
If I had to nitpick one basic character trait among my students, it would be the fact that (almost) none of them could or would focus on any one topic for more than fifteen minutes. Countless times I tried to engage them in conversations where I anticipated exploring different mental passages in a voluminous cavern only to have them give the "textbook answer", smile at themselves smugly, and wait to move on. There was no interest to actually question the response or ponder what would change if the situation were different. They are water-bugs, gliding soundlessly over the pond of thought. They give no heed to the depths, content to move quickly across the surface.
In high school, I liked to take a problem and work it around a while. There's a mysteriousness to silence I've always enjoyed. It is refreshing to just sit and let the mind think sans distractions.
My students were exact opposites. They searched out distractions, as if afraid of what might happen if they stringed more than two thoughts together. They were afraid to be alone with themselves, if only for a moment.
Of course, the modern recourse is to shout, "ADD!" and all is necessarily forgiven. I believe that ADD is a true condition (parts of which I suspect I may have) but overall I thinks it's wildly over diagnosed and used as an excuse for every single behavior.
If I were a physician, I would administer the following test for ADD. I would sit the kid in a room and bring in a huge stack of one dollar bills. I would tell the kid that for ever dollar he counted he could keep, but he had to know the exact count when the experiment was over. A true sufferer of ADD would quickly lose focus and look for something else to do- whereas the average student on medication would sit for hours and hours counting the money, stacking it into little neat piles and keeping count. Why? Because kids can't focus on schoolwork because they don't want to do it. I've seen some of the worst students spend hours on the library computers designing their race cars- choosing paint colors, adding rims, spoilers, the works- but they can't sit and work on vocabulary for ten minutes.
ADD my ass. They're not learning because they have no vested interest to do so.
Sidebar: I've told countless students that I suffered from SUB-tract disease- not a one of them ever got it.
posted by Yorick at 11:47 AM
1 Comments:
having worked with troubled youth, i completely empathize with the ADD write-off. it seems as though the parents are suffering from peer pressure... "All of your friend's kids are taking it, why not your kid?"
although i do admit that i did try my best friend's Ritalin when i was sixteen. unfortunately, there were no effects. however, this incident did take place while working with under privileged children at a summer camp, most of whom were on the drug of choice. could there be a hidden correlation there that i'm not seeing?
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