Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School n

In the article “Attention Disorder or Not, Pills to Help in School” by Alan Schwartz is about pills that are giving to children who have A.D.H.D (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). In the article it states “When Dr. Michael Anderson hears about one of his low-income patients struggling in elementary school, he usually gives them a taste of some powerful medicine: Adderall.” Dr. Michael says that children that are diagnosed with A.D.H.D use it as an excuse to not pay attention and/or focused in school. In the article it says “Although A.D.H.D is the diagnosis Dr.  Anderson makes, he calls the disorder ‘made up’ and ‘and excuse’ to prescribe the pills to treat what he considers the children’s true problem – poor academic performance in inadequate schools.”

Dr. Michael feels that the pills that he prescribes for children to take will not help them with their A.D.H.D problem but with their academic performance. “They are prescribing stimulants to struggling students in schools starved of extra money – not to treat A.D.H.D., necessarily, but to boost their academic performance” says Dr. Michael. “We as a society have been unwilling to invest in very effective non-pharmaceutical interventions for these children and their families,” said Dr.Ramesh Raghavan, a child mental-health services researcher at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert in prescription drug use among low-income children.

Dr. Nancy Rappaport, a child psychiatrist in Cambridge, Mass., who works mostly with lower-income children and their schools says, “We are seeing this more and more. We are using a chemical instead of doing things that are just as important to also do, sometimes more.”

This article makes want to ask questions. Questions like, why do these doctors feel that being diagnosed with A.D.H.D is an excuse for these children, why do they feel the need that giving these children this pill will help them focused better. I feel that these children are gifted with what they have; there is no trying to make this better. Giving these children these pills have a short term long run, meaning for this short amount of time these doctors think that this pill will help these children focused better, but they do not know the side-effects of this pill in the long run. 

These children do not need a pill to help them focused better. They just need a parents or someone with patients to help them sit, focused, and understand what they are being taut. Children nowadays don’t like taking medicine that is prescribed by doctors for helping them get rid of colds or anything, so why do you think these children want to take pills to help them try to fix something that they have been “gifted” with. Having A.D.H.D may be an excuse that parents use to get their children out of anything, but for the time being you cannot blame these children for having something that they didn’t want to be diagnosed with. These pills are not a good idea.

Same-Sex Marriage

The article “Obama Backs Same-Sex Marriage” is about Barack Obama stating how he feels about same-sex marriages. In the article it says Obama said his position on same-sex marriage evolved over several years as he spoke with friends, family, and neighbors about it. He cited the influence of members of his staff “who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together,” and the gay soldiers, airmen, Marines, and sailors “who are out there fighting on my behalf” but not allowed to marry. Barack Obama feels that same sexes should be able to get married but he also feels that a lot of people use the word “marriage” is something that evokes powerful tradition and religious beliefs. The article also states Obama said he has “stood on the side of broader equality” for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. He also states “and I’d hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought civil unions would be sufficient. Obama’s position on same-sex marriage has changed over time. He endorsed gay marriage during a 1996 run in Illinois for The Illinois Senate. Then he opposed it when he ran for US Senate in 2004 and again for president in 2008. Obama’s sudden declaration departs from his longstanding public statements supporting equal rights for gay couples that stopped just short of marriage. I don’t see anything wrong with same-sex marriages. They are human just like us, and we are all the same. The only thing different from each other is DNA and Genes. We all have ears, a mouth, eyes, and a nose, all things that completes us as human beings. People who like their same sexes are not out of the ordinary, their just ‘different’. I went online and looked up same-sex marriages on the article “Understanding and Presenting the Case for Same-Sex Marriage” it says “This sends a message, not only to the gay and lesbian community but to our nation as a whole, that heterosexuality is more valued and valuable than homosexuality, that the heterosexual is more natural, moral than the homosexual. It is unjust, and it is time for change.” I feel that this statement is not fair. I feel that we are all equal, notice how I call the heterosexual’s people. They are not aliens, nor robots, they are like us. I asked my grandmother what she thought that statement meant. She said “It’s just saying god mad man for women, not man for man and woman for woman.” Now I can respect that response and understand what she’s saying, but like I stated before I feel that we are all the same. So if a woman wants to love a woman and a man wants to love a man and they feel that their love is strong enough to get married, then they should be able to. There is nothing wrong with same-sex marriage. If I where the president or a judge that was involved in this debate and/or situation I would try my best to fight for same-sexes to get married. One question I would like to be answered and explained is, why is same sexes that love each other and want to be together such an abomination for them to be married?

Texting May Be Taking A Toll

The article "Texting May Be Taking A Toll" by Katie Hafner is about how texting is now affecting teenagers in their everyday life. The article says American teenagers sent and received an average of 2,272 text messages per month in the fourth quarter of 2008, almost 80 messages a day more than double the average of a year earlier.
  Sherry Turkle,a psychologist who is a director at Massachusetts Institute Technology says it might be causing a shift in adolescents develop."Among the jobs of adolescence are to separate from your parents, and to find the peace and quiet to become the person you decide you want to be," she said. "Texting hits directly at both those jobs." 
   Texting also leads to damage in people's thumbs. Peter W. Johnson, an associate professor of environmental and occupational health sciences at the University of Washington, said " Based on our experiences with computer users, we know intensive repetitive use of the upper extremities can lead to musculoskeletal disorder, so we gave some reason to be concerned that too much texting could lead to temporary or permanent damage to the thumbs." 

Precipitous falls in grades are also problems from texting. Greg Hardesty, a reporter in Lake Forest, Calif., said that late last year his 13-year-old daughter, Reina, racked up 14,528 texts in one month.Her grades then began to fall precipitously. After her parents confiscated her phone, Reina's grades have since improved,and the phone is back in her hands but because of the down fall from having her phone the first time, her text messages where limited.

  I think that texting has its rights and wrongs. Teenagers texting is not always a bad thing, i think limiting texting for teens is not such as bad thing. I can admit that texting does keep teens from sleeping and concentrating. But one of my rights from texting is, one day when leaving school to go home i noticed that i left my packet in my locker, which meant if i didn't have my packet i couldn't do my English home work. So then I texted one of my friend's from school that had their packet to ask them could they give me the words off of the paper. She then called me and told me what each word was, with her telling me the words i could do my do my homework. If i didn't have a phone or didn't have anyway to contact her i would have gotten a 0 for my homework.
  A wrong for texting is lacking of sleep. Last week on Thursday i was up very late texting and on the phone and knew i had school the next day. But i decided to stay up, but i did eventually go to sleep. Getting up the next day for school was so hasty. I was very tired and sleepy, but i had to face the consequences of my actions from the night before and go to school. Yes, i was very tired in class but i fought my sleep and got my work done. But fighting my sleep gave me a headache, so when i got home i went straight to sleep. But if I didn't stay up the night before i would've avoided getting that headache and being to sleepy. 
  But like i stated before texting does have its rights and wrongs, but texting does not always have a bad outcome on teens.