Attention Disorder Or Not, Pills To Help In School

By Alan Schwarz

   This article, "Attention Disorder Or Not, Pills To Help In School," is about how doctors are giving children medicine to help them in school. They use the medicine for children with disorders such as A.D.H.D (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) and kids without it. Dr. Michael Anderson who is a pediatrician in Canton,Ga. says that the diagnosis is an excuse to give these children medicine and that it is made up. He also states, "I don't have a whole lot of choice," said Dr. Anderson."We've decided as a society that it's too expensive to changer the kid's environment. So we have to change the kid."

   The medicine such as Adderall, Risperdal, Clonidine, and other medications is prescribed to help struggling children focus in school who are less fortunate and whose families don't have a lot of money. The article says that wealthy students are also using these medications to boost grades that are already good. In other words, people are abusing the medicine and using it the wrong way. 

"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 researcher in St. Louis at Washington University."We are effectively forcing local community psychiatrists to use the only tool at their disposal, which is medictations." 

   9.5% of Americans who are children from ages 4-17 were diagnosed with A.D.H.D in 2007. Which is about 5.4 million kids,"according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." The number has increased rapidly for over a decade. The disorder and the medicine for the disorder is being handed out freely as if it's free food. Some of these medications have side effects that could harm the child such as growth suppression, psychotic episodes, and an increase of blood pressure. 

   I don't agree with giving just any child medicine and telling them that they have A.D.H.D. My brother has this diability and the medicine does help a lot. But i do not agree with just giving any one anything.

 

Using Ipads Before Bed

From the British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph"

     This article is about how people are using devices like Ipads, Tablets, and others before bed. It says that it is stoping users from getting any sleep. Because the room is dark when people are using them, the brain tells the body that it is time to go to sleep. But the light from the devices are stopping that pattern. The brain still thinks that it is still daytime when the bright blue light is shinning in the users face. The bright light is kindof mocking the daylight from outside. The longer the light is shinning in the users face and the brighter it is, the longer it'll take for the person to got to sleep.
    "Neurologists have known for years that staring at screens late in the evening can disrupt sleep – be they television screens, computer screens or mobile phone screens." The article says. "However, because cell phones and tablets are by nature portable… more people are taking them into the bedroom."
     People who do research at the Lighting Research Center, In New York at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, are saying that looking at a device for a really long time “leads to a suppression of our natural melatonin levels as the devices emit optical radiation at short wavelengths.” Which means that they emit the blue light. They say that if you are to use them at night, set the light down some. Make sure that it is not too bright and that it won't effect your sleep.
     Even though sleep can be affected in this case, other things can be affected too. You can risk getting breast cancer and obesity.
    This can also affect people who already have sleep disruption problems and those who have normal sleep patterns. This could not affect me because i dont use these things before bed or in the dark with high light. I usually turn the light down because the light will usually hurt my eyes if im in the dark. If you do not want to have a poor night's sleep everytime you use these portable devices, start by turning down the brightness on them.



                    

Texting May Be Taking A Toll

By Katie Hafner

      This article Texting May Be Taking A Toll is about how children (Teens) are always texting. They text late at night. In stores and while in class. This problem is beginning to worry physicians and psychologists. It also says that texting is leading to a lack of sleep. Which means that the child's focus in school is not good at all, and it's causing bad grades, and distraction.
 Dr Martin Joffe, a pediatrician in California, surveyed students at two high schools and his results were that many kids were sending hundreds and hundreds of texts each day. "That's one every few minutes," he said."Then you hear that these kids are responding to texts late at night. That's going to cause sleep issues in an age group that's already plagued with sleep issues." Its also effecting the health of teens.
The article also states that texting is taking a huge toll on children's thumbs. A fifteen year old girl, Annie Wagner, An honor student in ninth grade in MD., used to text on a small LG phone really fast like using a computer keyboard. Not too long ago, she felt cramping in her thumbs. She is now using a bigger phone and her thumbs feel alot better. Texting slower, making it less painful to text.
     Teachers are seeming to be oblivious to the fact that their students are texting in class as well. texting underneath their desk or social networking the middle of a lesson.
"You pretend you're getting something out of your backpack." said Ari Kapner, a classmate of Annie Wagner. Teachers say that there is nothing they can do about it.
"I can't tell when it's happening, and there is nothing we can do about it," said Ms. Deborah Yager, a chemistry teacher in Castro Valley, California. "And i'm not going to take the time everyday to police it."
I do agree with this article personally. Teens spend more time texting or using their phones on the internet more than they do anything else. They have to be monitored on how much they text, and when their texting. I don't spend my whole day texting but, I minimize my time and I think that's what everyone else should do too. Do you agree with this article as well?

Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exception

Article by Perez-Pena

        
     The article "Studies Find More Students Cheating, With High Achievers No Exceptions" talks about how students cheat more today than years before and the schools are allowing it to go on. The parents and the teachers are being blamed for not teaching their students and children that cheating is wrong and that they should not do it. The article also states that the internet and phones play a big role in cheating as well. "When you start giving take-home test exams and telling kids not to talk about it, or you let them carry smatphones into a test, it's an invintation to cheating." said Michael Josephson, president of Josephson Institute.

       They stated that the internet is also an invintation to plagiarism. "Students are suprisingly unclear about what is plagerism or cheating." Said Mr. Wasieleski, an associate professor of management.

 Cheating so happens to be at many schools around the world. Even the top colleges and high schools Such as, Harvard University, Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, And the Air Force Academy.

        I personally think that cheating isn't a problem at all schools. Maybe 90% of the students at my school didn't cheat. And I do agree with the aricle on it being the parents and teachers fault because they let the cheating go on in their schools and didn't take the  time to change or enforce any rules on cheating. However, It is also the students' fault for doing the cheating as well. People should start taking responsibility for their own actions and I think that the people blaming just the parents and teachers are actually teaching the students to blame others for their actions and mistakes.

         "We have a culture now where we have real trouble accepting that our kids make mistakes and fail, and when they do, we tend to blame someone else." said Tricia Bertram Gallant, author of "Creating the Ethical Academy."