Luckily for me, we hadn’t entered the era when “educators” thought drugs could help children learn what they couldn’t seem to teach them. A particularly treasured recollection features a crimson-faced teacher, dumbstruck by my 5-minute account of exactly how she had told some story from our lessons – including her emphases, tone, expressions and gestures. They were always wrong, however, as I possessed a formidable audio memory that enabled me to repeat not only the details of what had been said, but the tone and inflections as well.
Teachers who didn’t know me were certain they would embarrass me for having daydreamed. On occasion I was called out for it, in front of the whole class, and made to relate what had been taught or said. It drove teachers crazy (figuratively speaking, of course). I didn’t have ants in my pants, but I was modestly famous, even as an elementary student, for appearing to pay no attention in class. Had ADHD and its drug-treatments been known during my childhood, I might have been put on one of these medications. Doctors and educators said that this drug-induced calming and focusing would help children to improve, academically. (Note to readers: before we came up with the $5 name for it, my generation called ADHD “ants in the pants.”) Drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall supposedly help a wiggly child to calm down and focus. Recently, substantive reports have been emerging on drugs used to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in children and teens. “Overall, we find considerable evidence of a decline in both behavioral and educational outcomes following the increase in prescription drug coverage and the corresponding increase in Ritalin use.
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