i can't agree with her. there's no way of knowing ahead of time who will crumble and who won't. the medicated kids might do just fine; the supposedly "mentally healthy" kids (if there is such a thing in this country) might not.
i don't understand why any school has to be a pressure cooker. these schools are being paid by parents, by the state, and by the feds to provide an education. the kids showed up, didn't they? so educate them. you don't need to turn them into drooling mental patients to educate them. and the other alternative is not to "coddle them and hold their hands," either. there are lots of alternatives.
for instance, these "kids" are adults, or they wouldn't be at mit... how about treating them as adults? putting a lot of pressure on them just to teach them something really isn't doing that. the medical field has documented the negative health effects of too much stress on people in competitive fields of employment. yay, so let's start putting the pressure on them while they're young and cut even MORE years off their life expectancy. way to go!
(i do realize there will always be stress in life. but the thing is, it's supposed to be temporary. and i don't mean temporary as in "only four years," either.)
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-08-20 01:49 pm (UTC)i don't understand why any school has to be a pressure cooker. these schools are being paid by parents, by the state, and by the feds to provide an education. the kids showed up, didn't they? so educate them. you don't need to turn them into drooling mental patients to educate them. and the other alternative is not to "coddle them and hold their hands," either. there are lots of alternatives.
for instance, these "kids" are adults, or they wouldn't be at mit... how about treating them as adults? putting a lot of pressure on them just to teach them something really isn't doing that. the medical field has documented the negative health effects of too much stress on people in competitive fields of employment. yay, so let's start putting the pressure on them while they're young and cut even MORE years off their life expectancy. way to go!
(i do realize there will always be stress in life. but the thing is, it's supposed to be temporary. and i don't mean temporary as in "only four years," either.)