Ritalin

My big brother was put on Ritalin from the time he was pretty young. I always wondered if it helped. He still had a hard time in school. He still had behavior issues. He still didn't seem to care about anything at all really. Was it really a pill that could have helped him? Or more encouragement? Maybe he needed a tutor. I suppose that is one reason I was into working in tutoring for a while. 

Kids don't need a pill to help them do better in school. They need help. They need someone to show them how to do things. They need someone to come by their side and tell them, "It's not that hard, I can help you."

The main gender that is said to have learning issues is boys. Why is that? Boys were never meant to sit 8 hours a day and read and write. Girls and women love to do that. Boys and men do not. God originally designed boys to want to go outside and help with the farm or the livestock. They were meant to work outside with their dad most of the day. They do not do well in school, because that is not where they were meant to be raised. I think most boys also know that most of the things they learn in school will not benefit them in life. They are smart enough to realize that. 

I was homeschooling a 4th grade boy for a while. I went to his house and we knocked out his lessons in 3 hours. Then the rest of the day he literally was permitted to play video games. Halfway through our 3 hour school work day we would go out side and play basketball. I remember thinking, why don't all boys do this? Why don't they just do the speed version of school?

Most of school is just babysitting. It is just a way to kill time, to make childhood pass by quicker. If a teacher thinks a child is too much, she might suggest to the parents of that child, usually the boy, that he start receiving medication. Maybe she shouldn't be a teacher, if she can't handle the kids. I tried teaching one year. I know it can be quite hard. Classroom management is very difficult. You have to be really strict and rigid about the rules. Some people are good teachers and some simply were not meant to teach. Numbing your kids with drugs is not the solution if the teacher simply hasn't figured out how to do classroom management yet. 

Please think twice before putting your kid on meds. Try homeschooling the child if school doesn't seem to be working out well for them. All kids can learn. They just need to be taught in a way that works for them.