'Teachers! Leave them kids alone!'

The The War on Kids is a 2009 documentary taking a radical stand against education policies. After watching it, school spells out prison and control in my opinion. The first part of the documentary depicts the virulent “zero tolerance” policy for drugs and weapons which is basically divided in two sections in the documentary: one dedicated to weapons and one that obviously deals with usage of drugs in public schools. Driven by an almost irrational need to provide security, school authorities increase school clearance and cameras are monitoring every aspect of the student life, from classroom, hallway, recess areas, all in the name of increasing security for the student and the parents. But what it actually did and continues to do is to ruin any sense of normality to students who are slowly given the convict treatment. 

Photo retrieved @ theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com

After comparing the security policy in a couple of high school with the one offered in a prison, the differences were slim; which makes one wonder to what extent is a school any different from a prison and if this unhealthy environment prepares the next generation to function normally in a democratic society? And what kind of understanding of democracy will this generation have after experiencing a genuinely oppressive environment?  Children are practically devoid of real legal rights; given how school conflicts are delt with: the principal questions the trespassing student and takes notes on his testimony, the student thinking that the situation will be taken care of at a school level. The next step is the student’s testimony being handed over to the police, who in their turn hand it over to court of law and then a warrant is issued.

Take the “no weapon tolerance” policy, for instance: a nail file suddenly becomes an assault weapon and children are being prosecuted and charged with a felony record before they are even aware of what that legal situation entails. Then there’s the “no drug tolerance” policy that adds to the equation. Technically, it all makes sense, and keeping a drug-free school environment is a reasonable ideal; but not the measures that are taken in this sense.  The extreme security measures that schools choose to take away the individual freedom and the opportunity for a healthy mental development. A lot of schools choose to assume that there is drug activity and students are randomly checked through violent police raids. Teachers and school counselors support this anti-drug policy which is beneficial at its core. But on the flipside, the same staff makes sure that young children who challenge the authority of a teacher in the most minor ways ends up with a psychiatric diagnosis that eventually results in a medicated treatment. Is ADHD a real disorder or is it just a concept coined to benefit both the pharmaceutical companies and teachers and parents unwilling to educate children whose behavior is seemingly “unruly”? Can medicating them really make a significant change in their behavior? The documentary reports that 90% of the Adderall usage in the world is taken by the US, which makes one wonder indeed. The DSM IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) mentions ADHD symptoms among which: the inability of a child to focus constantly, sit still, stay in his chair, play with other objects during class, etc. all pretty much normal drives a regular child has. So what does medication do? It floods the brain with dopamine, the neurotransmitter of pleasure, calming down the brown activity; and in doing so, the personality of the child vanishes away, neither happiness nor sadness is expressed – it literally transforms the child into a zombie. 

On the long run effects worsen and studies showed that children that were administered medication for their childhood disorders ended up having underdeveloped brains, hormonal dysfunctions and once medication stopped suicidal attempts or even murder attempts were recorded. Ironically, it all happened in the same environment that promoted “zero tolerance to drugs”. Hopefully the extreme state of things will call for more fortunate choices somewhere in the future when there will be enough people empowered to say “no” to abnormal unhealthy education environments.