From Conformity to Kindness
What if mainstream K-12 education, and beyond, made the well-being of self, society and planet its overarching goal?
Recently I heard an NPR report on the shortage of Adderall and Ritalin, which has many people, especially parents and young people, scrambling. The reporter observed that usage of these attention-focusing drugs has skyrocketed in recent years (up 250% between 2006 and 2016, and still climbing) but did not say anything about why this might be so.
I first became aware of these drugs back in the early 2000’s when some students I knew were upset because of the perceived advantage that kids with access to “study drugs” had over those without. It turned out that there was a thriving black market on campus for those potent little blue pills. I remember thinking, wow, I could use more focus! Maybe I need some Ritalin!
But soon enough I was also hearing stories from young people about having been put on Ritalin or Adderall since they were children, and how hard it was to get off the drugs, or to know who they might be without them. They also shared disturbing stories about serious side effects, like insomnia.
Many people, of all ages, passionately praise anti-ADHD drugs for enabling them to focus and be productive in their work. I would never presume to tell anyone whether or not to avail themselves of these remedies. I have nothing against performance-enhancing drugs per se—I don’t think I could get through my day without a few good hits of caffeine, after all!
But questions around the widespread use of anti-ADHD drugs for children and teens persistently surface for me.
· Could it be that a fidgety child does not need to learn how to sit still, but needs a more active environment?
· Could it be that a teenager who can’t sit still and focus on studying for a test might be better served by another, more active form of learning?
I fear that the current trend of putting young children on drugs like Adderall and Ritalin masks
the deeper, systemic problem of a repressive and stressful school environment.
When we see so many kids in crisis because they can’t handle their school environment (crises manifesting as depression and anxiety as well as lack of focus), wouldn’t it make more sense to try our best to improve the environment, rather than bioengineering the kids into conformity?
It's only in the past 100 years or so that public education has mandated that every child sit still in school for 7 or 8 hours a day. Before that, most humans learned on the go. Until the 20th century most kids, especially those who liked to be active, moved quickly through school into apprenticeships.
I am not saying that we should give up the mandates for public school education for all children. Of course not. But I am wondering whether the soaring rates of Adderall and Ritalin use are an indicator that the contours of public school education need to change, to adapt to the needs of today’s children.
What are those needs? Children—and people of all ages—need:
· To feel safe.
· To feel appreciated and welcomed by the people (and the more-than-human communities) around them.
· To feel delight in exploration and play.
· To connect in a positive way with their own bodies and with the body of the Earth.
· To lean into what they love and imagine the possibility of making a living through practicing what brings them joy.
School should be a place that satisfies these basic human needs, preparing us to move out into society as people who can use our creativity to make our world brighter, in all kinds of ways.
But most conventional schools can check none of those boxes.
Rather than raising us to become confident, self-directed and deeply connected to each other and the Earth that gives us life, mainstream schools teach us to discipline ourselves to conform to the pervasive expectation of obedience to authority.
Can’t get with the program? There are drugs to help.
Here’s another question.
What if mainstream K-12 education, and beyond, made the well-being of self, society and planet its overarching goal?
Even those well-indoctrinated by mainstream Western culture know how destructive to the Earth community this culture has been and continues to be.
Knowing that change is necessary for the health of our civilization and our planet, can we summon the will to stop doing the same old thing, living within the same old paradigm that created all the problems of our society?
Instead of producing drugs that get kids to conform to the prevailing paradigm, can we imagine changing the system so that it enhances kids’ sense of wellbeing? Can we imagine schools that make kids happy and peaceful, their days unfolding in a productive, enjoyable flow?
There are already some wonderful countercultural schools and educational programs that offer kids nature-centered learning environments and opportunities for self-directed learning. Most are aimed at early childhood; the programs for older kids are mostly conceived of as extracurricular programs, supplementing regular school.
Supporting and encouraging the expansion and mainstreaming of such programs should become a priority for all who are engaged in the quest for a thriving future.
Rather than efficiency and profit shaping scheduling and curriculum, I want to imagine the long educational process (what Thomas Berry called our “cultural coding”) as the nurturing of each individual’s creative spirit, giving her the skills and tools she needs to thrive so well in her own life than her abundance can spill over into service to others.
The highest value in such an environment would be kindness. Kindness to self, kindness to other people and to the more-than-human world.
Such change is a tall order, I know. But if we don’t allow ourselves to dream these big dreams, change will never come.
Every social change starts as just that: a vision, a glimmer in someone’s mind’s eye.
This is what’s glimmering in mine.
Glimmers. Photo by J. Browdy