Legal Child Abuse: The War On Our Young People
With metal detectors in schools and stories every other week about students being suspended for the most idiotic of reasons, I've long realized that there is essentially a war on young people in this country. But last night, I watched the 2009 documentary The War On Kids and I've come away shocked, heartbroken, and disturbed. Perhaps horrified would be the best word.
A quick search found that the documentary is available on Youtube and I highly recommend it.
If you think the stories of kids being suspended for playing cops and robbers are outrageous, take note of the scene where a high school principal called a full police SWAT team to his school, where heavily armed officers with vicious-looking dogs held students to the ground at gunpoint in a search for marijuana. No drugs were found.
The zero tolerance suspensions that regularly get picked up by the national media are just a small tip of the iceberg. The documentary reviews dozens of cases of students being suspended, expelled, questioned and searched by police, and even arrested based on the most trivial of "offenses". Our schools have, in effect, become prisons, as is clear when the documentary compares high schools with actual prisons.
Ninety percent of all prescriptions for Ritalin are in the United States. We have millions of kids on Ritalin and millions more on other dubious cocktails of prescription pills, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics. Research for The War On Kids found that there are a total of 8,000 prescriptions for Ritalin in all of France. But there's more than that in most big American cities.
These drugs are pushed on kids by teachers and parents who believe they have independent information from doctors and other experts. In reality, the information they're getting is routed through pharmaceutical companies who are motivated by the huge profits in selling these drugs. Ninety percent of Ritalin prescriptions are written in the United States because the United States offers the greatest profit potential -- and arguably, a minimum of pesky regulations to worry about.
And yet, these drugs are often shown to have serious health consequences. Even worse, a disturbing number of perpetrators of mass shootings and other violent acts have some history of prescription drug use. Let me be clear -- I do not mean prescription drug abuse; I am referring to using these products according to a proper prescription, exactly as they were intended to be used. Eric Harris, the mastermind of Columbine, was on an anti-psychotic drug and an autopsy showed that he had huge amounts of it in his system the day of the shooting.
As if all that's not enough, there's the unconstitutional searches, police harassment, bullying by teachers and fellow students, and constant surveillance. Interviews with ex-soldiers who were POW's during the Vietnam war report that aside from all of the other torture and abuse they had to endure, constantly being watched was a major source of stress and a very effective tactic in driving them crazy.
And we're doing this to our kids. At school, which is supposed to be an environment for learning and intellectual curiosity. So much of what's going on in our schools can only be described as child abuse.
I seriously worry for this next generation -- but not because of the kids themselves. I worry about what the adults are doing -- the very people who are supposed to be protecting, supporting, and nurturing children.
I only graduated from high school 18 years ago. What the hell happened? How have things gotten this bad? What are we doing to young people? And perhaps most importantly, who the hell thinks any of this is okay?
A quick search found that the documentary is available on Youtube and I highly recommend it.
If you think the stories of kids being suspended for playing cops and robbers are outrageous, take note of the scene where a high school principal called a full police SWAT team to his school, where heavily armed officers with vicious-looking dogs held students to the ground at gunpoint in a search for marijuana. No drugs were found.
The zero tolerance suspensions that regularly get picked up by the national media are just a small tip of the iceberg. The documentary reviews dozens of cases of students being suspended, expelled, questioned and searched by police, and even arrested based on the most trivial of "offenses". Our schools have, in effect, become prisons, as is clear when the documentary compares high schools with actual prisons.
Ninety percent of all prescriptions for Ritalin are in the United States. We have millions of kids on Ritalin and millions more on other dubious cocktails of prescription pills, anti-depressants, and anti-psychotics. Research for The War On Kids found that there are a total of 8,000 prescriptions for Ritalin in all of France. But there's more than that in most big American cities.
These drugs are pushed on kids by teachers and parents who believe they have independent information from doctors and other experts. In reality, the information they're getting is routed through pharmaceutical companies who are motivated by the huge profits in selling these drugs. Ninety percent of Ritalin prescriptions are written in the United States because the United States offers the greatest profit potential -- and arguably, a minimum of pesky regulations to worry about.
And yet, these drugs are often shown to have serious health consequences. Even worse, a disturbing number of perpetrators of mass shootings and other violent acts have some history of prescription drug use. Let me be clear -- I do not mean prescription drug abuse; I am referring to using these products according to a proper prescription, exactly as they were intended to be used. Eric Harris, the mastermind of Columbine, was on an anti-psychotic drug and an autopsy showed that he had huge amounts of it in his system the day of the shooting.
As if all that's not enough, there's the unconstitutional searches, police harassment, bullying by teachers and fellow students, and constant surveillance. Interviews with ex-soldiers who were POW's during the Vietnam war report that aside from all of the other torture and abuse they had to endure, constantly being watched was a major source of stress and a very effective tactic in driving them crazy.
And we're doing this to our kids. At school, which is supposed to be an environment for learning and intellectual curiosity. So much of what's going on in our schools can only be described as child abuse.
I seriously worry for this next generation -- but not because of the kids themselves. I worry about what the adults are doing -- the very people who are supposed to be protecting, supporting, and nurturing children.
I only graduated from high school 18 years ago. What the hell happened? How have things gotten this bad? What are we doing to young people? And perhaps most importantly, who the hell thinks any of this is okay?