Seeking the academic edge

<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/education/seeking-academic-edge-teenagers-abuse-stimulants.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&smid=fb-share%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/education/seeking-academic-edge-teenagers-abuse-stimulants.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&smid=fb-share&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks for making this a new thread, Klements. I’ve been thinking about it for days. How sad that the environment that kids in ALL schools are growing up in fosters competition that allows, and even encourages, kids to use drugs in order to get what they think they want, or what they think their parents want for them. Whatever happened to intrinsic motivation? </p>

<p>I dearly hope that this article prompts administrators and teachers at many schools do some serious assessment of whether the expectations they are setting for kids are realistic and/or necessary. And consequences for this kind of drug abuse need to be stiffer to discourage it. I hope my kids never succumb, but I can’t say with certainty that if I were growing up in this climate I would be able to resist the temptation/pressure.</p>

<p>1st in a series of articles on this very topic at Loomis this spring. Scary, of course, but at least students and administration are talking openly about it.</p>

<p>[Tales</a> from a world of performance and risk: Adderall at Loomis Chaffee | Loomis Chaffee Log](<a href=“http://www.lclog.org/en/19/news/220/Tales-from-a-world-of-performance-and-risk-Adderall-at-Loomis-Chaffee.htm]Tales”>http://www.lclog.org/en/19/news/220/Tales-from-a-world-of-performance-and-risk-Adderall-at-Loomis-Chaffee.htm)</p>