yeartolate said:
On another board there was a discussion about a homeschooled person with ADD getting a low score on her ACT, When her mother adminstered the test in a room with just the two of them, her score nearly doubled. They are fighting to get her the official ability to take the test alone or at home.
Wouldn't this really give that person unfair advantage? Wouldn't anyone fair better under those circumstances?
I have to admit I was floored when someone suggested that there were accomodations such as note takers and private rooms for testing at the college level through the ADA.
I am all for ADA helping the young students adapt to there special circumstances, but at the college level I have to admit I was shocked.
Is this kind of accomodation what the American's with Disabilities Act intended?
First of all - the concept of ADD being a "disability" is an outright abuse of whatever good the ADA was trying to achieve. In my opinion, 90 percent of all ADD diagnoses are just giving a medical name to what we used to call "spoiled brats." In the past parents and principals gave them little swats to the behind to 'cure' the ADD; these days we give them pills and "accomodations" to allow them to continue their unproductive behaviour.
So what about the other 10 percent? - I am no doctor, so I have to admit there is possibly some medical condition that needs therapy of some sort. My opinion is that I have lived for 66 years and I don't think there are many medical conditions that did not exist in the 50s. We had slackers and cut-ups and non-attentive students in class with us = but they got no sympathy at all from the teachers. In my graduating class of 87, I can think of at least a dozen classmates who would have qualified as ADD. Some of those "ADD-afflicted" teenagers grew up to be bank presidents - owners of successful businesses - political leaders - engineers - church leaders - and I do not know of a single one of them who was unable to support themselves in a guality lifestyle; two of them are millionaires. They all have good families and good jobs and are as happy as the "non-ADD" normal students. I can assure you they got NO accomodations. Their parents did not interfere with the schools decisions on how to discipline them.
I myself am extremely ADD according to the definition used today, and could have grown up with that stigma were it not for Mr. Bray in the fifth grade who whipped my behind so hard that I decided it would be much better to modify my behaviour to avoid the need for any other such 'attitude adjustment.' I certainly did NOT go home and complain to my father because his rule was that if I got a spanking at school, then I got another one as soon as he heard about it. I learned to cope. So did everyone else.
But that was then, and this is now. I am now a math teacher in my local high school. I would be willing to testify that the "accomodations" being afforded these ADD students are nothing short of ridiculous. They achieve nothing positive. They are extremely counterproductive. They waste teachers' time. They give a false sense of acheivement to undeserving students. THey provide the "smart ADD" children an opportunity to "game" the system. In short, these "accomodations" do nothing but pander to personal weaknesses. And they give parents a wedge to use for special treatement of their children. They are a pain in the butt.
I fear that we are in the process of producing a whole generation of young adults where a large portion of them think that they are "owed something" without any significant effort on their part, and that they are "victims" of a non-caring society.
My opinion - if a student truly has a medical condition that separates him from being able to compete with 'normal' classmates in a classroom situation, then that student should be physically separated from the rest of the students as well and be sent to some sort of special education setting where individual needs can be addressed in a tailored environment.
Let me be clear - I am NOT talking about students with genuine disabilities like vision problems, hearing difficulties, or mobility issues. I am ONLY talking about these students who just never learned (my opinion) to sit still and pay attention and do their work.
Kids who have severe ADD are eaten alive by teachers who believe like you do. My son is one of those, and after 5 years of high school, he finally just quit because he just couldn't take it anymore. He's a smart kid, but between his learning disabilities, ADD, and bipolar he just couldn't fight his disabilities AND an unsupportive school system any longer. I think I'll just agree to disagree with your thinking.
