The Exisitng Educational System

[Anonymous]

I’m new….not to ADD but to this site. I’m 60, been an ADD person for 30 years (well identified anyway…been ADD all my life), retired and did fine with my life. Always thought there could have been so much more but, there wasn’t. I’m content, but back in my mind I always hold a grudge against the school system. I have two great kids, they are great people, one managed to earn a University degree the other is floating, an unfulfilled person, too bad. I see that could have been different…let me explain my thought.

The school/educational system is not designed for people like us with our ‘gifted thinking”. We are not the accountants and administrators or house keepers of society. We do different things, more often than not if we stumble on to the right path we do great, amazing things in this world!!! We are people of vision, we move the yard sticks in this world, we don’t micro mange it. Yes, is also hard work but there is also a huge “lucky path element” attached as well. Many of us do not make it, we all know know those sad stories, there are too many of them. It feel with certainty much of it could be avoided by educating the linear element out there..

The school system…..the system does not address this “gift” of forward, higher level thinking that everybody calls ADD. It focus’s and rewards the “linear thought” element, that vast majority of people out there. Having said that I do not know of any group or push that is working to politically to correct that deficit. All the initiatives (few as there are) seems to be focused in Tombstone style thinking. Lets address/fix the symptoms of the fallen, not the root cause.

If the school system had curriculum that enabled and rewarded our skills and thought process, instead a judging our processing skills to be “a syndrome”, we would be much farther ahead. But the system does not, and form here I have never seen any initiative to change that, and that I feel is worst problem of all.

If there is something afoot, and maybe there is would somebody share please!!!

Toofat

I could ramble on as you know but, I really am curious what if anything is being done to enable an exploit this wonderful thinking process if anything????

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[Anonymous]

The “system” marginalizes people who are different. Thomas Edison knew this too well. Alternative schools, by default, are popping up everywhere like acne. There is a reason…….the system is corrupted and there is no leadership within the Education Department to make a change.

ADHD espouses difference not mediocrity. People in the middle never changed the world. Normal is over-rated!

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[Anonymous]

Hi I’m a new member… Dr J. I could not agree more! I see this in Florida with their “FCAT” test that they give to students at various age groups to “test the effectiveness of public schools.” It’s a joke insted of offering a haven for learning schools have become political “battlegrounds” to justify their reason for existing. I really can not see anyone can learn anything while under such pressure. Standardized tests prove nothing more than the ability to do standardized test yet they determine a students academic future. I fail to see the logic aside from seeing how it hails mediocrity.

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[Anonymous]

Well folks…needless to say the educational system and I were not compatible, not in the least. Sound familiar?? Certain subjects I did very very well, others like the physics, chemistry, and algebra were a washout for me. It took a few extra years to get through high school because of that. Once I made it to university and to the Sociology and Psych Dept.(s) where things were slightly more open I did very well, I flourished. I did drop out for full time employment (lack of funds) but continued to take classes throughout my years of employment in the evening. My employer funded evening education 100% funding for grades over 70%, I always made the grade!! Never did get my degree but that is another story.

The long winded point I would like to make…that Dr. J put so succinctly ……unless there is a lobby at the political level to recognize that the present curriculum only accommodates one portion of society, there will be no real or effective end to this so called issue we are wrestling with!!

An organization (there’s the rub) is required to educate the right people, in the right places, on this issue, so political pressure can brought to bear at all levels of the educational bureaucracy to make the required changes. I am looking for any such group to support????

I know there was and is more in my head than I have been able bring to fruition in my life, and it is because of a few things I don’t do well such as linear testing. I do not thrive in some written test environments. I don’t write papers well but as I just said I can produce an hour long slide show on the future of the communications industry and do the stand-up presentation in complete comfort. People whose brains work like ours are capable of “different” things and can be “tested as rigorously” as any brain out there as long as the testing is compatible with our brain processing. It is no different for the linear brain segment of the population. The present school and testing mechanisms are compatible with the way the linear segment process and retrieve information, and that’s fine. The educational system needs the pressure, and will, to expand slightly to accommodate the other mode of processing.

Is anybody aware of such an organization, is there any work being done in the political arena??? Without real pressure and political will there will be no change at the educational grass roots level where it is required. I am interested so please forward me any information on how to contact such a group, if indeed they exist.

Thanks in advance…..toofat

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[Anonymous]

I just don’t understand why educational assessments aren’t standard procedure for kids who are starting school, in the middle of primary school, end of primary school, and middle of secondary school.

It requires a perceptive teacher to notice something “different” before a kid is assessed, and yet teachers just aren’t trained to do that sort of thing.

Seriously, kids should just be assessed for IQ, LD and other things at least every 3 years as they go through school so that their needs can actually be discovered and catered for.

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[Anonymous]

How true Nim….how things could have been so different for so many!! What wonderful things have been missed by our society!! Developmental changes in the school system could/would certainly change so much for so many. It is past time, the changes are way over due. That is why I ask who…. if anybody has an organization moving in this direction. I would be more than willing to lend my support to such an endeavour.

Anybody??????

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[Anonymous]

I was diagnosed with ADHD in my second year of university, almost ten years ago, and I had always been an honour student. My teachers knew that I was “special” and because of my consistently superior grades I was able to prepare my own “projects”. Basically I researched what I found interesting and created presentations or essays to demonstrate what I had learned. This is not the way many teachers, or school districts, would treat such a child in the 1990s. Now I am a teacher, ADHD does not hamper my performance but I think that the adrenaline and chaos management skills that this “disorder” has provided make me, if nothing, an interesting teacher.

The current school systems are trying to cope with the differences between same-aged school children. This is what we call “differential learning/teaching”. Certain regions of North America are far more ahead in this area than others. Canada is moving forward at a faster rate than the US, generally speaking.

In Alberta, where I am certified, we are not only encouraged but are required to pay extremely close attention to students. We cannot administer tests, that is a physician or a psychologists position legally speaking, however we can suggest that it might be necessary. The primary issue is that parents do not want their kid to be tested. They do not want to find out that their kid is different. The stigma is what is wrong. I

have encountered students who needed to be tested (I saw me in them!) and their parents adamantly refused and then complained to the school board. This is the reality. Schools and teachers cannot and should not take the place of the parent but parents also need to be educated about this. All parents should be required to read about the various issues concerning their children, they should also watch “ADD and Loving it?!”.

But there is no process to mandate that parents be actively involved in their children’s lives.

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[Anonymous]

How refreshing Teenylee to encounter someone with ADD/ADHD that was an honor student. Perhaps you can help me with my study skills. What strategy/strategies do you personally employ to read quickly without sacrificing comprehention?

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[Anonymous]

@TooFat and @Dr. Jain: Yes, our modern “sit-still, do as you are told, listen to the teacher/lecturer” educational system tends to focus on those who are quiet, complacent, docile, not fidgety and animated. It tends to ignore those of us who are on the outer edges of what is “normal.” I read very slowly (about 1/3 the rate of most people — I was tested extensively on this), have difficulty following directions explicitly, cannot concentrate without wearing complete over-the-ear hearing protectors or ear plugs (but the former work much better), get distracted by outside noises and especially voices and movement of people around me. I have a hard time translating some things others say into concrete information for myself to understand. As far as grades are concerned, I always been mediocre or at best an B+/A- student. I did get excel in a few courses, but in general , they were (and are) rare.

On the other hand, I have done some things that most people have not done. During my undergrad years in college, I ran a free health clinic and I later started two free medical clinics. I am currently setting up a third free clinic. But notice that I said “started,” like many ADDers, I tend to start things but mostly never finish them; nevertheless, the two clinics that I set up are still running without my presence. I am not a doctor; I wanted to be one but I could not get the high grades that medical schools wanted. In fact, it was my frustration at going the premed route that brought my reading disability to light and to hence a referral to get checked for ADD.

@Teenylee: Yes, what are your strategies for getting those high grades. Nothing seems to work for me. I can study all day, and still do poorly on tests. I do fine on research papers and projects that don’t require working under time pressure; but on tests that require time pressure, I fall apart. I can’t concentrate, I cannot recall, and my thinking goes blank. Test anxiety? I don’t fee anxious at all.

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[trashman]

ihave adhd and six diffierent LD . i find it sad that it took till i was 47. acorrding to all the test i am on the borderline of normal to being slow. having been told all my life that i was lazzy,or just not trying.all not true i just did’t get it or paying attention impolseble to do. yes spelling is one of my LD. my shrink said theirs nothing any one can do for me. if they had found this out twenty years ago then there would be help for me. so i start feeling sorry for myself and i hate that about myself. i have always done this and it gets in the way of learning. it’s one thing to think IAM STUPID but being told that its true, and theres nothing that i can do about it. i have spent my life being assamed of who i am all my life . THANKS FOR LETTING ME VENT. sorry for wating your time. i think this place is so filled with so many smart people. so glad that there are so manny sucsses stories. at lest not every one is so lost.

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[Saffron]

@trashman: You’ve been a part of this forum for a while now, and I’ve seen you give some pretty smart advice to others, as well as valuable empathy. At times the pain that comes through in your posts has really moved me, because you’ve gone so long feeling powerless and are so tender-hearted and caring that you seem to transform all righteous anger at others into self-blame and regret.

I just want to say, with the utmost respect: to hell with spelling. You can stop trying and start being. ‘Cause dude, you’re intelligent, sensitive and compassionate, and what’s more, you’re appreciated and understood here. *HUG*

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[trashman]

saffron thank you. for your kind insight if i could veiw myself in a better light iwould gladly do that. after all this time being told all my life that i was

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there were somany things from the time i can remember. the list for the blank is long. things like stupid,lazzy or a brate spoiled and can’t do that , to top it all off my parents always told me when iwas born i would die or i would be retarded. my dad was always so proud of the fact that the had to drive me to a childrens hospital one hour away because he could not aford a trip in a ambulance, so he said he would drive me and a nurse said she would hold me and while driving the nurse told him to hurry because i was getting weaker and he was always so proud of himself ,he said if he lives he lives if he dies he dies. he made it sound like he had great faith. then wheni was 22 my mother said she had to apolagize to me because when she found out she was expecting me she didn’t want me. that explains why i was treated diffierent or spoiled as my siblings always said they still say that whenever we talk about our up bringing. so thats the part of my story that brings me to the low self esteam. well thanks for now.

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[Anonymous]

Hey folks….I kinda would like to bring this back to the original thread thought. Not slagging anybody or their comments but…… but I am interested in what and if anything…..anybody is working towards, in the the way of modifying the core curriculum of public and high school systems to be less directed toward the non-linear thinking folks.

Again I see so many bright people who struggled with the existing education system and then flourished in the university system which a little more liberal or was??? The present K>12 curriculum is so slanted towards linear thought and testing, that folks whose brain works like ours does…. have a real hard time, with class and testing.

I fear that if core educational curriculum is not put to task to recognize there is more than one mode of brain function… that the”insider” “outsider” phenomenon will never end. An education system that recognizes and nurtures the visionary thought process would better serve than medication, counseling (after the fact) and learning different skills to adapt to the linear world.

People whose brain process(s) are different (ADD) are by no means dumb, slow, or lazy they different…. and for the most part highly intelligent. A lot of the people who MAKE A DIFFERENCE……change the world are the ADD types. But yet…we can’t seem to get anybody in the institutional world to accept and adapt the system to take advantage of our gift.

So again I ask is there anybody or any organization out there that has that focus???? Any group organized to meet that end!!! If so would you please share how contact them.

Dr. J…you know anybody who is focused on this effort????

thanks all….

toofat

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[Saffron]

The Montessori movement (based on the Maria Montessori Method, with about 200 schools on this continent) nicely meets your criteria. It is well-established and continuing to grow, and is frequently recommended as an educational alternative for kids with ADHD, who often thrive under it. Experts in pedagogy have advocated for changes to the public system to more resemble the Montessori environment and style of teaching.

HTH

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[Anonymous]

Two things and I won’t elaborate because this subject is far too sensitive for me.

1. I agree with what John Taylor Gatto has to say about modern educational systems. They can’t be fixed!

2. After the public school system didn’t work for my oldest, I home educated my younger two. I am glad I did!

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[Author]

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