I said in my previous post, that my next post would be about the things I agree with Joel Turtel on. This is that post.

The first thing I'd like to say about Joel is that I believe he genuinely cares about children. In my opinion, he's doing his best to right some wrongs in the schools that are waged against kids. I agree that teachers and principals have no business even attempting to diagnose children as having adhd! They have neither the training nor the experience to tell parents and their children such things.

I also believe that certain teachers, parents, and other "authority" figures jump to conclusions too fast and literally talk the doctors into prescribing the meds. The world isn't perfect (it's not my place to condemn). A proper diagnosis and treatment should be focused on helping the child be who he or she is - to access their full potential - NOT about behaving in a certain pattern as defined by the "authorities".

And Joel is right about the schools! In my school experience, it WAS like PRISON! I was a "C" student - I'd get bad grades on homework and good grades on tests. I discovered that if I knew the overall premise of what we were learning, I could do well on tests (without understanding the details) by deducing the answers, particularily on multiple choice exams.

I played trombone in band. In 10th grade, I never carried my trombone home even once to practice (I can be stubborn), yet held first chair in spite of having kids my senior with more experience as my competition (who DID practice). My band instructor hated me for my refusal to practice and made that VERY clear to me. I quit the band due to the petty (in my opinion) squabbles and my desire to take my talent in a different direction. (And as a kid with no friends, the social "stigma" was too much).

With no support from ANY of the "authorities" in my life, I soon quit music all together. (Note: I just started teaching myself how to play guitar - and it feels good!)

I could carry on with countless examples, but that isn't the point of this post. I agree with Joel that the schools are made and designed for a particular type of student, and to turn that student into a particular type of adult. To me, the schools are more about TRAINING than they are about TEACHING. And in turn, shuts too many kids out.

I'm thankful people like Joel Turtel are out there! I thank God there are people like him who are willing to take a stand. In closing however, I'd just like to say, that I pray people like Joel will open their minds (even just a teeny, tiny bit) to the REALITY of adhd.

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