I Gots the ADDWHA

I guess that's how you could abbreviate "Attention Deficit Disorder Without Hyperactivity." I would have been diagnosed with that a kid, except the diagnosis didn't exist.

Here's what I read on a website, which I won't link. It just encourages these 'tards.

"Children with attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity may not be the kids who stand out as having special needs. Instead, they are likely to be seen as unmotivated daydreamers who work too slow, don't volunteer to answer questions, and rarely complete homework on time. They may be disorganized, lose homework, or arrive late to class. Attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity is one type of attentional disorder that is sometimes overlooked in children and adults because others may see them as slow or lazy."

I wasn't seen as slow. Actually my teachers wrote on my report cards, "He was such potential!" meaning I was supposed to do my homework, and of course when I turned it in, I was supposed to do it better. (And apparently that "potential" was just sitting inside of me like a lump, just waiting for some yeast to be added.)

No thanks. I don't believe in homework. Didn't then, and don't now. It was suffocating, boring, and most probably, brain-damaging. (I sometimes the impression the schools weren't trying to kill me, just remove my brains.) And when you're bored, you can't be enthusiastic and motivated.

I was bored by school. I wasn't hyperactive, thank God. I just didn't pay attention and daydreamed. I got into a fair amount of trouble. I used to fall asleep sitting up at my desk in high-school, because I wasn't interested in sitting still and listening.

Yet, of all things, I taught myself binary when I was 11. I wasn't in school, of course.

Here are some of the ways teachers are supposed to improve student's attention.

"Seat the student near the teacher for instruction."

Of course. Sitting the student close to the warden or the prison guard is going to make things better. What moron came up with this suggestion?

"Provide a quiet area for seat work or consider a study carrel, stall, or cubicle."

Now that is a good suggestion, and is in fact the opposite of the first one.

"Pair the student near others who model appropriate study habits. Watch the situation to ensure the model students are able to work."

Sure. Pair the student with others he can't stand. Perfect!

I have a better idea. The kid drops out of school in first grade and has a mentor who will take him for long walks in the country and explain things to him. Then later he sits down for a half hour or so and teaches him math, chemistry, whatever.

I graduated from a large college that was the largest producers of teachers in a large state. The students were stupid (except for one) and they were all girls. The education department is bottom of the barrel when it comes to the quality of students.

Okay, so maybe it's not practical for some kids to drop out of school and have mentors. Then how about all-male schools with male teachers? Thinking back, I had more fun, and learned more, from my male teachers, including one who was an ex-Marine, who once drew a stick-figure on the blackboard with two-and-one-half legs. All the boys in the class just cracked up.

It's got to the point I don't think female teachers should be allowed anywhere near little boys. I didn't think much of most of them when I was a kid, and after college, I think even less of them now.

I get the impression all this drugging of little boys with Ritalin and other brainwhack poison is an attempt by inept teachers and administrators to turn little boys into Sheeplegirls, who are much better at sitting in ranks and rows and paying attention to teachers going wack, wack, wack, wack, like in the Charlie Brown specials.

Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have kids start school at, oh, seven, and get out at 12 or 13? What exactly do that learn in 13 years of school? Or is it just boring baby-sitting so their parents can work?

Our schools are such a catastrophe we have to try something different.

Personally, I think tearing down the public schools and salting the ground might be the best thing. Sooner or later, in one form or another, that is exactly what is going to happen.