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Effect of drug abuse on student academic performance
Cognitive Enhancers
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In the article “Brain Gain: The Underground World of “Neuroenhancing” Drugs” (Yorker 2009) Margaret Talbot discusses the misuse of prescription drugs that enhance academic performance at the college level. First Talbot introduces readers to a young college history major at Harvard University named Alex who receives a description of a demanding, busy life which seems impossible to control without the safety unapproved adopted use of a drug named Adderall. After that Alex’s dependency on the prescription drugs cognitive enhancers is described when he asks his doctor to increase the amount of intake and the listing of his daily routine on using Adderall during a week that required him to write four term papers. Next Talbot describes a personal …show more content…
However, unlike Alex who uses the prescription drug privately Nicholas Seltzer uses the prescription drugs as an outlook for a bigger goal in life that can efficiently improve the world. Seltzer describes his personal belief in using the cognitive enhancer drug named piracetam as a means to keep his aging mind healthy and because as a “trans humanist” his ideals derive from the want of living a long time and using the positives that come from cognitive enhancers. Afterwards Talbot meets Seltzer and finds out that he was not only in favor of the cognitive enhancer, but also the feeling of manipulating the mind and that he feels every right do so as it was done before in history by people like Sir Francis Bacon. In addition to his argument Seltzer continued to explain that the smart drugs were in the legal acceptance as it does not harm any other person beyond the user and that the suppression on intellectual advancement would hinder America’s international
In the book High Price, highly credible author and neuroscientist, Dr. Carl Hart explains the misconceptions that everyone normally has about drugs and their users. He uses his own life experiences coming from a troubled neighborhood in Florida. The book consists of Hart’s life growing up with domestic violence in his household and the chance he had to come out and excel academically. He talks about the war on drugs and how within this war on drugs we were actually fighting the war with the wrong thing.
In the chapter “Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era,” from The New Brain, written by Richard Restak, Restak makes some very good points on his view of multitasking and modern technology. He argues that multitasking is very inefficient and that our modern technology is making our minds weaker. Multitasking and modern technology is causing people to care too much what other people think of them, to not be able to focus on one topic, and to not be able to think for themselves.
Another persuasive technique we used was appealing to dramatic benefits of the post-treatment of adderall by having a student imitate exaggerated behaviors of short attention span and impulsive nature that resulted in poor grades. Then after the same student takes adderall, he portrays a completely different character and becomes very attentive and productive in his studies, which results to an A in his next assignment. This is critical in Singh’s “Not Just Naughty: 50 years of stimulant drug advertising”, as he emphasizes how drug advertisements commonly present a post-treatment normal reality of highly idealized “portrait of an ideal family—bright, at...
In a 2012 study published by the Journal of American College Health, by senior year, Adderall and other prescription stimulants are offered to two-thirds of college students. Furthermore, about 31 percent are taking the drug in hopes to enhance their concentration to get better grades (Zadrozny 2013). Students who take Adderall that don’t have ADHD report that they have a increased sense of focus, motivation, and concentration, which are all the ingredients you need to have for a successful all-nighter to help on providing an added boost before an exam. With characteristics such as difficulties in focusing, reasoning, problem solving and planning, ADHD is a neurobehavioral-based disorder and is associated with an insufficient amount of dopamine (Student Health: Drug & Alcohol Abuse among College Students 2015). Adderall is enticing to students because they believe it can help them perform enhance their academic skills. On the other hand, some students abuse the drug because simply for the high it gives
Every parent desires to have a child who will be successful in life. In “Brainology” author, Carol Dweck explains that there are consequences for praising children for their work. Dweck also explains that there are different types of mindsets that enable an individual’s development. She claims that there are two types of mindsets that people have. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work ( Dweck 1). Furthermore growth mindset individuals love learning and are resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. (Dweck 1). One more theory, Dweck mentioned was fixed mindset. The author states “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence
“Drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, and Conserta that make you focused and industrious can be very useful,” said Jeff Smith*, a Northeastern student.
An adult person who is illiterate and tries to read shows profound changes in deep brain. It came from a study where researchers helped illiterate woman from North India to read. In addition, the illiterate woman had scanned their brain before and after learning to read. The researchers found a big change in the brain after the women learned to read. They conclude that the brain of an adult is not flexible. The plasticity still actives in adult age.
Over the last decade, a new epidemic has risen in America regarding the sustained trend in teens abusing and misusing stimulant drugs prescribed for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), specifically Ritalin and Adderall. There has been an increase in the number of teens diagnosed with ADHD and practitioners prescribing stimulants as treatment. These drugs are known in the teen community as the so-called “study drug”. An alarming high percentage of teens that are not diagnosed with ADHD are using this drug in attempt to achieve academic success as well as abusing it for recreational purposes. Due to the increase in teens being diagnosed with ADHD and being prescribed stimulants, the availability of ADHD stimulants has increased and are being abused and misused by other teens. In addition, caregiver’s lax attitudes as well as not supporting school safety prescription policies, has contributed to this disturbing trend in teens misusing and abusing the so-called “Study Drug”.
The way that drugs, especially neurotransmitters such as Xanax, are characterized and stigmatized has changed in A Scanner Darkly, a 1977 novel, compared to Taipei, a 2013 one. In this almost 50-year difference, these novels reflect the current view of drugs at the time they were written, but also give a unique look into just how quickly man’s perception of drugs has been altered. In Taipei by Tao Lin and A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick, the drugs taken in the novels, whether the several “blockbuster drugs” such as Adderall and MDMA in Taipei or cannabis and the fictional “Substance D” in A Scanner Darkly, create a distancing effect from others as well as the user themselves. In contrast, the drug “Substance D” is so heavily regarded as
According to Benedict Carey, taking pills to enhance performance in academia is flourishing. Throughout his argument he talks about how individuals are using pills such as Adderall or Provigil to help boost one’s abilities. In his perspective he sees taking stimulants as a horrendous problem within the academic field. The problem with his argument is he is not staying open minded; he stayed in a complete narrow mindset weakening his argument against pills being taken to improve academic success.
In The article “Brainology” “Carol S Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, differentiates between having a fixed and growth mindset in addition how these mindsets have a deep effect on a student’s desire to learn. Individuals who have a fixed mindset believe they are smart without putting in effort and are afraid of obstacles, lack motivation, and their focus is to appear smart.. In contrast, students with a growth mindset learn by facing obstacles and are motivated to learn. Dwecks argues that students should develop a growth mindset.
In Carol Dweck’s “Brainology” the article explains how our brain is always being altered by our experiences and knowledge during our lifespan. For this Dweck conducted a research in what students believe about their own brain and their thoughts in their intelligence. They were questioned, if intelligence was something fixed or if it could grow and change; and how this affected their motivation, learning, and academic achievements. The response to it came with different points of views, beliefs, or mindset in which created different behavior and learning tendencies. These two mindsets are call fixed and growth mindsets. In a fixed mindset, the individual believes that intelligence is something already obtain and that is it. They worry if they
There are many roads to be successful in learning, but they all involve developing mindset. Developing the right mindset is a key success for most learning. Carol S.Dweck, the author of " brainology", indentified two diffent mindsets : fixed mindsets and grow mindsets. These impact student 's learning differently. From my point of view, having a growth mindset is the best for success since this belief assists students learn and develop a good self-motivation in goals, efforts, and setbacks.
Many students and young people trying to leave marks on their jobs now use brain-enhancing "smart" pills to help boost their exam grades or their ability to work long hours without tiring. It's quite possible that employers will start to demand that employees use stimulants. Drugs, originally made for dementia patients and children diagnosed with ADHD, are now available without prescription. Healthy individuals use them solely to improve their memory, motivation and attention, without any prior consult with their doctors. Many of these drugs are available on the Internet which comes in handy to young people who want to save their money for the future. What they do not take into consideration when buying stimulants on the Internet is the risk of not knowing for certain what they are getting. Moreover, long-term consequences and safety of the technologies are not known. Scientists haven’t done enough research to know how much of an impact even a short period of using such substances leaves on our brains.
What does it mean to have a ‘healthy’ brain and why is this so important? Just as you can expect to keep your body in a state of wellness, your brain should be given a similar treatment. A healthy brain promotes your general physical and emotional well-being. Also, more specifically, the brain’s cognitive functions, including memory, problem solving, calculation, and decision making are not hindered when a state of wellness is maintained. Lastly, serious disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, and other ailments that can follow an aging brain, may be deterred. Now, you may ask, how do I ensure my brain is healthy? There are many steps you can take but I will list five that I feel are the easiest to act upon and are more likely to have positive results. These five actions are: getting sufficient sleep, eating healthily, exercising, performing brain stimulating activities, and socializing.