Academic steroids
Steroids and other performance enhancing drugs have recently been the talk of the town in sports. I would like to turn this issue around and talk about steroids in college, non-sports related.
Adderall is prescribed for people with attention deficit disorder, but many students without ADD are still getting the drug. I would say that most students could get their hands on an Adderall anytime of the year, except during finals when everyone is trying to get the performance-enhancing drug.
To me, Adderall is the steroids of academics. It will help you stay up all night studying for a test, almost to the point where you want to keep studying. For all who have taken an Adderall you know the effects and how it can improve your grades dramatically.
For me it is too late, for I am graduating soon, but I feel sorry for all the incoming students who have to compete in a drug-enhancing world. After they test the athletes maybe they should move to the honors program and test those students as well.
Richard Wasser
posted by Jim Frisinger at
12:49 PM
2 Comments:
Richard,
There are many of us who never went beyond the gallons of coffee to pull late-nighters with friends in studying for finals. I have a picture of myself outside a Denny's restaurant at three a.m. with an armload of books to prove that one can indeed maintain a GPA above 3.0, manage a part-time college job and remain in the land of the living in the whirlwind days that precede the dreaded final exams. All this, without the academic steroids of which you speak. Our bodies are alot more resilient than we believe. Ask any Navy Seal candidate who has come through "Hell Week" what it means to take the body and the emotions to the limit. They go a week with less sleep than most of us have in one night. And they do it while swimming, running, crawling, carrying large stumps and moving through obstacle courses. Very few make it. But the ones who make it, accomplish it on the strength of their character. Hats off to all who have the fortitude to make the grade. I will be thinking of each one of you as the final sweeps begins. It is not easy. But it is attainable.
Semper Fi.
LCDR Tammy Swofford,NC,USNR
By
Anonymous, at 8:40 PM
It certainly is not surprising to hear about this, as my wife is a high school teacher. Back in my days, it was Jolt cola (All the sugar, and twice the caffeine) and No Doze.
That being said, Adderall (and incidentally all drugs in that class except Strattera) is a derivative of the drug known as Speed on the street. There are potential long term effects to deal with here if addiction occurs.
I once had a friend who used Speed. He would often say "The sun's rising again? That's the third time today!"
It's amazing how some people ignore the long term consequences of their actions. Cheating will get you through school, but will not prepare you for the world. Similarly, drug use (either steroids or speed) may seem like the easy way, but long term consequences outweigh the short term gain.
By
Greg G., at 10:12 AM
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