Wicked Local
By Billerica Minuteman
April 2, 2010
Have you ever imagined what the world would have been like if Albert Einstein had been on Ritalin? Would we ever have unlocked the mysteries of the universe and developed the technologies we depend on today? Well, had Einstein been born a century later, I’m certain that his genius would have been wholly misunderstood.
I make this supposition because this man, who possessed such a masterful mind, spoke not a word of English until he reached the age of four and was unable to read until his seventh birthday. As a student, Einstein was considered deficient. His teachers described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift in foolish dreams.” In fact, he was alternately expelled and then refused admittance to the Zurich Polytech Institute.
It’s easy to see what sort of fate Einstein would have suffered had he been a student in today’s culture. He surely would have been labeled “Learning Disabled” and his parents would have sat through school conference after school conference where the teachers and guidance counselors complained that he was disruptive and unable to stay “on task.” Ultimately, someone would have advised that he begin taking Ritalin so that he could become a “better citizen and student”.
What’s even more shocking is that Einstein was only one of many brilliant achievers and inventors whose academic performance was less than perfect. Did you know that Isaac Newton did very poorly in grade school or that Winston Churchill failed the sixth grade? Opera singer Enrico Caruso’s teacher once told him he had neither the talent nor the voice to sing, and Beethoven’s teacher chastised him for the clumsy way in which he handled the violin and composed music. Would these geniuses have been candidates for Ritalin today?
Recently, I overheard a conversation between a woman and a middle school teacher, who was being questioned about what percentage of her students were taking Ritalin. The teacher’s retort was that “Yes, many of them were, but not enough!”
Isn’t it sad that just because a parent or a school identifies that a child may be learning or behaving in a different way than other children, they see a need to medicate them-especially when there have been no studies done on the long-term effects of these drugs? Whatever happened to respecting the unique differences that make the human race interesting, and have we forgotten that “situational” depression is a common occurrence amongst teens and adults?
Read entire article: http://www.wickedlocal.com/billerica/news/lifestyle/columnists/x1664785609/Just-For-The-Health-Of-It-What-If-Albert-Einstein-Was-On-Ritalin
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Tags: ADD, ADHD, Albert Einstein, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, behavior problems, depression, labeled, learning disabled, perform poorly at school, Ritalin
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Billerica,
While what you have written is your opinion on Albert Einstein and or Ritalin, you may need to do your research before writing about what may or may not have happened because most of the true “enlightened thinkers, which is what their classification should have been” you have mentioned were indeed self medicated later in life by some sort of stimulant to help them function normally and or to concentrate on their work. Most of the time, they tried to hide their dependency and some even embraced their dependency as a treatment as did Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein went to Kantonsschule to improve his knowledge because he initially failed the enrollment exam at Eidgenoessische Polytechnische Schule and thought it was more knowledge that he needed. While attending Kantonsschule, he stayed up all night studying for an exam and needed the help of cocaine to get through his studies as many used it for this reason, and found that the use of a stimulant actually regulated his brain functions and allowed him to actually concentrate better and absorb more of what he read and studied. With this knowledge, he was able to pass the enrollment exam and get accepted at Eidgenoessische Polytechnische. While Albert Einstein was excelling in physics, his dependence to stay focused was growing and in 1933, he had an offer to work for the US Government in trade for a lifetime supply of daily cocaine so he could work for the Government, grow his knowledge while the whole time being self medicated for free. Albert Einstein and Isacc Newton both had Asperger and they were so brilliant that they even diagnosed their own disability’s treatment through the use of cocaine which was way ahead of its time, this explains why they did so poorly earlier in school, and they were not able to maintain focus. Albert Einstein also used hallucinogens because he felt that under the right use and training of his brain, that one could open other paths of the brain to get an even better understanding thus doing so discovered “The Theory of Relativity”.
I hope this helps in your search for knowledge. I too was diagnosed with Adult ADD which is also within the Autism spectrum. Growing up as a child, I could not stay focused on reading, remember anything I read, do homework at home, sit still in class, pay attention and not talk and finally, complete hardly any tasks I started because I started so many at once. Try and understand that living in a small town in the mid 1990’s, there was no such thing as ADD, or at least no teachers recommend this as they all thought you were just a trouble maker, or class clown. I remember sitting in my bedroom floor trying to do math which I usually aced in class as this topic interested me, but could not concentrate enough to finish 20 math problems before it was dark outside because my mind was racing. I would literally pull my hair and say, “WHY CAN I NOT DO SCHOOL WORK LIKE ALL THE OTHER KIDS, I MUST BE STUPID” and scream till I turned red. These issues plagued me my whole life, even as an adult. In work for example, I would be very productive in some months to the extreme of being top producer of the whole year to the next month doing nothing because I had money and was complacent or to me I was being lazy, I had ups and downs like a rollercoaster ride. About 7 years or so ago, an old hometown friend I grew up with told me that he noticed all my issues and recommended his doctor. While speaking with his doctor, I took a questionnaire and between what the questionnaire said and what the doctor noticed with a few routine checks is that I had Adult ADD and prescribed me Vyvanse which turned my life around in a new direction. Not only can I do multiple tasks and complete them, but I am able to actually listen and understand others who speak to me without cutting them off. I own many of my own businesses and do quite well. I just wanted to give you an inside view of what it’s like to have these types of disorders and what miracles these medicines can provide.
Joe
http://theoryreport.com
“this man, who possessed such a masterful mind, spoke not a word of English until he reached the age of four”…um, I think it was much later than that when he learned ENGLISH! His native language was German.
I whole-heartedly agree with Joe’s comments. Many great thinkers of the past have self medicated with substances that were available at the time. Not to say that prescribing rilalin for every child who likes to chat or doesn’t like homework is a good thing either. There is not blanket solution, but I certainly do not believe that stimulants are always horrible things, some folks truly do benefit from them. Unfortunately, they are so over prescribes these days, especially in children and it creates a stigma for those of us who truly benefit from them. I wish all teachers/doctors/parents would look deeper into individual cases and explore all the possibilities instead of automatically prescribing drugs.