ADHD in School

“Children don’t have a disability, they have an inability to cope with the rigidity of classrooms.”

Well, we might as well wrap up the blog post here… WHAT.A.MIC.DROP.

That was said by my ever-so-thoughtful housemate, as we discussed how confining school classrooms are. Here we normalise the idea of sitting still and concentrating for hours on end, and shun those who can’t.

“Oh you can’t focus like the rest of the class? Well, here’s some behaviour management and pills to fix you up.”

(This is not to say that ADHD and other attention-based conditions aren’t legitimate, because they 100% are. Though I question the number of students misdiagnosed, simply because they can’t adapt to unrealistic expectations in school.)

As a teaching assistant I am shocked at how long students are expected to sit down. Here I am pacing around the classroom, massaging my numbed butt, and thinking:

“I’d sure as hell struggle if I was a student again…“

We naturally like to play, explore, and MOVE, and ironically school lets you have only an hour and a half of it.

Seems like a change is in order.