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E-PrinceAs a senior in the religion department, I have a thesis due in 10 days, and yes, like every other senior I know - some due sooner, some later - I'm freaking out. Despite prayers that some miracle will force an ...(back to the article)
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While I agree that the widespread use of adderall for academic purposes is somewhat unsettling, the author doesn't offer any explanation for why adderall is worse than caffeine except for the fact that caffeine is illegal. The effects of the two chemicals on the brain are not markedly different and simple legality and illegality don't really determine all that much. Also, the use of amphetamines to enhance academic achievement is neither new nor limited to undergraduates. Mathematician Paul Erdos is just one example of many academic luminaries whose careers were fueled by stimulants, amphetamines in this case.
I agree with P'08. also, All or most of our great works of literature were written on some sort of stimulant. This is almost a joke amongst every English professor I've ever had. also, the adderall doesnt make the papers better, it just helps you to focus.
Another thought: Is it illegal for our nation's army to go into war fueled on "Go Pills" to help them focus? These pills have been used since World War Two, and are extremely prevalent right now in Iraq.
If they can use them to fight, we can use them to learn.
Dear Another '08,
I have 2 problems with what you wrote. First, I agree that there has been great creative work--in music, art, writing, filmmaking--fueled by some sort of drug or stimulant. But I think the author is making a broader point on senior theses that extend beyond just the english, music, and art departments. Chem majors, for example, aren't pushing to create a great work of literature--but taking adderall definitely would help one focus better than another on an orgo exam. The question is not so much whether this is unfair, but really whether one person doing this pressures another to feel a need to do it just to be on the same competitive level.
Second, while the author's likening of adderall to steroids in sports is interesting, your likening of it to soldiers' "Go Pills" for the sake of justifying it is downright offensive. For the soldiers we send into battle, we put them into life and death situations, and thus using them to fight potentially helps them survive, and its almost our obligation to equip them as best we can. On the contrary, no matter what the academic situation, it is never a question of life and death. Soldiers achieve success in war by overpowering enemies with force and military domination until they die or surrender. By your "soldiers do it too" logic, if they can use guns to fight, we can use them to learn--yet, I don't hold my professors at gun point until they give me the grades I want.
"While I agree that the widespread use of adderall for academic purposes is somewhat unsettling, the author doesn't offer any explanation for why adderall is worse than caffeine except for the fact that caffeine is [NOT] illegal."
"Perhaps our famed academic pledge should read: I pledge my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during, nor used academic-performance enhancing drugs to prepare for, this examination."
[Perhaps our famed academic pledge should read: I pledge on my honor that I have not violated the Honor Code during this examination, nor have I used academic-performance enhancing drugs to prepare for this examination.]
When the performance enhancing drugs (Monster, Red Bull, caffeine, amphetamine.) wear off, the body's performance un-enhancing drugs (caused by lack of REM sleep) kick in.
I hope you do better on the big thesis paper than you did on the small thesis paper.
i might go with "embarrassingly naive"
Is this a late April fools joke? Can someone capable of typing really be THIS naive? No. Scratch that. Stupid?
it took a whole adderall to get through this piece without falling asleep
Stop whining about your thesis and energy-increasing drugs. You are not a badass for having "so much work to do." Just write the damn thing and hush.
Adderall made Car Lab actually enjoyable. And it makes me a better human being.
Go figure.