The Glen Bard
Editorial
December 2012-Page 15
2012-2013 Editorial Staff Emily Molloy ’13 Samantha Moriarty ’13 Editors-in-Chief John Bleed ’13 Assistant Editor-in-Chief Annie O’Brien ’13 Features Editor Maddie Lupori ’14 Entertainment Editor Kathleen Caffrey ’13 Centerspread Editor
Prescription drugs the key to success? Think again. By Samantha Moriarty’13 Editor-in-chief The ACT, SAT, and finals: tests that can alter the course of your future. Sitting in a desk, staring at those bubbled letters for hours on end is intimidating and boring, causing you to search for any distraction you can possibly find. In today’s multitasking, techsavvy world, it h a s
Elliott Murphy ’14 Sports Editor Steven Hanna ’15 Staff Photographer Design Editor
become extremely easy for teens to stray away from their assignment or test and day dream. But just because you have a difficult time staying attentive during these impacting standardized tests, does not necessarily mean that you have ADHD (AttentionDeficit/Hyperactivity Disorder), and it certainly doesn’t mean you have to take medication. Recently, in some schools, students who are not diagnosed with ADHD, nor have a prescription, have b e e n
Kate Marxkors ’14 Design Editor Louise Simpson ’13 Frances Smith ’13 Abby Quaid ’13 Oswah Assaf ’14 Erik Barillari ’14 Gabriella Bower ’14 Madison Chandler ’14 Alex Levin ’14 Alec Lukins ’14 Zach Myers’14 Lauren Crowe ’15 Genevieve Kristofek ’15 Corinne Loftus ’13 Emily Asselmeier ’16 Michaela Hrbacek ’14 Erin Delany ’16 Claire Deasy ’15 Milca Krstic ’13 Page Editors
Ms. Mohr Mrs. Slowinski Faculty Advisers The Glen Bard is published eight times a year by the students, for the students. The mission of The Glen Bard is to provide a public forum to inform, fairly convey issues and to entertain. All members of the Glenbard West community are invited to submit articles, cartoons or opinions. Letters to the editor, signed and less than 300 words, are subject to editing without changing the content. Each month, The Glen Bard takes on a topic in its unsigned editorial. This editorial represents the majority opinion of The Glen Bard’s editorial board.
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taking Adderall in hopes of an “edge” on standardized tests. Students ignorantly conclude that if this drug helps kids diagnosed with being excessively distracted focus, than those without ADHD could be extremely focused. While Adderall helps kids with ADHD reach a normal stimulation of amphetamine and extroamphetamine, normal levels in people who shouldn’t take Adderal become over stimulated . This over-stimulation “can be habit-forming” and “fatal” According to the Livestrong Foundation, some of the side effects of using Adderall if you don’t have ADHD include seizures, irregular heartbeat, cardiovascular failure,
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dangerously high body temperatures, and high blood pressure. There is also a possibility of drug dependence with the usage of Aderall. Dopamine levels can increase. Some drugs block the dopamine reuptake process and replace it with amphetamine. This could lead to increased drug usage to reach the previous levels od dopamine. Eventually there is none left for the body to use and the drug abuser develops a reliance on it. Adderall is just like any other drug, if your body does not need it to function normally, than it can physically and mentally harm you, and there is the risk of becoming dependent on it.
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Education stimulates the empowerment of women By Emily Molloy ’13 Editor-in-chief The summer going into sophomore year, I picked up the book Three Cups of Tea. While the author, Greg Mortensen, was later caught for lying about details concerning his account, the issue at hand was completely real. Children living in villages deep within the Karakoram Mountains in Pakistan had no standing school structure or supplies for learning; they drew lessons in the dirt with sticks. While this reality was harrowing enough, I was even more disturbed by the complete denial of an education to many young girls living in the villages. Any attempt to provide the young women with basic schooling was sometimes met with violence from a fundamentalist group of local villagers, fighting to prevent girls from going to a school that was insufficient to support even its male students. Without an education, the girls would soon be married off at appallingly young ages and
begin to have children, often during their teenage years. Worst of all, the same people who succeeded in denying these girls basic schooling would become their new families, husbands who would teach their wives to be completely subordinate. Photos of girls with missing noses and burnt faces haunted my vision. Without an education, women are unaware of their bodies and how to protect them against s e x u a l violence that is prevalent both in households as well as in brothels all over the world. Forced prostitution and sex trafficking have trapped women and girls as young as three years old, scarring them with mental trauma as well as physical ailments. Women hold the scars of violent clients and brothel owners lives and within their bodies are viruses
from unprotected sex. Women who have entered arranged marriages have just as little control. Unable to choose who they wish to marry, they are also forced to bear as many children as the husband wishes. Women who begin to have children early and quite often are at the highest risk of severe infection or bleeding that leads to death. Education allows women to try to escape this fate. Knowledge p r o v i d e s disheartened and abused women with opportunities outside of the struggles they have been living with for most of their lives. Organizations that have acknowledged these hardships have helped enfranchise women by rewarding them with money for perfect school attendance or the means to start their own small businesses to support their families. Women will be able to choose who they marry, when to start a family, and whether or
“Forced sex trafficking and prostitution have trapped women and girls as young as three years old.”
Did you know... Kwanza is a fairly new holiday that was first celebrated in December of 1996?
not they wish to pursue a career. Education inequality was my eye-opener to the global and all-encompassing struggles of women. World-wide, one in five girls eligible to go to primary school is not enrolled. Without the necessary means of traveling to a school possibly miles away, or restricted by family members hoping to save meager amounts of money, young girls are unable to harness their true potential. Restrictions based on religious extremism and sexism cripple our world by depriving our future generations of powerful leaders and thinkers. Women who are trapped in violent homes or brothels or have been subjected to despicable forms of abuse can be saved. Rather than abusing and minimizing half of the world’s population, we must do everything in our power to uplift the amazing women who have been forced down. Empowering women with the knowledge to improve their lives, will enrich the world with potential.
For more information visit: www.USAID.com and