Attention Deficit

Note: I’ve lectured on this subject for over 10 years. This will be the first time I’ve placed my collective thoughts into print. I’ll present the topic as a series of essays.

Henry Ford vs. Dennis the Menace

Dennis the Menace began appearing as a comic strip character in the early 1950s. While his physical appearance changed slightly in the 1960s and 1970s, he was still considered a lovable child when I began my teaching career in the mid 1980s. We continued to laugh at his innocent acts of menace toward his family and friends without mention of medication or ADHD.

When I met my Dennis, or John, in the late 1980s, I was astonished that he was viewed by the other staff as ‘uncontrollable’ and ‘unteachable.’ He was considered a problem child. John was a square peg trying to fit in the round hole of an educational machine. The educational world had less tolerance for children like John, and ADHD was about to was about vastly change education – not necessarily for the better.

What had in fact affected John in the 1980s had its roots in much earlier times. A confluence of events was actually creating the perfect storm for the Ritalin revolution. Change was underway in education, mental health, and medicine that produced an enormous shift in American culture. This shift would greatly affect John and all children like him.

Dennis the Menace was not yet created in the early 1930s when Henry Ford’s efficient production line model was adopted into public education. In mass fashion, children were taught in classrooms with rows, using state issued textbooks, aggregately reciting the pledge of allegiance, and instructed at the same pace with the same curriculum by the same teacher. We now had efficient education for the masses.

This model was somewhat tempered by philosopher John Dewey. Dewey received his Ph.D from the School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in 1884. However, his theoretical basis for his Pragmatic school of thought was developed during his tenure at the newly founded University of Chicago beginning in 1899. The Pragmatic school of thought embraced an empirically based theory of knowledge which was further refined at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. Dewey developed his ideas for education based on his work at the Laboratory Schools and published Experience and Education in 1938 after many other books. Dewey emphasized a humanistic approach to education where development of problem solving and critical thinking skills were fundamental and paramount to increasing intellect. This contradicted the traditional practice of rote memorization. His philosophy of education also embraced individualization and accounted for the needs and differences among students. This was based upon Dewey’s vision that while a student is a small part of society, they student will in turn strengthen democratic society if he is a critical thinker and problem solver. This is analogous to the pilings in a bride; the stronger the pilings, the stronger the bridge.

While Dewey’s pedagogy was not officially adopted by schools, his influence affected national education for a long period and created an environment where nurturing and experience played important roles in rearing children. This would soon change.

The other articles in the series "The Evolution of ADHD, Education, and Drugs in America" can be found below.

1. Dennis the Menace
2. Henry Ford and Education
3. Henry Ford vs. Dennis the Menace
4. Soviet Menace vs. Dennis the Menace
5. Sigmund Freud vs. Dennis the Menace