ODD... or Just WEIRD?

Who would have guessed? Twenty percent of our school children are ODD. Well, more precisely, some studies indicate that 20% of school-age children have Oppositional Defiant Disorder.

What does this mean?

In an average classroom, four to six children are “suffering” from this “Disorder”. ODD was first recognized as a problem in the DSM-III in 1980.^[2] I guess that for thousands of years before that, children must have been pretty normal. Psychologists just woke up in 1980, and realized that 20% of our children had suddenly developed this mysterious disorder. “The cause of ODD is unknown”.

Symptoms include:

• Actively does not follow adults' requests
• Angry and resentful of others
• Argues with adults
• Blames others for own mistakes
• Has few or no friends or has lost friends
• Is in constant trouble in school
• Loses temper
• Is spiteful or seeks revenge
• Is touchy or easily annoyed

A similar, but more widely known, disorder

You may have heard of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). ADHD has been around longer than ODD. Ritalin was first used in its treatment in the 1950s. Approximately 11% of children 4-17 years of age have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011.

Symptoms include:

• Doesn't pay attention to details or makes careless mistakes in schoolwork
• Has problems focusing during tasks or play
• Doesn't listen when spoken to directly
• Doesn't follow through on instructions and doesn't finish schoolwork or chores
• Has problems organizing tasks and activities
• Avoids or doesn't like tasks that require mental effort (such as schoolwork)
• Often loses things, such as homework or toys
• Is easily distracted
• Is often forgetful
• Fidgets or squirms in seat
• Leaves their seat when they should stay in their seat
• Runs about or climbs when they shouldn't be doing so
• Has problems playing or working quietly
• Is often "on the go," acts as if "driven by a motor"
• Talks all the time
• Blurts out answers before questions have been completed
• Has problems awaiting their turn
• Interrupts or intrudes on others (butts into conversations or games)

Where did these epidemics come from?

I think you already know the answer. Children are curious, and active. They love to explore, ask questions, and run around playing games with their friends.

One of my colleagues told me that his daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD, and prescribed medication for treatment. He said her teachers noted that she is restless in class, blah, blah, blah …

I asked him what she is like at home. He tells me that sometimes she gets engrossed in her hobbies for hours. I believe his daughter does not have ADHD. On the contrary, she appears to exhibit the traits of a normal, healthy child. When she is doing something she enjoys, she enters a state of flow^[3]. When she is bored, and uninterested, she gets fidgety.

WEIRD

We have been sending our children to compulsory public schools for over 100 years. The “scientific schooling” advocated by the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations in the early 20^th Century^[4] envisioned an assembly-line approach to education. The future employees of the great corporations would learn how to obediently sit, be socialized, and be prepared to function as a cog in our great democratic experiment. This has come to be accepted as completely normal.

However, expecting our children to sit quietly, isolated in rows, listening to a teacher transmitting facts; having to request permission to go to the bathroom; having to stop what they are doing when a bell rings – all of this is very unnatural^[5]. In fact, it is WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic)^[6].

In their paper, The Weirdest People in the World?, the authors argue that, while we think we are normal, many of the activities in the Western, Industrialized societies are actually very abnormal when viewed in the light of historical experience. Therefore, when a sociologist or psychologist conducts a study of schoolchildren, or undergraduates, rather than studying normal behavior in a normal population, they are actually observing the normal behavior of a very abnormal population. In other words, when we look in the mirror, we are looking at the product of a bizarre cultural indoctrination.

So what does this mean for our children, and for our schools?

If we therefore accept the premise that our current school system is an aberration from a long cultural heritage, we can begin to understand the influence on various childhood “pathologies”, such as ODD and ADHD.

No man is an island. We are social animals. Throughout history, communities have thrived by helping each other. Children have traditionally been raised as part of the community, playing, and exploring the world around them. Psychologists and educators are beginning to realize that play is an essential part of learning. In Finland, formal education does not begin until age seven. Studies have shown that beginning formal education before this can actually be harmful.[7]

By forcing children to compete in a factory-style school system, we have turned our backs on millenia of experience. We tell our children that they have to do well in school, but to accomplish this, they are forced to compete against each other. We tell them that if they don't get good grades, and get into a good school, they will not succeed. And because they are competing against each other, the bar is constantly being raised, and the pressure to compete and excel continues. We have created an unnatural, pressure-cooker environment for our children. It's no wonder that they act out, and rebel against this system. After all, it's WEIRD.

References

[1]    Downloaded from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/001537.htm, 9 November 2016

[2]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder#History

[3]    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi#Flow

[4]    A Different Kind of Teacher, John Taylor Gatto, Berkely Hill Books, 2001, p. 51.

[5]    Okay, I know … many schools today have a much more relaxed environment. But this is the way the system was designed, and operated for many years.

[6]    Henrich, J., Heine, S., & Norenzayan, A. (2010) The Weirdest People in the World?, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, pp 1-75.

[7]    http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/discussion/school-starting-age-the-evidence