In the always surprising blog of journalist Miguel Jara I have read an article that analyzes a very interesting study on the medicalization of school failure I want to share with our readers, who are mostly parents committed to the present and future welfare of their children, responsible parents who want to know and learn to be better parents.
The work, entitled “The medicalization of school failure“It is the work of doctor Juan Gérvas and the teacher, Paula González-Vallinas.
School failure It is an issue that worries us all, we want our children to be happy and also give them the tools to have the best possible future. However, the data is worrisome, since 40% of the students do not finish their schooling satisfactorily and I consider that these figures are intolerable.
I have analyzed the causes of this situation in several subjects, especially in which I titled Suspense in Education, but I had not found this part of the puzzle until now. Well, I know that parents of young children are also worried about what school awaits your children?
We rely on a system and some professionals counting on that they will be able to guide the education of the children, but the reality is that, even if we strive and the children have natural desires to learn, time returns them to us with some possibilities of a 40 % of failure.
But, if the fault is not of the system, nor of the resources, nor of the teaching staff, nor of us, the fault lies in the children. I do not think that is so.
The children we raise and who we know demonstrate from a very young age a desire to learn and a huge innate curiosity, joy in discovering new things and an inquisitive and investigative spirit full of joy.
When does this change? What is happening so that so many of them, whether or not they successfully pass their studies, do so tired and without pleasure? What do we do with children who do not adapt to discipline and traditional school organization?
"The peculiarities become diseases, when in fact the sickness is to pretend to all equal children because there is no child who does not have at any time a variation in behavior."
This work indicates that when society is considered innocent, teachers, school organization and parents the fault lies with the children. And of these, since it is not possible for students to respond in a predictable and homogeneous way to education, to the health sector, ending in a very dangerous situation, consider any variation of uncontrollable behavior, in a medical problem.
“Teachers have to respond to situations that they do not control in front of a disinterested student body and there is a temptation to pass their own responsibilities to other sectors, such as health. That is, it is possible to transform any abnormality experienced as such by the educational system into a health problem. Thus, school failure and school difficulties become health problems and require medical preventive and curative methods. ”
We know that today there is a true epidemic of hyperactivity diagnoses, developmental and attention disorders, and many of these children receive strong medication that does not solve the problem. In some cases this is real and the necessary medication, but in others I am sure that the solution involves more through joint measures and a true adaptation of the school to the particularities of each child than to the use of medications.
And is that the normal It is a very variable concept. If the system is focused on getting children to keep their attention on issues that are of no interest to them, for memorial rather than experiential learning, to be quiet and sitting in class, it is foreseeable that a considerable part of the students are not going to be able to adapt to it.
But I do not think that they are sick in all cases or that they have to be, in the medium term, people who do not know how to adapt to life in society or who cannot learn the fundamental knowledge.
The medicalization of school failure, that is, considering children who do not adapt to the prevailing system as sick, I do not think it is the best solution if they do not really invest in finding other solutions and, above all, other explanations in a self-critical way. The authors of this work point out that this is happening, but I really cannot say if it is true or to what extent or at what percentage it happens, but it really seems to me a worrying issue. Do you think they may be right to some extent?
