[PAA-Discuss] Fwd: [wildestcolts] American Pie: A Cautionary Tale About Three Sixth Grade Misfits

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Subject: [wildestcolts] American Pie: A Cautionary Tale About Three 
Sixth Grade Misfits


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American Pie: A Cautionary Tale About Three Sixth Grade Misfits

By Ruth Rosen - October 3, 2011, 8:52PM

We were bad. Incorrigible, they said. We had curious minds, awkward 
bodies and awakening hearts. When we disrupted the class with our 
chattering and chaotic behavior, the teacher asked us to leave the room 
and stand in the hall until we behaved properly. On our report cards we 
received "unsatisfactory" for our social behavior.
The year was 1957. Our teacher viewed us as difficult, inattentive, and 
troublesome, but no one ever suggested to our parents that we had a 
medical problem or learning disability that required medication.
But that was then, when we were 11 years old and the great waves of 
hyperactivity/ADHD diagnoses and stimulant medications were still a 
thing of the future. Now we wonder what would happen if we were misfits 
in 2011. Would we be referred for medical diagnosis? Would we be among 
the nearly 10% of children currently treated with psychoactive drugs?
The truth is, we didn't really care how long we had to wait outside in 
the hall. We peered through the window and watched our classmates. Don 
hummed and Peter and I talked about books we were reading. We learned 
from each other and were glad to be moving, feeling and thinking.
We loved learning, but we were restless, active and energetic; we just 
couldn't conform to the constraints of the classroom. We called out 
before we raised our hands; we didn't stay in our seats; we walked 
about the room to peer at the goldfish or thumb through the 
encyclopedia in the back of the room; and we constantly "talked to our 
neighbors." From the teacher's point of view we disrupted and 
distracted the class and, she was right.
Every so often, she'd call out, "Ruth (or Peter or Don) would you 
please stand out in the hall so we can continue class?" Sometimes, we 
spent as much as 1/4 of our time out in the hall, frequently talking 
with each other. Often, we had to stay after school--punishment for our 
bad behavior. We were three of the more difficult kids in the class, 
surely a topic of discussion in the teachers' lounge. They probably 
talked about us and wondered, what will become of them?
Despite their likely bleak predictions, we all became successful and 
productive adults. Recently I--one of these troublemakers--had lunch 
with another of these sixth grade misfits. His name is Peter Conrad and 
he is a distinguished medical sociologist at Brandeis University. He's 
perfectly wonderful and quite normal. He has just published a book 
called The Medicalization of Society. Like Peter, I have also enjoyed a 
successful career in academic life and became a historian at the 
University of California, as well as a journalist. Today, I teach write 
for a variety of magazines and publications. Between us, we've probably 
published ten books and hundreds of articles.
Though we're relatively well known in our own small worlds, the third 
misfit is positively famous. He is Don McLean, the legendary 
songwriter, whose "American Pie," one of the greatest songs of our 
generation, gave us the sober words, "that was the day the music died." 
I still remember Don humming and strumming on his ukulele, before he 
picked up a guitar and became a professional musician and songwriter. 
His songs live on. On his website, fans write that their grandchildren 
are busy memorizing the lyrics of this great poet.
Yes, we were disruptive and incorrigible. Don wanted to create music; 
Peter and I were too curious and restless to sit in a class where our 
veteran but traditional teacher--who seemed like a species from another 
planet to us--had to deal with a large baby boomer class.
But we weren't sick, we didn't act manic and nor did we suffer from 
attention disorder or any learning disability. We needed freedom to 
express our interests and talents, but drugs were not the solution.
Half a century later, today's sixth grade misfits are likely to be 
evaluated by doctors, diagnosed and medicated. By the time they reach 
college, they have been told repeatedly that they have an array of 
diagnosable behavior problems and learning disabilities. Every year, 
the number of university students who have brought me letters that 
certify their learning disabilities increases. It seems like a growth 
industry.
Many young people do, of course, suffer from serious medical problems 
and learning disabilities. But I confess to a certain skepticism. Are 
all these "experts" capable of distinguishing between creative kids who 
simply need a respite from conforming to educational norms and those 
who require medical help for their own benefit?
My sixth grade friends share my skepticism and worry about the growing 
medicalization of today's classroom misfits. After catching up with 
Peter, Don and I spent hours on the phone fondly recalling our 
experiences out in that hall and happily discovering how much our 
values had not changed.
What happens, we asked each other, to individuality and creativity when 
our educational system demands compliance and students must demonstrate 
conformity in order to avoid diagnosis and drugs? Could it be that some 
students merely need a hallway in which they can chatter and learn from 
each other? The three of us have reconnected and discovered, much to 
our pleasure, that we are still rebels, in our different ways, and live 
successful and satisfied lives with our families and our work.

Ruth Rosen, Profesor Emerita of History at the University of 
California, Davis, was a former columnist at the Los Angeles Times and 
San Francisco Chronicle. She is currently a visiting scholar at the 
Center for the Study of Right-wing Movements at U.C. Berkeley. and the 
author, most recently of The World Split Open: How the Modern Women's 
Movement Changed America (Penguin, 2006).