Being Poor is not a Mental Health Problem

I want to know one thing:
Are the Medicaid-receiving parents of children on anti-psychotic medication threatened with censure if they refuse to put their children on drugs?

Or do they, perhaps, not know that it is okay to refute a drug-treating mental health worker’s diagnosis?

It’s stunning to read that four times more children of the poor are being treated with medication for possible psychiatric disorders than their middle class counterparts. Being poor is not a mental health problem. The stresses involved with the possible surrounding chaos of a dysfunctional environment (not exactly read: poor) may render a child more prone to depression or acting-out behavior. But there’s no way that this jump in percentages reflects anything but an easy payday or workday for psychiatrists who treat children living in economic disadvantage.

We need a study, now, that provides a statistical model of mental health professionals who over-prescribe to these children.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/health/12medicaid.html

Racial Concerns of Job Searchers

Shaky times lead to shaky conclusions. I get it: if you graduated from Yale and still don't have a job a few months later, then it makes sense to look in the mirror and ask, What's wrong with this image? Because, you know, you're entitled to the oyster called 'the world' now. Unfortunately, the reflected color of one's skin seems to be the first stopgap to any kind of real self-reflection.

Looking for a job, having an interview, wondering why you never heard back from prospects after meeting them? Common. Second-guessing your resume and taking out any "flaky" sounding associations (editor of the literary magazine, associate member of American PEN)? Check. Wondering if you shouldn't have mentioned that your husband is a fireman (too civil service-y?), or that you plan to start a family (whoa! big mistake), or that you read The New York Times every day (possible Commie)? Yup.

In the middle of the night, I might fall victim to the bristling thought that it's-because-I'm-a-woman, or that-suit-makes-me-look-like-a-nun, or man-I-still-really-sound-like-I'm-from-Brooklyn. But then I wake up in the morning and see the light. Times are tough. Stop looking for reasons to be a victim.

3 Minutes, 9 Seconds

In a fire that killed a man and his two baby children in Brooklyn yesterday, the Fire Department response time was three minutes, nine seconds from the time dispatch routed the alarm to the particular division. And you know what? The FD is still pissed that they might have lost seconds due to their new dispatch system.

Three minutes, nine seconds. Only a fireman would argue the potential for having gotten there faster. Only a fireman would hoard the seconds like they were little nuggets of gold in a miser's pocket. Only a fireman understands, at a gut and lung level, how precious even one second is to the fatality of a fire.

Representatives from the union are bitterly complaining about a new alarm system, saying, "...the new dispatch system does not work." Spokespeople from the city, ostensibly the Fire Department but -- get real -- the press office works for the city, argue that firefighters have to give it a chance.

Why? Why do they have to give it a chance? They've said, on numerous occasions since the new system was put in place, that they are losing precious time and that it doesn't work. I'm in. If the FD tells me something doesn't work, you better believe I'm listening.

Why isn't the city?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/nyregion/19fire.html

Teachers Making a Buck

One sentence summary:
Teachers are selling their own intellectual creations online -- whether they're lesson plans or entire units of study -- and this is setting off some controversy.

Give me a break. Here, finally, is a way for teachers to share some of their unique and sometimes brilliant lesson plans for a couple of bucks online. Who has a problem with that?

Apparently, someone at NYU. The Times reports that this professor said "...it cheapens what teachers do" to sell their work online. I don't understand. Perhaps if you scaffolded that thought with a series of prompts and lead-ins and bell-ringers, I'd be able to make my way toward the comprehension I need to truly understand the comment. Don't have enough time? Yeah, I know what you mean.

Before teachers can actually get to the curriculum they need to teach, a whole series of layers must be peeled. Must teachers come up with these lessons and activities every single time, in every single instance? Why would someone begrudge a little profit for the teacher who spent hours coming up with some innovative and fun way to approach and engage students? Do we argue with the textbook companies who use teachers to come up with plans for the resource kit?Is their work somehow cheapened because they have 'consulted' with MacMillan on their latest English Language Arts series?

There are many sites where teachers pay to download puzzles, rubrics, activity sheets. I haven't heard anyone complaining about those sites.This is the first site where teachers can actually sell their own stuff and make a little profit. So far, the reports say these teachers are reinvesting the money into their classrooms, and maybe the money is even helping them pay their mortgage. There's nothing cheap about that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/education/15plans.html

The One-Drug Death Penalty

Here's the two sentence summary:

Ohio is proposing to switch to using only one drug in lethal injections, instead of the 'industry' standard of three drugs -- one for unconsciousness, one for paralysis, one to stop the heart. Ohio's new formula will do the job in one dose.

Tough one. I am not solid on the death penalty -- but I'm not sold on banning it.

Ohio is trying to make things easier all around in the process of carrying out the death penalty. They had a "cruel & unusual" situation using the three drug approach during an attempt to execute a convicted child killer in September. For the first time in the history of lethal injections, Ohio's governor ordered the execution stopped after two hours of repeated needle sticking. (They couldn't find a usable vein.) Now the guy is back on Death Row, and his lawyers are arguing that his stay of execution should become permanent because the Constitution protects citizens, and criminals, against 'cruel & unusual punishment.' Which, of course, death penalty opponents say is the exact nature of lethal injection, anyway.

So. OK. Ohio has a good idea. Though, it strikes me that the one-injection penalty is like putting down an animal. It's like euthanasia. Hmm...When my yellow Lab is too old to comfortably live in this world anymore, I'll probably put her "to sleep" too. It sure won't be a punishment. I'll probably give her a last meal; probably a nice walk, if she can still walk. She won't know what hit her, though even just driving by the vet's office makes her skittish. And Bridey hasn't hurt a single person in her life. She deserves a sweet ending.

One injection, eh? Sweet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/us/14ohio.html