Drug cheat students a symptom

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A recent study conducted at the University of Auckland highlights how tertiary students are turning to cognitive enhancer drugs, such as Ritalin in order to perform well in their studies. As a student myself, this doesn’t surprise me and I doubt other tertiary students around the country would be surprised either.

The amount of pressure put under students, as well as the competitive environment of the workforce is out of hand.

Having a degree is no longer seen as enough given the inflation of the number of people who have a tertiary qualification, which in itself a great thing. However, the heightened competiveness means that the next competitive elements are grades, GPAs, and other arbitrary markers of ‘intelligence’. Everyone learns in different ways and this is hardly considered, but that is a separate issue altogether. The next competitive element is higher degrees such as Honours and Masters, which of course not everyone can afford to do anymore due to student allowance cuts.

The current economic climate means that job are scarce and money is tight, creating the sense that it may not even be worth it, not to mention the anxiety surrounding where to go and what to do after graduation. The burden of having a student loan hovering over your head and having no way of paying it off is a huge one. What the concern should be on instead is enjoying learning, fostering personal and interpersonal growth and being in the student environment where everyone is there to learn off one another.

Like all drugs, targeting the people who illegally supply them won’t do much to fix the problem. Providing proper support for students will and there is a tonne of work that needs to be done about this.

It currently takes around 3 weeks to get an appointment with a university counsellor, which is at least free. This is due to severe under resourcing and the fact that there are just not enough counsellors to deal with the amount of students who require this service. It’s for this reason that it’s hardly advertised that this service is even there. This is only one example of the types of steps they should be taking rather than wasting resources in less effective places.

This issue of what they’re calling ‘academic doping’ in New Zealand is not nearly as big as it is in other countries, but it can be in the future if pressures put on students aren’t regulated.

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Now let me get this straight, you want…..no….demand

    -less competition in tertiary institutions; ‘alternative’ study and graduation systems to help those who do not quite have what it takes to achieve the qualification that may not quite deserve; the guarantee of a stressless high paying job on demand at exactly the same time as it is required; anybody or everybody except the graduate himself/herself (who are the main beneficiaries of the qualification) to pay the tab for the student loan debt so that the new graduate, in their incredibly fragile and burned out mental state may “enjoy learning [and] foster personal and interpersonal growth” and skip around in the sun learning off one another; provide support for students who choose of their own free will to partake in mind altering substances; provide (and extensively advertise) double the present number of councillors and provide them free of charge on demand; and centrally regulate the amount of pressure students put themselves under.

    And with a wave of my magic wand and a sprinkling of fairy dust…………pow……done.

    Now students can all be rest assured that their qualification and lifestyle are fully paid for by taxpayers who include labourers without the opportunity or ability to earn their own university qualifications trying to pay mortgages, finding money for school uniforms, trying to do the best for their own families, paying power bills………….

    Oh yes, that sounds really fair.

    • Mike@NZ – your interpretation of Latifa’s piece is a gross distortion of what she has suggested. Using silly hyperbole to undermine siomeone else’s argument simply makes you look riduiculous and no one takes you seriously.

      The fact is that Latifa has raised several issues which demand serious consideration and debate. You’ve contributed nothing worthwhile to further the discussion.

      As for this typical neo-liberal argument;

      Now students can all be rest assured that their qualification and lifestyle are fully paid for by taxpayers who include labourers without the opportunity or ability to earn their own university qualifications trying to pay mortgages, finding money for school uniforms, trying to do the best for their own families, paying power bills

      This country enjoyed free tertiary education once upon a time. Our current PM had the benefit of a free education.

      As a result, the entire country benefitted. Graduates were not shackled with huge student , forcing many overseas.

      This is the legacy of your crazy neo-liberal, “market” forces in education.

      Using the case of “taxpayers who include labourers” is pitiful, as you’re trying to justify an ideology using examples that are dubious. Under the free tertiary education system, there was nothing to stop labourers from entering university if they met the same criteria set for everyone.

      Now, a massive debt and repayment fees does precisely what you are “lamenting”.

      • Yes you are right. Latina did raise several issues which demand serious consideration and debate. To say that I have contributed nothing worthwhile hardly makes it a debate, does it? That sounds more like an effort to shut down any opposition, no matter how logical, that is contrary to your own blinkered mindset.

        Yes, this country did enjoy free education once upon a time. Once upon a time. But is it really as bad as Ms Daud is making it out to be when 79% of the cost of a university degree is still met by the taxpayer. The student loan only comprises 21% of the total cost of the degree. A 79% subsidy is hardly “crazy neo liberal market forces.”

        Students are not the only young people with high levels of debt, but with the right qualification they are easily in the best position to pay it back faster than those without a degree, due to increased earning capacity and better job security. I know of a guy who started out as a plumber 5 years ago with no degree and a debt of over $40 000 after buying and stocking up his van. I started out with a $640 000 debt to get to where i am now. i am from a family of ‘student borrowers’ and we are all a success in our own right in the fields of software design, accountancy,law enforcement, agriculture and wind power generation design. We are a lower middle class family and we are the first generation of our family to partake in a university degree. We were not helped through university in any way financially by our parents as the Lange/Douglas years bankrupted our family business and the years of financial and psychological recovery gave us the required incentive to ‘invest’ in a degree and the academic headstart that nobody can take away, ‘not even a Labour government!’

        Students are by no means forced to leave NZ to pay their debt back, but choose to leave in search of higher pay to pay the debt back faster in the short term. A sound commercial decision.

        Of course taxpayers include labourers. The same labourers who as taxpayers baled out South Canterbury Finance, funded team New Zealand and who fund the other 79% of the cost of a degree. There is nothing ideological about that. A fact is a fact.

        It was Derek Bok, former lawyer and president of Harvard University who is credited to the inciteful phrase “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.”

  2. Well thought out Post Latifa Daud .

    @ Mike@NZ

    For your information and for future reference and good luck .

    Here’s a word you might like to study . To further help you get things straight as you so eloquently put it .

    Thinking .

    thinking |θɪŋkɪŋ|
    noun [ mass noun ]
    the process of considering or reasoning about something: the selectors have some thinking to do before the match.
    • a person’s ideas or opinions: his thinking is reflected in his later autobiography.
    • (thinkings) archaic thoughts; meditations. I am wrap’d in dismal thinkings.
    adjective [ attrib. ]
    using thought or rational judgement; intelligent: he seemed a thinking man.
    PHRASES
    good (or nice) thinking used as an expression of approval for an ingenious plan or observation.
    put on one’s thinking cap informal meditate on a problem.
    think |θɪŋk|
    verb (past and past participlethought |θɔːt| )
    1 [ with clause ] have a particular belief or idea: she thought that nothing would be the same again | (be thought) : it’s thought he may have collapsed from shock | [ with infinitive ] : up to 300 people were thought to have died.
    • used in questions to express anger or surprise: what do you think you’re doing?
    • (I think) used in speech to reduce the force of a statement, or to politely suggest or refuse something: I thought we could go out for a meal.
    2 [ no obj. ] direct one’s mind towards someone or something; use one’s mind actively to form connected ideas: he was thinking about Colin | Jack thought for a moment | [ with obj. ] : any writer who so rarely produces a book is not thinking deep thoughts.
    • have a particular mental attitude or approach: he thought like a general | [ with complement ] : one should always think positive.
    • (think of/about) take into consideration when deciding on a possible action: you can live how you like, but there’s the children to think about.
    • (think of) call to mind: lemon thyme is a natural pair with any chicken dish you can think of.
    • (think of/about) consider the possibility or advantages of (a course of action): he was thinking of becoming a zoologist.
    • (think to do something) have sufficient foresight or awareness to do something: I hadn’t thought to warn Rachel about him.
    • imagine or expect (an actual or possible situation): think of being paid a salary to hunt big game! | [ with clause ] : I never thought we’d raise so much money.
    • (think oneself into) imagine what it would be like to be in (a position or role): she tried to think herself into the part of Peter’s fiancée.
    3 [ no obj. ] (think of) have a specified opinion of: she did not think highly of modern art | what would John think of her? | I think of him as a friend.
    noun [ in sing. ] informal
    an act of thinking: I went for a walk to have a think.
    PHRASES
    have (got) another think coming informal used to express the speaker’s disagreement with or unwillingness to do something suggested by someone else: if they think I’m going to do physical jerks, they’ve got another think coming.
    think again reconsider something. the advisory committee must think again about its approach.
    think aloud express one’s thoughts as soon as they occur. no definite proposal, my dear chap—just thinking aloud.
    think better of decide not to do (something) after reconsideration. he turned to shoot, then thought better of it.
    think big see big.
    think fit see fit1.
    think for oneself have an independent mind or attitude. the aim is to get the students to think for themselves.
    think nothing of consider (an activity others regard as unusual, wrong, or difficult) as straightforward or normal: ordinarily, our elected representatives would think nothing of spending another $20 billion.
    think nothing of it see nothing.
    think on one’s feet see foot.
    think twice consider a course of action carefully before embarking on it. she would think twice about accepting a job where smoking was the norm.
    think the world of see world.
    PHRASAL VERBS
    think back recall a past event or time: I keep thinking back to school.
    think on dialect & N. Amer.think of or about. I think on her every day in my prayers.
    think something out (or through)consider something in all its aspects before taking action: the plan had not been properly thought out.
    think something over consider something carefully. he told the player to go home and think over his offer.
    think something up informal use one’s ingenuity to devise something. Nick went away to think up an alternative plan.
    ORIGIN Old English thencan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch and German denken .

    • Oooh, a bit touchy are we Countryboy?

      If you try a little bit of the thinking that you suggest I try, and if you care to think logically while you are at it, you will realise that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Nothing is ever free. Ever.

      What is your point? If you are trying to suggest that all students should get all the benefits, subsidies and grants suggested by Ms Daud as an entitlement and as of right, you need to consider whose job it is to pay.

      Rather than asking yourself the question of who will pay for the welfare of a student, I challenge you to prove that you are a thinking man and start with these questions; Do some people have the right to be supported by others? Are they entitled to turn other people (who have their own set of worries and challenges) into their servants? And is their need a claim on other people’s time, effort and property?

  3. Having a degree is no longer seen as enough given the inflation of the number of people who have a tertiary qualification, which in itself a great thing.

    No it’s not. Putting more people in university doesn’t make them any more intelligent. The curriculum has had to be simplified to accommodate students who probably shouldn’t be at university in the first place.

    A masters these days is the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree from 30 years ago.

  4. Good post, Latifa!

    I am a higher education boycotter, I decided years ago, I will not bow to the fricking dictate of educational requirements for certain employment and whatever else comes with it. Most certainly, I will NOT go into debt by the tens of thousands to get a degree!

    I am no “Taleban” in that respect, I am actually fairly well informed and educated, I believe in good education, but I HATE dictate and norms, being forced on us. That is what is happening in education, we are all supposed to strive to endlessly “better” ourselves, whatever that means. It is not enough anymore to write, calculate well, to know a sound degree about history and science, we are now all meant to be “experts”. But what I see is endless careers in law, medicine and accounting or business, there are though few jobs for the graduates to get.

    Of course medicine will still be offering the best chances, but it depends on government policy, how many doctors, dentists and nurses we will afford.

    What about trades, good old working skills, to do some hands on stuff, it is being neglected. What about a holistic approach to life, where we are humans, not robotic operators to fill the mould of what others want us to look like?

    We have new migrant “achievers” from some Asian countries, where education and career seem all that matters in life. They cannot connect and hold a good, spirited conversation, but are maths and other geniuses, same of course as some Pakeha and European folks.

    I fear that we are losing our society, our culture and own values, we are now just economic units made to perform, and not encouraged to talk and feel. Something sick is going on, mechanics do not and cannot replace emotions, I fear.

    FFS get a life, Stephen Joyce and other education perverts, you have none, so why force your miserable social order onto all of us?

    Students taking drugs is the result of a perverted drive in education and social reorientation generally.

  5. Agree with you entirely, Education should be free, actually benefits society and the economy far more and far sooner than it benefits the graduate, yadda yadda.

    I find it interesting that the automatic reaction to academic doping is that it’s bad though. Because I tend to be uptight and stuff, I haven’t had the opportunity to ‘dope’, but I’d like to. I don’t actually see anything wrong with using chemicals to support specific brain functions. Being forced to by stressful circumstances is another kettle’o’fish, but you could equally write about how students are circumstance’d into drinking piles of energy drinks as well. Curious as to people’s thoughts on this, why is taking nootropic drugs (Catch-all term for drugs that change brain functions in a beneficial way) automatically a bad thing?

    • No James, probably not a bad thing if they are taken in moderation and the user doesn’t become an addict and therefore a burden on the free health system!

      And therein lies the real issue in all of this. Whether these drugs are taken or not, how much and which product is entirely in the hands of the student and administered by and of their own free will.

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