Perverse ‘progress’

TWIcE as many children as ten years ago take drugs such as Ritalin for behavioural disorders. Almost 1.5 million prescriptions were dispensed, compared with 700,000 a decade ago. As Amanda Spielman, chief inspector of schools, points out, such a rapid rise in genuine medical needs can’t be right. clearly there are some children who do require medication; but one can’t help feeling that in many cases drugs are being used as a quick-fix solution to poor parenting.

We used to punish children for bad behaviour. Now we just drug them. Is this what liberals call progress?