When people ask me why my kids aren't learning math, I ask them why their kids aren't learning an instrument. Or why they aren't learning a language. Because math, music, and language all develop the brain in similar ways. They are all good for a similar type of learning. But the question that assumes that math is the one right way to develop that part of the brain betrays the assumption that traditional school knows best.




The article talks about how Adderall is essential for competing at the elite levels of school mastery. It makes sense that Adderral would be essential because school is about memorizing stuff that other people tell you is important. It's a list of stuff. The faster you get through the list, the better you are doing at the game.

On the other hand, when people engage in creative activity, using Adderall off-label is not much help. Psychologist James Hoffman writes that small levels of creativity are common, and don't get achieve nearly as much as serious "big C" levels of creativity. People who have that big C creativity are often people who give up everything else to get it.





I hear so often that kids have to do what they are not interested in so they can succeed at work. But in fact, it's the exact opposite. If they do not learn how to zero-in microscopically on what they love then they won't be good enough at anything in order to stay employable. They will be doing the work someone else deems interesting. And this, I think, is what causes people to use Adderral in work life—they get so used to doing other peoples' agendas as fast as they can, in school, that it seems normal to take drugs to do other peoples' agendas as fast as they can at work.