The medicalization of education: ADHD, human enhancement and academic performance

This article discusses the medicalization of education and its principal characteristics, arguing that medicalization can no longer be understood as being strictly connected to medical imperialism. Other “drivers” of medicalization have become increasingly influential: consumers, economic forces, biotechnology and managed care. The article investigates the close connection between medicalization human enhancement, where human enhancement is understood as the use of biomedical technology to improve performance on a human being who are not in need of a cure. The article focuses on these themes within the context of education,. In particular in relation to the increase instances of ADHD amongst students. The epidemic of ADHD in the US school is a dramatic phenomenon: millions of kids are treated with pharmaceuticals that can have dangerous side-effects In competitive US universities strategic use of ADHD diagnosis can be witnessed: students use psychostimulants in order to improve their academic performance. The article argues that ADHD should be understood as a sign that a student is having trouble integrating in the classroom rather than a symptom of a brain disease.