Culture and Compulsion: Student Posts 2009 @ Neuroanthropology

Culture and Compulsion: Student Posts 2009 @ Neuroanthropology

Here's the link to the page at Neuroanthropology, where Daniel Lende has assembled nine essays of his students, working in groups, into a single post with links to each article. Broadly speaking, the focus of these posts is the exploration of the ways in which we humans can find ourselves bound by compulsive behaviours, and suffer considerable damage to ourselves and others as a result. Here's a word of further explanation from the linked page at Neuroanthropology...

These nine posts join the eight from last year, which went from understanding brain imaging to the differences between men and women drinking on campus – those were rounded up in Why A Final Essay When We Can Do This?

All these posts came out of my class ANTH 20220 “Alcohol and Drugs: The Anthropology of Substance Use and Abuse.”

I divide students into groups of four to work on posts. I explain the topics broadly quite early in the semester, then have students write down their top three choices. I form the groups based on students’ choices.

The basic order of work over the semester is: (1) a general in-class presentation on the topic; (2) a first draft of their post, with an emphasis on developing a concrete argument and specific focus for their writing; (3) two more rounds of revisions, where they both improve the quality of the writing and add in images, links and further research; and (4) some editing/revisions by myself to make sure each post reaches its potential.

Unlike last year, this year students did an in-class presentation on their assigned topic. That was helpful for everyone, for me to give feedback as necessary, for groups to get started on their work, and for students to give some impromptu reactions. The presentations were generally broad. I discussed with the groups, either in class or by email, how their presentation was coming along.

For the presentation itself I emphasized the need to do something engaging (make it fun!), to provide some in-depth coverage of their specific topic (as they were things that I wouldn’t necessarily cover – they were in charge of everyone’s learning that day), and to aim to provoke discussion for the class as a whole after their presentation.

Now onto the first draft. From the general presentation the students had to develop a specific focus and a concrete argument. What did they want to share with the world? That was the basic question they had to answer for themselves.

I also provided students with this basic format for writing a blog post (so feel free to use it): (a) The Hook, those opening lines that grab the readers’ attention in some way; (b) The Argument, something that invites the person to keep reading, usually by indicating what this post will do or cover; (c) Main Points, where there are a set of issues or specific points that the post will cover (generally the main body of the post); and (d) The Finish, generally some sort of pay-off for the reader who makes it that far – a rhetorical flourish or something extra that helps close the piece with some flash.

To read the essays themselves...

Why Do They Do It? Portrayals of Alcohol on Facebook and MySpace

Gambling and Compulsion: Neurobiology Meets Casinos

What’s the Dope on Music and Drugs?

Tobacco Worse Than Cocaine?

Caught in the Net – The Internet & Compulsion

Lights, Camera… Alcohol?

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Can Videogames Actually Be Good For You?

The New Performance Enhancing Drugs

...just click through to the linked page, and read the rest of the attached notes.

For the purposes of this post, I want to point readers toward the last of the papers on the list, which is called 'The New Performance Enhancing Drugs', and was written by Andrew Hessert, Andrew Medvecz, Jimmy Miller, Jacquelyn Richard, and at the same time make reference to a recent article at TomDispatch, 'Selling Education, Manufacturing Technocrats, Torturing Souls - The Tyranny of Being Practical' by William Astore.

The first essay looks at the way in which there is evidence to suggest an increasingly prevalent use of cognitive enhancement drugs amongst students anxious to improve their academic performance in the hope of gaining higher grades, as well as looking into misuse of the same drugs by prominent figures in prestigious companies, anxious to maintain their competitive edge in the face of intense rivalry, a situation exacerbated by the uncertain nature of the jobs market in these times of economic crisis.

The second essay by William Astore who begins his essay by asking what education is for in the first place, as he refers to the way in which he believes the US education system - and by default, many of its counterparts in the West - is primarily geared towards ensuring that the most successful students will ultimately land the most lucrative jobs, at the expense of a more rounded educational system which theoretically benefits individuals and society in ways that don't necessarily show up on the profit side of the balance sheet.

It seems clear that these two problems as perceived by the various authors, have certain correlations, existing together in symbiosis even as they threaten the very livelihoods and lifestyles of those who are excluded from the benefits of such systems, but are regularly forced to pay the price of short-term political thinking and the predations of those seemingly tasked with running unregulated capital markets into the ground.

Here's a relevant quote from William Astore....

And here's one compelling lesson all of us, students and teachers alike, need to relearn constantly: If you view education in purely instrumental terms as a way to a higher-paying job -- if it's merely a mechanism for mass customization within a marketplace of ephemeral consumer goods -- you've effectively given a free pass to the prevailing machinery of power and those who run it.

Which I think ties in very well with this snippet from the authors of the Neuroanthropology post, which runs...

A growing number of healthy Americans are using cognitive enhancers in an attempt to gain a mental edge in our competitive society. The popularity of these drugs is rapidly increasing in many areas of society and has become particularly prevalent among corporate executives, academics, and college students.

An article in the January issue of TIME Magazine describes a high-level executive who uses Adderall to “continue the lightning pace and constant multitasking his job requires” (Szalavitz, 2009). Since receiving the prescription from his doctor, he says he has been better able to maintain his high level of performance, a development he attributes to his use of cognitive enhancing drugs.

The TIME article also addresses the rising use on college campuses (Szalavitz, 2009). Studies have found that 7% of college students have used a cognitive-enhancing drug for non-medical purposes, and on some campuses up to 25% of students have used enhancers to aid studying.

Unsurprisingly, usage rates are higher at prestigious institutions, where students feel the need to keep pace in an overly-competitive academic atmosphere. Taking a cognitive enhancer the night before a final can help you focus for an extra hour or two, and many students believe that hour may mean the difference between an A and a B.

I'd be curious to know whether there is any religious or gender division discernible amongst those who pop the pills, and whether these medications are only available at a high price, as would seem to be indicated by the popularity of these cognitive enhancers at prestigious institutions.

If these drugs are most popular amongst students and professionals who have more money to be able to afford them in the first place, then it seems clear that there would be no level playing field in the event that these drugs are officially condoned in the future, thus depriving students and workers from more impoverished backgrounds the opportunity to compete fairly with their academic or professional counterparts.

In any case, I'd recommend readers to check all the links included in this post, as they cover a lot of ground and convey their messages coherently and succinctly - the problems and conflicts they address affect not only those currently in higher education and the upper echelons of corporate life, but entire swathes of our consumer society, both in the present day, and far into the uncertain future.

image from Gorilla Artfare