The cost of a clockwork society

I had tried Ritalin, i think, in grade 10. What i had found was that it greatly increased my ability to do work in school. My ADD was completely gone, random thoughts had disappeared and were replaced by a calm harmony of bliss. I felt on top of the world, i had the confidence to join and run for president of the SRC in my school, and I started participating in school activity's more often.

It had essentially improved my life for the better from the view point of society. What i found when i came home from school was the activity's i used to enjoy in solitude: gaming, playing and listening to music, writing and reading; these things felt empty to me. I could sit for hours at the television and watch whatever program was on, it didn't matter what show it was, i could watch it. When i completed homework assignments there was no euphoric effect. I don't want to say i felt like a zombie, but i wouldn't stray away from that description... After about half a year i stopped taking the drug, and then i was the same person i had always been again.

I could never put my finger on what it was i felt i was losing when i was on the drug, but on my small intervals off the drug (at the end of the day when it would wear off) i could immediately see how different my thoughts were. I was never asked to be put on the drug, i chose to try it on my own accord, and i chose to stop using it.

To this day I'm still glad i chose my ADD over Ritalin, even if my marks in school are terrible again. I do believe that some people truly need to take Ritalin in the most extreme case, but i think ADD needs to be left "untreated", if there is actually anything that needs to be treated in the first place.

The main problem, if not the only problem, with ADD is that it makes you incompatible with the schools methods. The educational system has some flaws, though the system itself is necessary and, honestly, it's not exactly terrible. You see, even with flaws, the system is working perfectly fine: My pipes are running, my electricity is working, and i seem to still have food on my plate, but something very important is getting fazed out.

School is vaguely about learning why things are the way they are and more about seeing how much you can remember. Too often do i ask "why is this?" only to get an answer along the lines of "you don't need to know that for the test, just remember bullet points 1 and 2 and you will be just fine".

Society wants cogs, and it's beating the scientists right out of us to get them.

What would people think about an Einstein if he were born today? Would we put him on Ritalin because he's just another trouble maker not agreeing with the curriculum? Would a Da vinci just be another hyperactive kid that needs to calm down?

Education is a very important and necessary part of society, however, we are losing the value of our creativity and curiosity for the replacement of efficiency. In the end you are forced to adapt in order to be successful and for society to be successful. The Educational System is the cost of a clockwork society.