Monday, July 26, 2004 at 5:30 PM I love Loveline but I can't help wondering about all the snap judgments Drew and Adam always make. I don't think it does any harm on a radio show but out in the real world of institutions (schools and courtrooms especially) it has serious consequences. Too often a quick label obscures the real problem, allowing doctors, teachers, and psychologists to duck responsibility. Take for example the fashionable new diagnosis of "dyspraxia" as a catch-all term for anyone who falls behind in schoolwork. This vague and rather dubious term is a godsend to lazy, incompetent teachers who want to avoid the blame for producing all those illiterate, innumerate students. Just label your victims "dyspraxic" and fob them off on someone else, preferably an educational psychologist who can charge hefty fees for his services. Maybe, if you're lucky, you can even crush these kids' self-confidence and ruin their lives with your knee-jerk diagnosis. You can certainly cause their parents a lot of anxiety and cost them a heap of money.
—mako |
