The normalization of prescription stimulant abuse in collegiate performance culture, athletic and scholastic alike, points to a significant transformation in subjectivity, in the role that the pressured, high-stakes culture of schooling and assessment plays in the formation of personality, values, and behavior. The ‘Ritalin generation’ is adopting the drug that best suits the disciplinary and spectacular matrix of their lives, framed by performance culture, high-stakes assessment, and vocational schooling—schooling for the purpose of work. What other drug can help students display themselves simultaneously as physically fit, academically high-achieving, alert, and confidently in command of high-stakes circumstances?
Marc Bousquet, “Take Your Ritalin and Shut Up”
STEVEN WEXLER 