{"id":1499156,"date":"2022-06-01T07:47:06","date_gmt":"2022-06-01T11:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499156"},"modified":"2022-06-01T07:47:15","modified_gmt":"2022-06-01T11:47:15","slug":"if-anne-of-green-gables-were-alive-today-shed-be-drugged-out-of-her-personality-in-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/if-anne-of-green-gables-were-alive-today-shed-be-drugged-out-of-her-personality-in-school\/","title":{"rendered":"If Anne Of Green Gables Were Alive Today, She\u2019d Be Drugged Out Of Her Personality In School"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fif-anne-of-green-gables-were-alive-today-shed-be-drugged-out-of-her-personality-in-school%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1499156&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/desk-e1653672057522.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The sun is setting on a beautiful day in early June. The apple trees are in bloom. An old man is at the reins of his buggy, on the long road home. He begins to feel dizzy. It\u2019s not his heart, this time. <\/p>\n<p>A quiet man, shy of company, he is understandably uneasy, for never in his life has he been talked to as much as he\u2019s being talked to right now. His seatmate, a young girl, has a tongue of her own. She knows it. She\u2019s been told her whole life, by one ill-tempered, exasperated adult after another, that she talks too much. But the world is so full of wonder, of beauty, of feeling \u2014 of <em>deep<\/em> feeling \u2014 how can she keep it to herself? <\/p>\n<p>The old man rides in silence. Like many an adult before him, he has every right to be annoyed by this talkative pest. Only, he isn\u2019t. A gentle soul, something in him begins to take to something in her. Listening to this girl, he begins to think, may not be so bad.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Anne, at this point, is not yet of Green Gables. She is Anne of Orphan Asylum, Anne of Foster Homes, Anne of Drudgery, Poverty, and Neglect. If not for something peculiar, some spark of sympathy that against all worldly sense keeps a pair of lonely farmers from sending her on her way, she likely would have forever remained Anne of Friendless Misery. Thankfully for her, and for generations of readers, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert rescue Anne. Then, of course, she rescues them right back.<\/p>\n<p>There are people in Anne\u2019s world who value girls only for the chores they can accomplish, not for the dreams they have. Analyzing L. M. Montgomery\u2019s novel, we have a simple word for these people: antagonists. The saltier amongst us may go for \u201cmisogynists.\u201d Turning our gaze upon young women as they live in today\u2019s world, it seems we can add another pejorative to the list: doctors.<\/p>\n<h2>Thankfully, Anne Wasn\u2019t Medicated<\/h2>\n<p>Most readers understandably credit the Cuthberts, but it is in fact a stroke of dumb luck that truly delivers Anne from her nightmare life of dull, unimaginative drudgery. Her saving grace is simply this: nobody in late 19th century Prince Edward Island had ever heard of ADHD (Attention-Deficit\/Hyperactivity Disorder). <\/p>\n<p>Had a pioneering Canadian pediatrician come up with some rudimentary Ritalin, Montgomery would barely have had enough material for a short story, let alone one of the world\u2019s most beloved novels. Within a few months of her arrival in Avonlea, the excessively talkative, constantly daydreaming Anne would have become, via the miracle of modern medicine, a model pupil. <\/p>\n<p>Her schoolmate Minnie Andrews is one such star in the academic firmament \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Anne-Green-Gables-L-Montgomery\/dp\/055321313X\/ref=sr_1_6?crid=4RLRRVF33MH1&#038;keywords=anne+of+green+gables&#038;qid=1652482659&#038;s=books&#038;sprefix=anne+of+%2Cstripbooks%2C156&#038;sr=1-6\">and there isn\u2019t a spark of imagination or life in her.\u201d<\/a> Instead of violently disrupting class, spending hours in detention, and angrily clashing with her teacher, to the point of withdrawing from school altogether, a properly medicated Anne would have taken to her slate with perfect dull-eyed obedience. <\/p>\n<p>Montgomery wisely chose not to write a book about Minnie Andrews. Had she done so, many would wisely have chosen not to read it. The making of Minnie\u2019s pristine report card, after all, is hardly the sort of story that warrants a sequel, let alone an international fan base.<\/p>\n<p>Not that I have anything against Minnie. I was perilously Minnie-esque in my own school days. The world needs Minnies, and probably could not function long without them. But don\u2019t we need a few Annes? The reason I\u2019m writing this isn\u2019t to slander Minnie. I\u2019m trying to save Anne.<\/p>\n<h2>Rescue These Kids with a Pleasant Environment<\/h2>\n<p>People once looked upon a world comprised of Annes and Minnies (and Dianas, Gilberts, and yes, even Josies) and rejoiced in the wonderful diversity of human life and experience. <\/p>\n<p>Today, with the rise of the nationally standardized, uniform education-pharmaceutical complex, far too many people look upon that rich tapestry and see only undiagnosed pathologies. In a saner time, people saw children struggling in an unpleasant environment and endeavored to rescue them by providing a more nurturing one. <\/p>\n<p>Today, instead of changing the environment, we use the power of prescriptions to change the child. Instead of cherishing and nurturing the unique gifts and interests of each student, we try to force them all into docile \u201cmodel pupil\u201d mode, and drug the ones who don\u2019t conform. Instead of listening to what a girl has to say, we medicate her until she\u2019s quiet.<\/p>\n<p>Anne\u2019s gift for speech, sense of drama, and vivid imagination can lead to aggravation, yes, but also to unforgettable poetry recitals and life-changing friendships. In today\u2019s world, medications are employed effectively to dull any disruptions. Nobody would accuse a modern, post-stimulant Anne Shirley of excessive talking. It would certainly be a quieter world. Would it be a better one?<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Dr. Gaty is a pediatrician in the Austin, TX suburbs. He writes at the Substack <a href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/profile\/44958118-adrian-gaty\">&#8220;Unofficial Pediatrics.&#8221;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sun is setting on a beautiful day in early June. The apple trees are in bloom. An old man is at the reins of his buggy, on the long<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":804,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1499156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/804"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1499156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1499156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1499156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1499156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1499156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}