In the News

First of all, an embarrassing confession. I've become one of those foreigners. I go to Starbucks just about every day because it's so damn close to my school and I would rather shell out the money for Starbucks coffee and food than eat at the school cafeteria. I have my reasons but that would be another post entirely.

So, today, as I made my way to Starbucks, I grabbed the Shanghai Daily. Generally, I don't read newspapers in Shanghai because the writing is so poor that it makes me want to gouge my eyes out with a spoon. But, today I need the newspaper to make wands to play a game of 'Harry Potter' with my grade 3 class. So, as I ate lunch at Starbucks I made my way through the paper.

One top feature was how parents are buying Ritalin for their children so they'll be better able to focus during the upcoming college entrance exams. Although doctors are refusing to prescribe it to these non-ADD/ADHD children (gasp! shock! outrage!), parents are asking their friends to refill their ADD/ADHD-child's prescription multiple times so there are extra pills to give to the entrance-examination-students.

The article ends by stating:
"I don't want to see my child lag behind others even though it's a bit risky to have the medicine," said a mother surnamed Liu. "I used to hesitate, but now getting a high score is the top priority."

Unfortunately, I don't think the Shanghai Daily was intentionally being witty by ending with this quote.

Full link here