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The Ritalin Reality
There is an education crisis going on in America today. Our
recent presidential election attests to this fact, as both Al
Gore and George W. Bush made educational reform one of their
top priorities throughout the year. The statistics on America's
public education system are alarming. In some cities in America,
high schools are graduating less than 50% of their students (The
Heritage Foundation Website, 1990).
Even more noteworthy is what is happening to children diagnosed
with ADHD -- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Because
of their diagnoses, many of these children receive behavior-altering
drugs such as Ritalin. This drug has become so common that many
in the medical and education professions not only feel it is
being over-prescribed, but that it is reaching alarming rates.
In the past five years alone, the number of prescriptions for
Ritalin in the United States has jumped to 11.4 million from
4.5 million, according to IMS America, a health care information
company. Furthermore, since 1990,
the rate of Ritalin use has jumped 150% (The Detroit News Website,
2001). This country now uses five times as much Ritalin as the
rest of the world.
Dr. Peter Breggin, a Maryland psychiatrist and critic of psychiatric
medications such as Prozac, describes the Ritalin phenomenon
as "an incredible commentary on our society. Instead of
addressing the basic needs of kids, we drug them," Breggin
said. "Better family life, educational facilities, spiritual
direction, a safer environment, better television and videos
- forget about it. Just drug 'em."
The Ritalin phenomenon is evidence that America is raising
a nation of drug addicts. Some children, like Ben Evola, 13,
of Lake Orion, Michigan, who has been using Ritalin since he
was 7, have been on Ritalin for as long as they can remember,
and will probably continue to take it for the rest of their
lives. In response to the very real behavioral needs of our children,
America is opting to embrace a quick pharmacological fix for
its ailments, rather than turning to God-given responses that
have been in existence for centuries.
One Alternative
Not everyone believes that drugs are the answer to our country's
educational dilemmas. Taqwa Gayong Academy in Paulsboro, NJ is
a full-boarding home school for Muslim youth that focuses on
orphans and young people from troubled backgrounds. Gayong Academy
specializes in the type of young people frequently diagnosed
with ADHD, mental retardation, and other behavioral problems.
In public school settings, these youth are often placed in special
education and/or subscribed medications such as Ritalin to calm
them down and make them easier to control.
Taqwa Gayong Academy provides youth with an alternative to
a public education system that is turning many low-income, minority
children into mere statistics. The Academy provides its students
with a deen-intensive, comprehensive educational environment
without the influence of drugs or special education to keep them
"in line." This unique Islamic education program includes
a comprehensive daily schedule from fajr prayer in the morning
to isha' prayer at night. Moreover, with only 12 - 15 students
at the Academy at any time, children receive the type of individual
attention that they do not get in public schools.
Gayong Academy welcomes the forgotten children - orphans,
"troublemakers" and those with behavioral problems,
including many inner-city youth. The co-Directors of Gayong Academy,
Sulaiman Sharif and his wife Nurliza Khalid, run the school on
their own, and strive to provide a family-like atmosphere that
includes a nurturing, yet highly-disciplined environment.
Gayong Academy "works" for these children because
of the balanced, Islamically focused lifestyle that they live,
which includes the physically demanding martial art of Silat
Gayong from Malaysia. Silat provides the physical aspect of a
highly balanced curriculum that also includes academics such
as math, science and reading, as well as the religious disciplines
of Islam.
When Gayong students first arrive at the Academy, they become
quickly indoctrinated into their new way of life. Many come from
west Philadelphia's unbridled inner-city environment, and are
not accustomed to the structure and discipline that Cikgu (teacher)
Sulaiman provides. At first, it is a
difficult adjustment for some, but after a few weeks changes
in the children begin to appear which can often be dramatic.
For example, one nine year-old boy named Jamil who came into
the academy grossly overweight, lost 35 pounds in his first three
months. Another, named Kamar, classified by his former public
school as "mentally retarded," became one of the top
students in the school within a span of a few months. In addition,
he is no longer in need of the Ritalin prescribed to him by his
former school. This is also true of the other students who were
once on medication for behavioral diagnoses such as ADHD.
The Gayong Academy Formula
So what is it about Gayong Academy that leads to such dramatic
results? Being a full boarding home school, Cikgu Sulaiman and
Nurliza have a great deal of freedom in how they work. They are
able to dedicate all their attention to the children, and do
not have to deal with outside interference (except for concerned
parents). Being a full boarding school also allows for continuity
in learning, so that a positive environment, as opposed to the
often-negative surroundings of their homes in the inner cities
constantly
surrounds the students. At Gayong Academy, the students do not
have to deal with the pressures and lures of the streets and
the dangers that come with them, instead, they are protected
by Islam and two dedicated teachers who care about them.
As a home school, Cikgu Sulaiman and Nurliza are able to run
the Academy as they would a home with a large family. Living
and teaching the children the Islamic deen is the central focus
of the Academy, and because the students live there, they get
to see it applied throughout the day in different situations.
This experience gives the children practical learning, so they
see how a jamaat should function.
Discipline is a major theme within Gayong Academy. Many of
the young people who attend the school come from families where
the father is either absent or living outside of the home. For
young black children living in precarious inner-city environments,
not having the structure and discipline that a
Muslim father brings can have negative consequences for his development.
One example of this is that in the state of Colorado, for example,
85% of prison inmates come from broken homes (Independence Institute
Website, 1999). Thus, having a caring male adult in a child's
life is critical to his or her
successful development. For many of the children at Gayong Academy,
Cikgu Sulaiman represents a strong male figure, and his reliance
on discipline reinforces the proper conduct that is expected
of Muslim men.
The impact that Gayong Academy has on students is clear from
the changes that the current group of students has undergone.
One boy, Isaiah, was not Muslim when he entered Gayong Academy
in September of last year. However, because his mother feared
for his future in west Philadelphia, she did not mind him attending
a Muslim school. She just did not want him "to become another
statistic." With this blessing, Isaiah has become Muslim
(as all children are according to Islam), and his mother and
other family members have commented that "they don't even
recognize him" when he goes home to
visit, because he is so well behaved. In addition, after only
a few months, Isaiah is receiving straight A's in his Qur'anic
vocabulary classes.
Gayong Academy is a realistic alternative to today's education
dilemma because it enforces the Islamic lifestyle 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Its students are in no need of drugs and
behavior-altering medications because at the Academy, Allah provides
them with all that they need to become strong
and successful Muslims. Even those who have been diagnosed with
so-called "behavioral problems" such as ADHD, no longer
require complex interventions like those prescribed for them
in their previous educational situations. Gayong Academy, relying
on Allah alone, provides its students with the
attention, discipline and support they need to overcome their
negative behaviors. In this way, Gayong Academy is a present-day
example of why Islamic education has been so successful for centuries,
and why we must return to it as the only realistic alternative
for our children.
by Abdul-Lateef Abdullah Krauss, MSW
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Homeschool Central
TAQWA GAYONG ACADEMY
