Academic Asterisk

Just looking at the numbers, Barry Bonds is a baseball god. He has cracked a record 762 career home runs, clinching baseball’s most cherished record, and won seven awards for most valuable player. Yet despite his obvious superiority over other baseball players, nobody reveres Barry Bonds, and many fans no longer respect him. His name is synonymous with lying, cheating, and infamy. Bonds’ records were achieved with the use of a host of chemicals, used as performance enhancers, and his records will forever be tainted with a proverbial asterisk, and many fans’ faith in professional athletics heretofore spurred. It is no question that Americans love to hate athletes who abuse performance-enhancing drugs.

Yet, does the abuse of performance enhancers extend beyond professional sports? It might surprise some to know that in the realm of academics, there is a growing trend, both in high school and in college, of students abusing prescription drugs to boost their ability to study and concentrate on tests.  Use of any type of prescription drug for cognitive gain should be looked down upon with the same amount of social repugnance as juicing up for a sport.

The drugs in question were created to treat attention deficit hyperactive disorder, which is a behavioral disorder that is typified by hyperactivity, an inability to concentrate, and impulsive action. Medications, most commonly the amphetamine Adderall, have been developed to help those who have ADHD concentrate and to improve their ability to work efficiently. A person without ADHD who takes these drugs might feel a surge of motivation and energy and be able to cram for a test the night before.

Prescription-stimulant abuse is very real and more popular than many would think. There has been an estimated 40 percent increase in amphetamine production in the U.S. since 1993. Additionally, in a survey of 11,000 college students, those in schools with tough admission standards were shown to have the highest rates of abuse of Adderall or other stimulants; as many as 25 percent reported using to increase performance. It has also been reported that some teens pop an Adderall pill before taking college-placement exams.

Indeed, Adderall abuse is widespread. But the negative side effects and high risk of dependency notwithstanding, using Adderall without a prescription is the highest form of cheating. The only way to achieve the same elevated cognitive state a second time is to pop a pill again. How can a nation that is so quick to demonize professional athletes who are trying to get an edge artificially, stand by while youth emulate their behavior? Just like tainting a homerun record, students who take Adderall before the SAT are jeopardizing the college admissions process, as well as a lifetime of worthwhile academic achievement by millions of students who chose to not “enhance” their performance. Students who take Adderall in order to study are cheating as much as someone who has a partial answer key to an exam. In reality, surviving college is as much of a game as it is a learning environment, and by consuming a pill, you put an asterisk on every A+ you receive because of it.

Final exams are upon us, here at Harvard. For the typical Harvard student, the pressures to succeed come from all directions: parents, peers, and prospective employers. Those who procrastinate, or feel the need to cram, might choose to swallow a pill in order to be able to study later or more efficiently. You might argue that this is in the name of academia and that nobody gets hurt when people learn more. Yet, in the age where there are pills available for everything, from weight loss to mood elevation, it seems that people are all too willing to forgo hard work in favor of instant gratification. Your straight As might be as impressive as 762 home runs, but by cheating the hard work, you will feel like a washed-up, free-agent, no-respect Barry Bonds.

Peter L. Knudson ’13, a Crimson editorial writer, lives in Matthews Hall.