Pills not the answer to finals stress
Reading Bridget Shackelford’s column “Goodbye
Starbucks, hello Ritalin” (Dec. 4), I became quite worried,
and not simply because I’m a coffee lover.
The assumption underlying Shackelford’s argument ““
that the increased use of prescription pills as a study aid is a
tolerable reaction to the competitiveness of UCLA ““ must not
be accepted so casually.
At the conclusion of her piece, Shackelford says she certainly
cannot blame people for using prescription drugs “given the
current day and age.”
I feel this message could have a disastrous influence on
students.
I think of all the freshmen stressing over their first college
finals, unsure of how to cope with the onslaught of exams and
essays that greet students in the last weeks of a quarter. Perhaps
they will now consider it acceptable to use pills after reading the
column.
After all, “Who can blame them?”
The unnecessary use of Ritalin and Adderall is dangerous.
Shackelford herself lists some of the detrimental side effects:
“Dizziness, blurred vision, increased heart rate and blood
pressure, tremors, anxiety and nervousness.”
Yet she seems to see such maladies as progress, asserting,
“This is just the next step in evolution.” I beg to
differ.
No student with any sense should get near unsafe medications in
the quest for an “A.” It’s just not worth it.
Brendan Kearns UCLA Class of 2006 Former Daily Bruin
writer
Oaths should only be taken on the Bible
In the editorial “If in Allah he trusts, on the Koran he
should swear” (Dec. 4), it seems that the Daily Bruin
Editorial Board did not take enough time to examine the issue.
Future Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be sworn in
using the Koran. Religion should not even be a factor in politics.
Isn’t that what progressive secularists want ““ a
separation of church and state?
Every official in U.S. history has sworn upon the Bible when
taking an oath of office, so why should Ellison be any
different?
Jews have never been sworn in using the Torah. No Mormon has
ever used the Book of Mormon. Nor should Scientologists use
Dianetics. And what book, then, would atheists be sworn in
under?
This country was founded upon Christian ideals. That is why our
officials take oaths using the Bible.
Even your editorial points out that 80 percent of this country
is Christian. This is not a question of what an individual
believes, but what the people believe.
Christopher D. Sheckler UCLA Class of 2004