Review of South Park (Season 4, Episode 3)

 

 

This review is on the fourth episode, season four of the animated series South Park entitled Timmy 2000. The episode has two separate stories, that come together at the end, but I will be focusing on the side that discusses the diagnosis of ADD and the use of Ritalin on children as a form of discipline. To view the plot in its entirety on Wikipedia CLICK HERE. The themes I will analyze throughout this review will include concepts around discipline, the use of prescription drugs as a replacement for other older forms of discipline, school's foundations built on traditional methodology and the banking model. I will review this episode based on ideas and concepts covered in class material from a variety of authors like Michele Foucault, Paulo Freire, Roger Deacon and Edward W. Morris.

The reason for the use of Ritalin and other such prescription drugs are said to be for the treatment of ADD and ADHD, but the reality of it is that it is over used. The use of these drugs is claimed by many to be a form of discipline which is a major part of education. Discipline is an aspect of the “hidden curriculum” and is arguably the priority of modern education systems, to exert certain morale's and control of society and mold students to particular ways. Kids are viewed as distracted when in reality they are simply being kids, in the show one mother states “Stan your acting like an 8 year old” to which he replies “I am an 8 year old”, I think this illustrates the view of parents and teachers and their tendency to lose sight of the individual as a kid whereas they only see the “subject”

as not yet molded and discipline to where society wants them to be,it is through Ritalin they can gain that control to yield these results. The prescription drugs are said to calm kids so that they can pay attention to class materials without loosing their focus, the argument made in the RSA video I posted on this blog [insert link] is that the reason for an increase in so-called ADD is the increase in distractions that kids face, this could be things from video games, which have exploded in recent years and is in many household, to television shows and could even be traced to issues at home that divert the attention of students.

Physical abuse in schools is not an acceptable means of exerting discipline anymore, and for good reason, but the use of Ritalin and other drugs seems to be taking its place, which shows schooling's need for control in one form or another as a result of current methodology. In the first scene with the character Chef, he expresses his hate for the use of Ritalin but then quickly expresses the notion that beating is a better form, showing the belief that discipline is required, in another scene there is a doctor who argues his treatment to be superior to prescription drugs, which is to hit the child instead. It's unclear whether the show asserts that this is a better form of discipline, however it clearly illustrates our belief as a society that we need to control kids.

Truthfully there is a better approach to education, rather than pumping drugs into students or beating them, which is to redevelop the education system by using methods, models and processes other than those of traditional methodology and the banking model. Freire asserts that students are alienated and held back from their conscience capacities due to the banking model, that students are taught the world is the way it is rather than being taught it is an ever changing world. This is not to say that no discipline should be present in schooling, but that children and students should learn discipline, morals, and so on through experience, this could be successful through critical pedagogy and other models that promote critical thinking skills and limit alienation.