Gaining a Competitive Edge: Neuroenhancing Drugs

Recently the New Yorker ran a piece on the "underground world" of neuroenhancing drugs—"drugs that high-functioning, overcommitted people take to become higher-functioning and more overcommitted." As competition, both in educational institutions and the workplace, grows ever more intense, increasing numbers of students (and graduates) are using such drugs as Adderall, Ritalin, and Provigil to give themselves a leg up.

If we accept, as the article seems to, that "cosmetic neurology is here to stay"—and that banning the use of neuroenhancers doesn't make sense since they are already in such widespread use—then what are the implications for today's students?

Significant numbers of them, from preschool through high school, already devote most of their free time and sacrifice much of their childhood to test-preparation courses and so-called educational enrichment programs in hopes of gaining a competitive academic edge. Even parents who balk at subjecting their kids to this sort of regimen can't help wondering if they're doing them a disservice and thwarting their chances for educational success.

The use of neuroenhancing drugs ups the ante still further. If Johnny's academic peers not only have the benefit of countless additional hours of training, tutoring, and testing but also the ability, thanks to neuroenhancers, to push ahead further, faster, and more efficiently, what chance does Johnny really have?

It's time to put a stop to this rapidly escalating race and take a closer look at its effects. Many kids today are already overburdened, overstressed overachievers. Is that really what we want for them, and is this really the kind of society we want to create—and live in?