@ncscswitch:
Even with bad parenting, the child IS exposed to other options. And it is their choice whether or not to embrace them.
Too many people break free of such bad situations for it to NOT be a choice whether or not to surrender yourself to that environment.
As for mental disorders:
I classify that as a birth type issue. And here I refer only to real and significant mental issues, not made up prescription selling schemes like ADD/ADHD
you do have a point with your first, but i think that welfare/minimum wage is for those for whom the fight is too desparate/difficult.
as for ADD - you really should know something about a subject before you say something like this. Which is to say that i disagree with you to the nth degree, i have done the genetic/biochemistry/PET scanning etc./epidemiology/pathophysiological/research, and people who say this kind of crap really piss me off. You don’t have any idea what these children and their parents (and teachers/siblings etc.) are going through. ADD is not a matter of bad parenting, or “something in the oatmeal”. This is a legitimate axis I disorder.
Mind you, i guess if you are a scientologist, then of course this mentality would apply to all of the mental disorders . . . . Also - you might want to specify “real and significant” - i think much of what is “unreal and insignificant” to you is very real and significant to many of my patients, their caregivers, and ultimately society.