Hello dear sirs,
Last week, my family and I were eating dinner and an interesting topic breached our conversation. In between the perfectly normal bouts of musical theater and biology lectures, we started discussing pain killers. My younger sister and I had been feeling sick that day, and after going to the doctor, had been prescribed a pain killer to help us deal with the symptoms we were experiencing.
Before I continue, you must understand this about my dad: he cares a great deal about our well-being. One of the many ways that he shows that he cares is by lecturing us about the dangers of abusing pharmaceuticals and controlled substances. The approach that my dad uses is the scare-them-so-that-my-babies-will-never-do-drugs approach. I must also point out that I appreciate these lectures as they are a sign that my dad cares about us.
Anyway, my father started discussing the ease with which the human body can develop a reliance on pain killers and that it is often better if we carry on through the pain instead of taking pain killers for every little ache. I believe that my father trusts us to not experiment with illicit substances or abuse prescription drugs, but he seems to enjoy lecturing us nonetheless. Something to consider, though, is that individual teens are different and the way that parents need to breach the topic of controlled substances varies from family to family. While using drugs is the individual’s choice, the way that parents broach the subject can be extremely influential to that choice.[1]
My father, to my knowledge, has never experimented with drugs, has never smoked, and only drinks in moderation (I have never seen my father intoxicated, but some of his university days stories…). In other words, he does not have any personal experience with drugs or the overuse of pharmaceuticals. He only hears the horror stories about teens, drug use, and pill-stealing heard by most parents.
Looking at the issue from a TOK perspective, my dad’s thoughts on the subject of drug use could be translated into the following knowledge statement: an individual’s personal experience with a situation greatly affects his or her psychological state when perceiving it. The resulting knowledge question is: To what extent does memory influence the human sciences? Click the button below to explore another situation to which this knowledge question is applicable!
See you next time as we continue to ponder our existence!
-Jo
[1] Chang, Juju. "Should Parents Talk About Past Drug Use with Teens?" News story. Abc News. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuNjVT-L9cQ>.
Last week, my family and I were eating dinner and an interesting topic breached our conversation. In between the perfectly normal bouts of musical theater and biology lectures, we started discussing pain killers. My younger sister and I had been feeling sick that day, and after going to the doctor, had been prescribed a pain killer to help us deal with the symptoms we were experiencing.
Before I continue, you must understand this about my dad: he cares a great deal about our well-being. One of the many ways that he shows that he cares is by lecturing us about the dangers of abusing pharmaceuticals and controlled substances. The approach that my dad uses is the scare-them-so-that-my-babies-will-never-do-drugs approach. I must also point out that I appreciate these lectures as they are a sign that my dad cares about us.
Anyway, my father started discussing the ease with which the human body can develop a reliance on pain killers and that it is often better if we carry on through the pain instead of taking pain killers for every little ache. I believe that my father trusts us to not experiment with illicit substances or abuse prescription drugs, but he seems to enjoy lecturing us nonetheless. Something to consider, though, is that individual teens are different and the way that parents need to breach the topic of controlled substances varies from family to family. While using drugs is the individual’s choice, the way that parents broach the subject can be extremely influential to that choice.[1]
My father, to my knowledge, has never experimented with drugs, has never smoked, and only drinks in moderation (I have never seen my father intoxicated, but some of his university days stories…). In other words, he does not have any personal experience with drugs or the overuse of pharmaceuticals. He only hears the horror stories about teens, drug use, and pill-stealing heard by most parents.
Looking at the issue from a TOK perspective, my dad’s thoughts on the subject of drug use could be translated into the following knowledge statement: an individual’s personal experience with a situation greatly affects his or her psychological state when perceiving it. The resulting knowledge question is: To what extent does memory influence the human sciences? Click the button below to explore another situation to which this knowledge question is applicable!
See you next time as we continue to ponder our existence!
-Jo
[1] Chang, Juju. "Should Parents Talk About Past Drug Use with Teens?" News story. Abc News. YouTube, 30 Dec. 2009. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuNjVT-L9cQ>.