Many problems associated with the mind can be better treated through medication, but not all problems benefit from their use. Still, the psychiatric community as a whole can’t be blamed entirely for the increase in prescriptions used to help with depression, anxiety and other illnesses. Pharmaceutical giants and the medical community as a whole have as much or more of responsibility for the change in practice.

Undoubtedly, depression is a medical illness that can have a crippling effect on certain individuals at various points in their lives. Of equal importance is the fact that almost everyone, for one reason or another, experiences depression at some juncture. When the medical establishment fails to distinguish between serious bouts of depression such as postpartum, debilitating, and suicidal depression with simple, everyday depression, patients are more likely to be unnecessarily medicated.

For their part, pharmaceutical companies have done their best to ensure that the public is more accepting of medication as the first line of treatment. Advertisements offer pills for every possible malady to an eager public, made even more eager by the promise of instant relief from whatever ails them. This is not only a problem with psychological based issues, but with medicine in general.

The tendency to over-prescribe antibiotics has resulted in new, resistant strains of life threatening bacteria. Even over the counter products unrelated to medicine have been created and marketed in an effort to play upon public fears for increased product sales. Antibacterial soap will stop the majority of germs that can cause illness, but so will the plain old soap people have been using for centuries before it.

Ultimately, it’s in the hands of the physician to make the right decision for their patient. Therapy patients who insist on being referred to a psychiatrist or related M.D. with the intent of being prescribed medication are entitled to as many opinions as they want, but until the psychiatric community as a whole becomes less willing to accommodate those who could be helped without medication yet still request it, the problem is only going to get worse.

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The baby boomer generation brought us the malpractice lawsuit, and while malpractice suits are sometimes necessary, the current healthcare climate resulting from widespread frivolous instances of malpractice claims has created doctor shortages nationwide. Why go to medical school only to find that insurance costs are prohibiting you from making a living commensurate with the education you worked so hard to get? There was a time when most gynecologists were also practicing obstetricians. Many are now no longer in the delivery business because of the hassle and skyrocketing expense of being protected from those who are looking for a quick paycheck.

Of course, not all healthcare system maladies can be attributed directly to the baby boomer generation. Many can be attributed to corporate greed, a staple of the baby boomer generation. HMO and other healthcare insurance plans have become so convoluted and rigid that having an ambulance drop you off at the wrong hospital can result in astronomical uncovered expenses despite the severity of a person’s injuries.

So, perhaps the baby boomer generation facing a healthcare crisis of their own making is poetic justice. There is an upside, however, in that baby boomers have finally given something besides a 50% divorce rate, partisanship and economic turmoil to the generations that proceeded them. By simply growing old, they have created new job opportunities in the field of medicine. While today’s college students have few degree options they can truly count on to provide for themselves and their future families, medicine is a safe bet for the future.

Looking for an educational path that will provide solid employment? Consider nursing, health care administration or perhaps respiratory therapy. It may no longer be worth the trouble to go to medical school, but there are careers in healthcare that offer better job stability that most other available options. For that, we have the baby boomers to thank.

How could these collective individuals allow the educational system to get so far out of hand? After all, teachers have a union. Surely that means they must wield substantial power over the local, state and federal bureaucratic management of our children’s education, right? All we ever hear about is how teachers are paid less and less every year and forced to do more with a dwindling budget. What about poor parents who are expected to show an active interest in their children’s future? Isn’t it enough that they sired the children and drop them off at the mall or provide a television set for entertainment? I mean, really…given the choice between expecting and demanding more of our kids academically and encouraging them to participate in athletics, who wouldn’t choose football and cheerleading?

Thankfully, not everyone is complacent with the current state of affairs. A quick look at educationally related news from around the country shows several stories featuring parents suing schools because their children misbehave, are reprimanded for wearing inappropriate clothing that goes against school policy or refuse to follow rules designed to keep kids collectively focused on the task at hand. It sure is comforting to know that parents like these are teaching their kids what’s really important in life. After all, wouldn’t it go against the “rugged individualism” this country strives toward if kids were told they don’t always need to be the center of attention? Besides, if it weren’t for managing the increasingly combative, disruptive and apathetic behavior we’ve worked so hard to teach our children by example, what we be paying teachers for in the first place?

And just because budget cutbacks decried by the same taxpayers who refuse to pay more for their own children’s education result in overwhelming class sizes, that’s still no excuse for our education system’s poor performance. If anything, learning environments where kids get less individual attention serve to prepare them for the modern state of parenthood, right?

Yes, it’s obvious…the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of teachers. Why blame our society’s overwhelming attitude of pride toward being uninterested in math and science? Why blame unruly children who aren’t getting any attention, guidance or discipline at home? Why blame salaries that are barely enough to live on and education budgets that pale in comparison to the amount of money spent on waging pointless, fruitless wars that devastate the lives of countless innocent civilians abroad? Everyone knows that people living outside of American shores don’t matter anyway, right?

Yes, we could examine the aforementioned, but that might force us to examine ourselves, how we live, how we vote and why we’ve lost all sense of personal accountability and responsibility. Why do that when we can do things the American way…let’s just continue to blame teachers.

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According to the report, increased research funding increases, math and science education measures and tax-credit changes are needed to keep the nation competitive in math and sciences. In truth, financial considerations are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to diagnosing the full extent of the problem.

Today, children born in the U.S. are simply far less interested in math and sciences than children born in other countries, which has little to do with geography and everything to do with culture. While there are exceptions, the general population of the nation has afforded decreasing value to mathematics and science, instead opting to focus on more liberal arts related fields of academia. While enrollment in arts and humanities, information technology and business degree programs grows exponentially, math and sciences are little more than an afterthought to most students entering college.

At the heart of the problems is a culture who takes pride in not only avoiding mathematics and science, but being relatively smug about doing so. Children are following their parents lead and the results are evident. A recent Raytheon Corporation survey of 1,000 11-to-13-year-olds found that 84% said they would “rather clean their room, eat their vegetables, go to the dentist or take out the garbage than learn math or science.” Last year, 12th-graders tested well below the international average for 21 countries in mathematics and science in nationally administered exams. Worse yet, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, roughly one-third of the fourth-graders and one-fifth of the eighth-graders cannot perform basic mathematical computations.

Perhaps what’s needed is not a policy change but a cultural change: one in which our society takes greater responsibility for the future of our children. Much like environmental issues, what may seem far away today can be a source of problems for future generations. Only by changing our collective attitude toward these problems can we expect to solve them.

For those who create the curriculum used to teach our nation’s students, the challenges are mounting. Curriculum and instruction master’s programs for educators preparing to go into education management are designed to help faculty create an inspiring environment conducive to learning. Unfortunately, they don’t cover budget stretching or fundraising, which some schools must resort to in order to keep their curriculum current.

At one time, having a computer center was a mark of advancement. Today, most schools are struggling to meet the demands of a student body who has grown up in the computer age and will rely on technology for their livelihoods. Educational technology and interactive learning are more important than ever, as it’s in the educational environment that students will first be introduced to technology as a source of information instead of a source of entertainment. Educators are not only fighting a losing battle to introduce technology to the classroom, but to impress upon students the importance of technology, which can be difficult when the resources students have in their own homes are far superior to those available at school.

The world wide web is a prime example of an area where a student’s early introduction can have a profound effect on their future. The internet is fast becoming the marketplace of the world, and if growth over the last decade is any indication of things to come, millions of students will be involved in internet based businesses in the near future. While the world wide web is certainly a source of commerce and expanding industry, the way in which students view the internet may determine their future in regard to what it has to offer.