Boys will be boys, or else?

I just read an interesting article, "The New Gender Gap" by Michelle Conlin in BusinessWeek (May 26, 2003, pp.74-82). The article has a "provocative" subtitle, "From kindergarten to grad school, boys are becoming the second sex."

Somehow I am not that surprised about the female excelling in school. Even for less "macho"/"aggressive" society such as Korea, I've often heard that girls are better at school work than boys. I guess the difference between two societies is that, in Korea, everyone (I mean everyone) knows, from very early on, that a diploma from a good college is a must for your future. Also, in Korea, being good at academics isn't a liability for boys (actually, often quite an opposite).

However, what surprised me was that Ritalin was prescribed to so many boys and that it is sometimes forced.

He is four times as likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. That often leads to being forced to take Ritalin or risk being expelled, sent to special ed, or having parents accused of negligence. One study of public schools in Fairfax County, Va., found that more than 20% of upper-middle-class white boys were taking Ritalin-like drugs by fifth grade.

I just don't get the notion that most Americans seem to have that you can take an easy way out by "fixing" things by medication, especially with mood or personality altering stuff. Physical violence is bad, but this is?