The incidence of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) has increased from a few hundred a year to almost a million new cases a year. The symptoms of ADD are identical to those of oxygen deprivation and carbon dioxide poisoning – what happens when not enough fresh air is delivered to air conditioned spaces (a typical classroom must have the whole volume of air changed out every fifteen minutes). Maybe our kids don’t need Ritalin, but more fresh air.
There are presently no laws against buildings that don’t provide enough fresh air; there are no penalties, civil or criminal. There are huge benefits, though: a school can reduce its utility bills by half or more by closing the outside air damper. I realize schools are chronically short of money, and that parents could care less about the welfare of their children; and that teachers need more money, but . . . . .