Studs Terkel interviews two representatives from Abbott Laboratories: Richard Kasperson, V.P. of corporate regulatory affairs, and Dr. Robert Janicki, V.P. of corporate clinical research. The topic of conversation is the prescribed use of Cylert, which was a trade name for the drug Pemoline. Cylert was used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. Janicki and Kasperson respond to claims that the drug was overprescribed to school-aged children.

Philip Hilts, an author and journalist, discusses behavior modification and it advantages and dangers. He delves into B. F. Skinner and Ivan Pavlov's work and explains how behavior modification is used today. Hilts discusses cases used in prisons, schools, and workplaces. Hilts also talks about typical medications given to children who are said to experience hyperactivity.

Topics of discussion include privacy in education and access to school records, the use of pseudo-scientific terminology in describing children, the ways that a child's records are shared outside of the school and related race and class issues, the pharmaceutical industry and treatments, and the importance of parents refusing to allow their children to be given psychological tests without their informed consent.