1. Kids with ADHD probably can't develop executive function as fast or as far as other kids. I'm pretty sure I have it, it explains the repeated performance reports of "You're good when you apply yourself and useless when you don't." Unfortunately I struggle to _choose_ to apply myself.
Willpower doesn't seem to come naturally to me, even after 10 years as a professional programmer. Adderall didn't help - I had to take it in the morning, after breakfast. So I was still late for work, because eating breakfast is not something I'm good at, and I couldn't start my day until I had finished breakfast. Then after work the stimulants wore off and I felt like shit and reverted to my normal do-what-i-want executive function. But it made me feel normal without caffeine.
So I quit the Adderall and just cutting caffeinated soda with non-caff every morning, as though I was lowering my dose on a prescription. So far it's working. I still never clean my room, which is status quo for the last 20 years, and work is still pretty easy. The phrase "idiot savant" comes to mind. All I want is for people to stop thinking that I'm doing this on purpose. I don't enjoy constantly feeling like a moron and being behind on simple household chores despite making decent money at a job that is considered (by other people) to be difficult.
And that might even be the case for the kids with detailed exercise programs. I don't exercise at all because it's not my interest. I program, because it is my interest. Kinda like how autistic people can't choose their special interests. I pity the kids whose interest is exercise but are trying to force themselves through a CS program into a career track they can't possibly do.
Dr. Russell Barkely goes into some detail in a 3-hour talk about ADHD here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSfCdBBqNXY If anyone thinks I don't have ADHD because I sat through a 3-hour talk about psychology, maybe they need to watch it, too.
"There's a growing perception that traits like work ethic, focus, and motivation are fixed attributes that one is born with (or without) rather than abilities that are developed over time."
What if they are, though? What if it's like height, where genetics sets a range and environment picks a point in that range? If I had starved as a child, I would be shorter than I am now. But if I had eaten more, I would not be taller. I'm about the same height as my parents are.
There's a hypothesis that the current age of mass distraction (TV, phones, Internet, etc.) doesn't _cause_ ADHD, but it does _aggravate_ it. I don't know if the studies bear it out, but I really want this to be true. What if it's something that's latent in the human genome, and the fact that we can profit off of exploiting it nowadays just brought it to the surface? In early centuries, if I had nothing to do but my work, maybe I would find it easy to just "accept boredom" and do my work anyway.
2. I'm not sure how many employers would have hired me in college. I get the sense that unskilled labor just isn't worth much anymore, and pushing kids to get more education is kicking the can down the road since, as you pointed out, nobody wants to hire an adult with zero work experience whether they're 18, 22, or even 30.