ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

I listen to NPR on a regular basis and this morning I heard a disturbing report about children and mental health. Apparently there is a program that is being offered in some middle schools around the country that evaluates a student's mental health. This is being pitched to parents as a normal thing like taking a physical at the beginning of the school year. What's disturbing is that some students who are normal are being told they are at risk for certain mental illnesses like OCD or "social anxiety". And a small number are being prescribed anti-depressants. In rare cases it seems that parents were not aware of these mental screenings and/or were not asked to give permission. In most cases it seems that the parents did give permission but they just took whatever the school said to be gospel.

What is disturbing is that the state feels they have the right to assess children's mental health. This is the nanny state run amock. When you listen to these clips you'll be amazed to hear a girl describe how she was told she was at risk for OCD because she came home from school every day and did her chores and liked to keep her room neat. How would they have assessed Laura Ingalls I wonder.

The links to these reports are here and here.

There was one sort of bright spot and in this report. One girl was screened and she ended up realizing that she had some problems with suicidal thoughts. She was helped in time. But the scary thing is that she felt she couldn't talk to her parents but she could talk to the school.