On July 31, 2025, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed SB 1560, a disastrous bill that will require all public school students in grades 3-12 to undergo universal mental health screenings in 2027.
On today of all days in light of the tragedy in Minneapolis, this topic is most germane. I am not sure fan of Pritzker’s, I respect your experience and expertise, and I understand your concerns but it does seem to me there is a serious need to assess and address mental health, particularly among youth.
I agree that there is a place for assessments for crisis, but not universal assessments. I’m not convinced a school counselor could have helped this situation from today. In fact, politicians will just use high emotions from today’s tragedy to expedite their plan to get more kids dependent on the dysfunctional mental health system.
I can't agree more. At the university where I teach, we are encouraged to be on the lookout for "sad" students. They are then shepherded into the health center, where they're put on anti-depressants. A colleague who somehow became the "ADHD Tutor" is telling students to get on ADHD meds. I called her out on it -- she's not a medical professional! She argued that she's an "expert" because she has ADHD, and could exercise no objectivity whatsoever on the matter of medicalizing people.
In my own case, as a teen in the 70s, I was evaluated by the school counselor when I got in trouble for something. At least I had the foresight to lie and say that everything in my family was fine! It very much was not! But I could tell what they were after, and cut them off at the pass! It was MY job to get through it, and not get the school involved. I also for whatever reason had the confidence in myself to get through it. Who knows why that was, but it was a very different time then: I had an internal locus of control.
On today of all days in light of the tragedy in Minneapolis, this topic is most germane. I am not sure fan of Pritzker’s, I respect your experience and expertise, and I understand your concerns but it does seem to me there is a serious need to assess and address mental health, particularly among youth.
I agree that there is a place for assessments for crisis, but not universal assessments. I’m not convinced a school counselor could have helped this situation from today. In fact, politicians will just use high emotions from today’s tragedy to expedite their plan to get more kids dependent on the dysfunctional mental health system.
I can't agree more. At the university where I teach, we are encouraged to be on the lookout for "sad" students. They are then shepherded into the health center, where they're put on anti-depressants. A colleague who somehow became the "ADHD Tutor" is telling students to get on ADHD meds. I called her out on it -- she's not a medical professional! She argued that she's an "expert" because she has ADHD, and could exercise no objectivity whatsoever on the matter of medicalizing people.
In my own case, as a teen in the 70s, I was evaluated by the school counselor when I got in trouble for something. At least I had the foresight to lie and say that everything in my family was fine! It very much was not! But I could tell what they were after, and cut them off at the pass! It was MY job to get through it, and not get the school involved. I also for whatever reason had the confidence in myself to get through it. Who knows why that was, but it was a very different time then: I had an internal locus of control.