What are your positions regarding putting mental health services in the schools? There is a current push in my state for this, and the advocates are rather powerful. I see this as massive brainwashing. I look foreward to your responses!
Legitimate mental health services such as psychologists / psychiatrists? or new-age quackery disguised as mental health services? The former is ok with me (as long as it's voluntary, as all medical treatment should be); however I'd rather keep unproven / experimental / debunked things like EST (Landmark Forum), LifeSpring, L Ron Hubbard, Dr Phil, and Oprah the fuck out of public schools (however, everybody should be free to do whatever they want on private time).
Lots of people might argue that a psychologist has no place in a school. I disagree. I think they should function like guidance counselors (voluntary) but be able to set up appointments and provide free counseling if a student feels the need.
My sticking point on this is:
what exactly gets put in a kid's record, officially or otherwise? That's why I do tend to lean more towards TSW's contention that this sort of thing should be kept
out of the school system. My own experience with the public school system comes from both sides of the parent/kid spectrum. You can be lucky enough to live in a progressive town where the public school system appears to be well-meaning and perhaps almost benign, but what goes on your record travels with you and can be re-interpreted by another school system differently. Like it or not, and benign or not, public school systems
are Big Brother and potential misuses of information on your kid need to be evaluated in that light.
