Crazy time: Illinois schools will test students' mental health
- Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 4
- 2 min read
Illinois schools will provide annual mental-health screenings for all students in third grade and up, under a new bill signed by Gov. JB Pritzker. Students already are tested for vision and hearing problems.
The goal is to detect anxiety, depression and trauma before it's "too late," said State Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview).
Parents can opt their children out of the screenings. If they don't and their child is identified with a psychological issue, they'll be given access to information on mental-health care in the area. What will schools do? That's unclear.
The intentions are good. In a post last year, It's a school, not a mental-health clinic, I wrote about the reality. School-based mental health programs don't improve mental health or academic outcomes, concludes Carolyn D. Gorman, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute. No "high-quality evidence" supports "universal mental health literacy, awareness, prevention, and screening" or many social-emotional learning programs, she writes.
"Universal" programs that provide service to all students, not just those with problems, can cause harm due to "poor-quality care, overdiagnosis and misallocated spending." Class time may be wasted. Furthermore, students with real mental disorders, who need quality care, may be lost in the shuffle.
Mental health awareness campaigns aimed at teenagers may backfire, writes Ellen Barry in the New York Times. Teens may be encouraged to see the normal challenges of adolescence as signs of mental illness.
Asked to solve students' social, psychological and health needs, schools are neglecting their academic mission, argues Erika Sanzi of Parents Defending Education. "Too many schools have become one-stop social services hubs that also teach a little reading and math on the side."
There are already too many young people labeling every tiny adversity as "trauma."
Government runs psychiatric testing is a recipe for disaster. The tests will bow before every crockpot theory and woke teacher union education fad. Expect children to be told they are secretly transgender, or gay, or a closet serial killer because their parents support MAGA. The Chicago teachers union will be writing these tests and no matter where you live in the great state of Illinois Marxist social theory will be used to judge your children.