Whose Minding Education?

Anti Fed Ed Warriors, in my last article I shared that I’d look into the federal educratic overreach into higher education and mental health. We know all too well the overreaches in PreK to 12th grade mental health services are ‘off the charts’.

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Meet S 1204, Higher Education Mental Health Act of 2019:

Warriors, the worst news we could find in this ill hatched Bill is that Sec. DeVos is in charge of forming a 20 person (or less) Commission. One of the most unqualified federal employees of all time will be dictating who serves, how they serve, and, what they recommend to address our older teens and adult children’s needs.
Words fail to express my disgust on this topic.

 

S 1204 is sponsored by Senator Casey (PA). Co-sponsors are Kane (VA), Blumenthal (CT), Klobuchar (MN), Smith (MN), and, Hassan (NH).

Warriors, if you know your Anti Common Core history, you may remember that Anita Hoge (from PA) was a key whistle blower against the mental health overreaches she saw her family (and others) face. Here is one of my articles where I featured Anita’s testimony on K-12th overreaches.

Warriors, have you seen the mental health overreaches from each of these Senators districts? What about each of their stances on S 1204? Would any of them truly know what it’s like to have an older teen or adult child with a true mental health issue?

**Let me pause right here to clarify, I am not disrespecting any parent of a child with mental health issues; rather I am trying to point to the difference between a qualified medical professional’s diagnosis and a educator tasked with making a diagnosis. There is, or should be, a distinct difference.**

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Warriors, in the article where you’ll find the above image, I shared that ESSA had 60 instances for SEL (Social Emotional Learning). Of those, how many are truly needed by a qualified psychologist? If you look deep enough, not many.

However, how many SEL or mental health references are in the HEA (Higher Education Act), after all, S 1204 is about higher education students.

Here are 10 references to mental health in the HEA of 1965 (as amended in 2018 Public Law 115-334):
a) Sect. 825:  (index) guidance on mental health disclosure for students
b) Page 357: mental health professionals must have NO less than a master’s degree in social work, psychology or psychiatry. These professionals must be employed full time and provide current mental health services.
c) Page 361: Part A of Title I of the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Act
d) Page 405: mental health and student loan repayment
e) Page 509: mental health impairment for at least 5 years (student loans)
f) Pages 518-19: ‘high risk children’ (serious emotional, mental or behavior issues)
g) Page 609: mental health (in event of assaults on campus) written notice of existing counseling
h) Page 808: co-ordinate mental health with local professionals
i) Page 829: (where Section 825 begins), guidance for mental health in relation to student safety; direct tie to FERPA (Family Education Rights to Privacy Act)
j) Sect. 873: Part T Veterans mental health in relation to student success

Warriors, let’s contrast that with S 1204’s impact on higher education and mental health:

Warriors, if you need to open the above image in a different screen, please do. The most dangerous shift from the HEA to S 1204 is that the mandate for a mental health professionals with NO less than a master’s degree now sees someone with a 2 year degree able to  recommend mental health’s direction.

Folks, that is shockingly disturbing. When you take into consideration that NONE of the Senators are mental health professionals with master’s degrees, how can they expect that a 2 year degree (associates) can even come close to the same experience when it comes to mental health?

Mental Health For Sale:

Warriors, the CCSS Machine thinks it knows real mental health issues/treatments. Just look at the sponsors and co-sponsors of S 1204.

If you’d like to see Sen. Casey’s campaign financing, Big Insurance and Big Pharma bank roll him.
Sen. Kane has Microsoft’s dollars in his pocket.
Sen. Blumenthal has Big Media helping his ‘view’ of legislation.
Sen. Klobuchar uses Disney’s distorted knowledge of mental health.
Sen. Smith has Big Government in her back pocket.
Sen. Hassan put Harvard University’s skewed agenda guide her.
(*Note: As always, Open Secrets is the source cited.)

Warriors, it was one thing to play ‘doctor’ as a kid, but as a legislator? Now, I have no idea if any of these educrats directly has been impacted by any type of mental health issue.

I’d wager, however, they haven’t. Why? If they had there’s no way on God’s green Earth they’d even dream up of mental health legislation like S 1204.

(image from printfakedoctorsnote.com)

Closing:

Warriors, as you can see S 1204 is a TERRIBLE bill. Every overreach into mental health by Congress is an insult. Why would I come down so harshly on this? There are a couple of reasons.

First, DC is NOT a qualified mental health expert. Even the President used a Proclamation for political purposes in  declaring  May as Mental Health Month.
(*Notes: I did check to see how many doctors are also Congress men and women in the 116th. There are 16, and not one is a mental health doctor. Members of the Mental Health Caucus are here, none of the 16 doctors are serving in this Caucus.)

Secondly, I am a mother of a young adult who has been properly diagnosed in mental issues. The issues we face were not school related in any way.
The road we walk is beastly.
I cannot fathom the horrors awaiting those families who receive a CCSS Machine version of such a diagnosis.

For every family like mine, who has a legitimate need, there is Congress trying to skew the truth to create some version of a level playing field that doesn’t really benefit those in need, but does fit their Congressional bank accounts.

Where is Congress getting their cues for mental health? It’s not US, it’s globally sourced.

Warriors, we’ve seen the train wreck PreK-12th grade mental health misdiagnoses and over medications has become. Are we really going to trust the CCSS Machine to suddenly treat our older teens and young adults with any BETTER results?

Let the doctors manage and treat our afflicted properly.

May the politicians crawl back to their murky watered swamp. That’s where their business is. It certainly is NOT in education. It certainly has NO place in mental health.