Government Schools Track Kids ‘Mental Health’
by Carole Hornsby Haynes, Ph.D. July 14, 2017
Government schools are conducting psychological and mental evaluations of children without parental consent or knowledge. Blame the unconstitutional Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) that was passed under the Obama administration with Republican support.
ESSA shifts the focus from academic learning to social and emotional learning (SEL). During the House proceedings, Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, made the stunning statement that Common Core is being redefined as social-emotional learning, which must come first in the learning hierarchy -- with academics ranking second!
Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, confirmed in a prepared statement that he was proud “the legislation includes language to help expand and make the teaching of social and emotional learning [Common Core] more effective!”
Now states are implementing the SEL scheme with teachers testing for student proficiency.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Dr. Aida Cerundolo, a New Hampshire physician, exposed the use of a psychological evaluation administered by untrained and unlicensed teachers. New Hampshire is using the Devereaux Student Strengths Assessment (DESSA) that is distributed by the Kaplan Early Learning Company. Students will be tested for their self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, goal-directed behavior, relationship skills, personal responsibility, decision-making, and optimistic thinking.
Each month teachers must answer 72 subjective questions about each student to determine if the child needs “intervention.” Teacher answers will be clouded by their own personal biases. If student don’t have the attitudes, beliefs, values, and behavior preferred by the U.S. government, intervention is required.
Standard privacy protections for medical records do not apply to these psychological and psychiatric profiles that government schools are accumulating on children. FERPA was gutted under the Obama administration in 2012, so that now student data can be shared with almost anyone if it can be justified as a “legitimate educational interest.” Parents need not know nor give permission.
Psychological profiles will follow students throughout their lives and can have adverse effects on education and career opportunities. Permanent student profiles are important under our School-to-Work initiatives with employers having ongoing access to information about “human capital,” as Americans are now described.
This permanent file system harkens to the ‘Dangan,’ a file used in Communist China to track individuals from cradle to grave and their worth to the State.
Social and emotional learning with teacher assessment is a very dangerous path for a free America. Parents should not allow their children to be given any mental health assessments by untrained personnel. They should also be aware of whether SEL assessments are embedded in any computerized programs or tests and any surveys, whether manual or computerized.
The purpose of public schools is no longer to teach academics. Now they are indoctrination centers collecting data and programming the minds and behaviors of students for the good of the State.
It is up to parents to stop this insanity.