The Congress has several spending bills to deal with before their term ends. One of the ways they do this quickly, and with little fanfare is through an omnibus bill. In that way, they can wrap up a lot of spending in a single document which the President must sign or veto at once, without recourse to discussion. This week, the House is to vote on one bill which provides for mandatory mental health screening of kids in public schools. Details are here. The bill itself, HR 81 IR, was introduced by Rep Sheila Jackson-Lee, one of our favorite Democrats–from Houston. The same lady who wanted to name hurricanes in a more politically-correct way. The first line of the bill says, “At least one in five children and adolescents has a diagnosable mental , emotional, or behavioral problem that can lead to school failure, alcohol or other drug use, violence, or suicide.” How did I manage to rear four children with no mental health problems? Perhaps a fifth would have been deranged! (And no comments from you, Slice!)
The behavioral problems have more to do with lack of discipline than any mental health issues. And yes, I am an expert.
Congressman Ron Paul, an OB/GYN physician for over 30 years, is desperately trying to keep the drug companies, politicians and federal bureaucrats from becoming parents to your children. Dr. Paul will introduce on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning (whenever the floor schedule allows) an amendment to the Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Act for FY 2005 that will withhold funds for this new federal mental-health-screening program. He will urge his congressional colleagues to support his effort in a letter to be distributed tomorrow morning.
The Liberty Committee, a caucus of Congressmen with a libertarian bent led by Rep. Ron Paul, have agreed to the following wording to be added to the Omnibus Funding Bill to be voted on this week in the House:
None of the funds made availablefor State incentive grants for transformation should be used for any programsof mandatory or universal mental-health screening that performs mental-health screening on anyone under 18 years of age without the express, written permission of the parents or legal guardians of each individual involved.
I don’t want any funding going to this cause, whether the parents agree or not. I spent a couple of years as Commandant of a private military school where about a third of the junior high and high school kids were on Ritalin. Not one needed it. In fact, most were overachievers, intelligent, and simply bored with the mundane classes they endured in public schools. The acted up not because they had problems paying attention due to some mental disorder, but because their minds were racing far ahead of the pace the teachers set. When placed in a disciplined environment with plenty to do to keep their minds active and busy, they responded with intellectual zeal. What they had never had at home or school was a solid foundation of self-discipline, created through imposed discipline early on.
I don’t believe the federal government has any place in the education system. I certainly don’t feel they should be involved in mass mental evaluation. Are you concerned about total government control of your child’s life? This is not just a step in that direction–it is a huge leap. The evaluation will determine a mental rating for your child that will follow him/her for many years. It may require medication under threat to you of child abuse or neglect prosecution. It will make it very easy for school administrators to place your child in “special” classes if they don’t meet an arbitrary standard. And that does not necesarily mean special education classes, but may mean annual or even weekly mental health evaluations.
We are taking some of the most intelligent self-starters in this country and turning them into automatons through drugs, when we should be celebrating their ability to advance faster than their peers, and offering them opportunities to develop their skills. Instead, we drug them and make them sit quietly while others catch up. A quiet, bored student is better than an active, bored student.
Sales of Ritalin must have peaked, and the drug companies need a new market. And the psychologists.
At the bottom of my left column you will find links to your congressmen and Senators. Use them.
Great post – thank you for taking this on.
Comment by Sherry — November 17, 2004 @ 6:56 pm
I tried to trackback to this but I don’t think it’s working
Comment by Sherry — November 17, 2004 @ 7:17 pm
Take from the parent of an child that REALLY needs his dose of aderall every day, most of the kids on this and ritalin, need more discipline not the drug. My son though has serious issues, and the drug is needed. You would do well to research the nature of “Pervasive Developmental Disorders.
Comment by Bubba Bo Bob Brain — November 17, 2004 @ 7:50 pm
Bubba, I coached high school baseball and had one player who was definitely ADD. He’s the only one I’ve ever seen. You could see in his eyes when the world went away. He was never a discipline problem, just had difficulty focusing sometimes.
I give my personal experience as an example. The whole ADD issue is far overblown. One in five is really something in the neighborhood of one in 500.
Comment by Bunker — November 18, 2004 @ 5:35 am
This mental health screening issue started as a cleverly crafted way to get students in the school as either behavior- or mentally-challenged, which then relieves that particular school of some of the standards that must be met to not be labeled as a failing school. They have to have a fall back position, since there is no reasonable way any school can fail to teach children to read…
In my limited teaching experience, I saw a lot of children who were on these medications. I saw a few whom I thought probably benefitted from it, but with my non-psychiatric background I think most were on it as a form of baby-sitter/disciplinarian. I started a wrestling program at that middle & high school, and noticed a marked difference in the behavior of six of my students who were on the team. One of them told me about 6 weeks into the season that his parents had stopped making him take Ritalin because his behavior had improved so much. So it’s not just the schools that are part of this problem.
Comment by Slice — November 18, 2004 @ 7:14 am
I graduated high school and 2000, and I only knew one person that had one of these disorders. With him you could see the change he went through when he started the medication…basketball, band, and his school work all became more focused and improved. Since high school I’ve met one more person, that I know of with a problem. If he could manage not to use marijuanna or cocaine then he was usually more focused. If he took the ritilan in combination with the drugs he was somewhat focused. There was maybe a month I can remember where he was completly clean of all drugs and he was a completely different person. This makes me wonder if there are other problems that may be getting ignored while doctors are handing out prescriptions. Not to mention alternative first choices.
Comment by Mrs Birdie — November 18, 2004 @ 7:43 am
Thanks for being on this. I would really like to see the whole mess go down in flames.
Comment by Daisy — November 18, 2004 @ 10:09 pm
I have 4 kids. My oldest is full of PnV since he was born his mother took him to a Psych because his school demanded it due to his boisterous nature even though he is and always has been a straight A student. The “doc” put him on ridlin which subdued his personality to that of a rock. I as a youth was also quite a handfull becasue my parents lacked the correct skills to be parents as many of our parents lacked those skills. I recognized this and took my son off the drug induced stupor and began teaching him the fundamentals of self control which he is still learning with some struggles but doing well and drug free at 15 four years later. Do not tell me that this bill which has now passed without Rep Ron Pauls caveat is good for the children or the parents who are too lazy to work with their kids and frankly folk that is it in a nutshell. Too many Dads and Moms out there wnat to watch Sitcoms and stupid sports instead of spending time with their kids so there it is now one out of five will in fact be prediagnosed with some kind of disorder maybe even more. Lets get them depedant on drugs very early on in life so that as adults they will pliable little sheep! They will do as they are told for sure. Just lets see what an entire generation of drug stupified kids grow up to be. NO WAY!! Not my little ones not now not ever willl I allow this to be done to them. Fight these mandatory tests NOW! At the root in the schools the minute they try to introduce it blockade the school prevent your kids from being a staistic in some government organized method of mind control.
My 15 year old is brilliant so far he has made the honor role ever semester in his highschool career. The ridlin would have not allowed that at all it made him slow mentally.
FIGHT THE MACHINE THAT WISHES TO CONTROL US.
Comment by Nick — November 25, 2004 @ 8:45 am
P.S. So very sorry for my poor spelling skills. My hands are not as bright as my mind. Could be the lack of Ritalin not ridlin in my system.
Comment by Nick — November 25, 2004 @ 8:49 am