Abby Lipscomb

Staff Writer

atl5355@psu.edu

In addition to “critical race theory”, parents in many states have now put mental health programs on their list of oppositions. During a board meeting at a school in a Texas town, a parent had said that counselors are more focused on mental helath and suicide prevention than they are with preparing students for college or other future aspirations. The parent claimed that in having these programs, the school is actually advertising suicide. This drove a group within the community, which had previously opposed a diversity act the school proposed, to make the assertion that schools should “leave mental health and parenting to parents.”

All around the country, schools are beginning to be accused of pushing progressive ideas on subjects such as race, gender, and sexuality onto their students. This has now caused groups to target mental health programs, claiming that these programs are dangerous for students, as they expose the children to these ideas instead of helping to curb them from having said thoughts. 

I think these arguments feel rather ridiculous for multiple reasons. For one, most parents aren’t licensed therapists. They don’t have the capability, knowledge or tools to help their child through depression, anxiety or whatever they could be struggling with mentally. Secondly, even though they want to think they are, parents are never fully aware of what’s going on in their child’s life. Parents don’t know what goes on at school during the day, they don’t see how students treat each other when adults aren’t around or how their kids are even doing academically. So, they may not even be aware that their child could be struggling mentally.

Then, for parents who want to help their kids, some may have no other way to get them help other than the free counseling offered through schools. Personal counseling can be pretty expensive, especially when a family may not have a lot of extra money lying around. So, school counseling is the only way their child can talk to someone that can help them with whatever mental health struggles they could be going through at the moment.  

Getting rid of exposing students to mental health struggles is a very dangerous proposal. Kids, especially teens, need to learn about mental health so they can take care of themselves. They need to be able to tell what the warning signs for mental illnesses are, such as for depression and anxiety, as they’re so prevalent in society today. These kids need to know about them in case they show up in a loved one, a friend, classmate or even themselves, so they can get help for whomever needs it. 

Mental illnesses are just like any other illness, and need to be treated as such and not like some political stance as too many people suffer in silence because of it.