Beverly Eakman is an educator, former science editor, technical writer and editor-in-chief of the official newspaper for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, author of Cloning of the American Mind: Eradicating Morality Through Education, and executive director of the U.S. National Education Consortium.

Do we really want to institutionalize mandatory psychiatric counseling and screening?

This information is often collected by teachers at the behest of state and federal grant recipients such as the Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior. Teachers are taught by the Institute�s educational psychologists to match the classroom and playground conduct of pupils against a list of behavior patterns. This means that �recess� is no longer about playtime. Certain �markers� (or �red flags�) signal a child�s need for professional help. These youngsters are referred to a school psychologist, counselor or other �mental health professional� who makes a determination about each kid�s �counterproductive behaviors.� The child is taught alternative, �adaptive� behaviors to use as �coping mechanisms.� Parents are expected to reinforce these alternatives.

The child (even his or her parents) rarely sees what all is contained in a student�s �electronic portfolio.� Loopholes in privacy laws make it difficult to stop your child�s file from landing on the desktops of college admissions officers, exec- utives, security officers, credit bureaus, or anybody with an axe to grind. If your child falls into one of the above shadowy categories, how will he fare in the job market�-or as an airline security risk, for that matter?

Dr. Darrel Regier, director of research at the American Psychiatric Association lauded the Freedom Commission on Mental Health�s proposed screening initiative, of course. Kevin P. Dwyer, president of the National Association of School Psychologists and Dr. Graham Emslie are typical among the mental health cabal in defending early, mass screening. This �valuable information [is] almost impossible to obtain from any other source,� complains Dwyer. True, most adults would see right through such attempts. That�s why he worries that the current flood of lawsuits from parents over invasive, per- sonal test questions under the cover of academic testing might result in a negative court ruling that prompts legislators to nix all psychological surveys in schools.

No matter what your politics, your religion, or your viewpoint on the hot-button issues of the day, mandatory screening and counseling requires our full attention. The so-called psychiatric prison is one of the easiest ways to get rid of opponents, by declaring such individuals a danger to society. Psychiatric prisons in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Cuba, and, more recently, South Africa are now legendary. And if we think it can�t happen here, better look at our schools and think again. To parody a line from the film �One Flew Over the Cuckoo�s Nest�: Every day, in every way, this initiative keeps getting �worser and worser.�

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