Misconception #124: We need to address mental health in school by increasing our investments in mental health professionals

Over the years, I have been writing about misconceptions regarding the schooling process. The purpose of these posts is to explain why I disagree with various comments that I have heard people make about schooling. These are meant as personal thoughts rather than conclusive proof, and I will admit that I'm not always the best at explaining my thoughts. Regardless, I have decided that I should be willing to share these posts when I encounter someone online who makes an argument that I have already discussed.

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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, teachers were asking for an increased investment in mental health services. In many ways, teachers have been exploiting the pandemic to strengthen their argument. Their arguments might sound good on the surface, but it's actually a seriously flawed approach to mental health.

There is a major oversight to this issue. It comes down to a simple question. What's causing the mental health crisis among students?

I grew up in the system. I was deprived of fundamental human rights and freedoms. My teachers knew what buttons to push to bring out the worst in me. I periodically caught myself instinctively taking deep breaths as a coping mechanism for the emotional abuse that all my teachers used as a motivational tool.

It's not just me. There are studies out there that link suicides among school-aged children to the school year. Teachers are actively assaulting the mental health of innocent children. The same teachers demanding more resources for addressing mental health are simultaneously demanding more resources to assault mental health.

Do you see the problem? There are much better ways to address the mental health crisis than throwing more money into mental health after the damage has been done. We need to stop harming children in the first place. We need to become less dependent on undoing harm that has already been caused. Cutting back on harm is more fiscally sustainable, and it's not an after-the-fact solution. That's certainly more desirable than forcing taxpayers to fund both causing harm and then undoing the same harm afterwards.