U.S. Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and Education Secretary Linda McMahon want schools to do away with mental health screenings and therapy. Instead, they argue in a Washington Post opinion piece that schools “must return to the natural sources of mental well-being: strong families, nutrition and fitness, and hope for the future.”

In the op-ed, the two secretaries mention a recent bill signed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker , which requires all schools in the state to offer mental health screening tests, starting with third graders. The screenings are standardized questionnaires that ask children about their feelings and well-being.

Kennedy and McMahon posit that such screens “medicalize the unique and sometimes unpredictable behavior of young children,” creating “new stigma

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