Although students need as much support as possible, I can see this getting complicated. Will they bring in other religious leaders outside of Christianity? If a student is in crisis and speaks to a volunteer chaplain about their problems, what happens if they feel they’ve been ill advised (or someone else does), and end up hurting themselves or others? Is the school responsible in that case?
I bet if a student was counseled by a religious leader at school and ended up killing themselves (anything tragic or extreme), the school would get sued too.
Volunteer or not, if schools provided access to a person that does not have extensive training in psychiatry or counseling (which is what students need when they’re in crisis), the school will suffer the consequences as well.
Religion needs to be kept out of PUBLIC schools, if students want to seek guidance from a religious leader, they can go to church.
Another example; in the case of an accidental pregnancy, would a preacher advise the student to all their options, or just the ones they believe in? Would birth-control ever be mentioned, or is celibacy the only option in their book? Would they try to convert gay students to heterosexual behavior, and make them feel guilty or wrong for being honest about what they believe in?
Would they blame problems a kid is dealing with on evil or Satan? Would they try to convert students to their own belief system? Would atheist students be allowed to get this counseling? Would kids be let out of class whenever they say they need to talk to the preacher? Needless to say their counseling would be biased.
Public schools are (supposed to be) for everybody, if you’re going to open this door, lawmakers should be prepared to bring in religious leaders from every religious background. Would a cult leader be welcomed? Who decides?
I think if anyone feels it’s super important for their child to have religious counseling, why don’t they send them to a religious school? Sunday school? Aftercare programs at a church?
Obviously preachers are available outside of school, maybe a bus could be arranged for students to go to a church after school. Religious extremists have been taking books off the shelf, clearly more concerned with their personal beliefs than they are with education, is this really the road we want to walk down?
