Jeff, good morning. Caller bobby jindal do not back out because of politics. Out because once he seen what common core was all tryingnothing more than why dont you ask these people on your panel to give you the document that they ask all the questions of their students. Just ask them for that document and i guarantee you that she will be able to get it. They are not allowed to. One other thing. If they come out with a new law that says that money follows the ill guarantee now that our Education System will get better in a heartbeat because then the best education the best teachers would come out, and the ones that couldnt teach would be fired. Host darlene, can you take the second part of that. Guest money does follow the student. Going back to where we started with esea, when i said at the beginning would the child benefit . The money is given to School Districts for children in poverty. So, the money in that sense follows the child in many states and districts. Their funding formulas are the same way. You get certain amounts of moneying depend ago then characteristics of the children. If he means in terms of following it and letting them go to open choice, we have some systems like that and they work some work well, some dont. But the idea that money follows the children is generally the way we finance education to begin with. Host the question from twitter, are you saying theres a direct correlation between money spent and outcome, no other factors . Guest no. Theres certainly other factors but Money Matters. Those have been study after study that show that when we spend money and we target it appropriately, that it does have excellent outcomes, longterm outcomes, outcomes on unemployment, on health, on incarceration rates, Money Matters. Host go ahead. Guest i Money Matters when its being spent in effective ways and there are practices in education where Money Matters less. So, in many School Systems, dollars are being given to teachers to get masters degree, and the research is weak. When we look at things like class size reduction in early grades 0, or investing in prek, its very clear that money can make a big difference for student outcomes. Host pennsylvania is next on our line for teachers. Good morning, matthew. Caller good morning. I was a military veteran and i had it toed at atlantic state university. I taught at Groves High School in satisfy nana, which is 9 savannah and 90 minority and economically disadvantaged. I walked away every three years because i was very discouraged. I came to the conclusion that its more the the problems in many of our schools is a cultural problem more than a problem with policy. And its not a money problem, either. For example, when you compare Appling County, georgia, with jack join come, Appling County receives 5,000 less per pupil annually, but perform outperforms jackson county. From a policy standpoint if we can improve the culture of learning in the home and encourage learning from the home in disadvantaged communities, i think were going about it all wrong with common core. The highest performing western country in the world, as many people know, is finland. Finland has a dee centralized consumerdriven modll they use vouchers and local autonomy to drive education. So i just leave that guy out there for you guys, and host do you want to pick that up . Guest he raised a number of important issues and questions. One is, again, the way we prepare teachers. He went through a troops to teachers program, so a quick training program. I think we need to be paying attention on the we hand its gotten us great teachers. Then how we support them over time, make sure theyre prepared to teach in the places they go into. And so i think paying attention to training is particularly important. He also raised a question about the role of parents, and i think one of the things that has happened is we tend to address problems, particularly problems of poverty in siloed ways. We dont talk about it in relation to things like neighborhood issues, health issues, and if we really want to tackle the problem of children and poverty, we cant treat it in this siloed way without looking at the other conditions. Host would you agree . Guest i would agree. When we look at school models, sometimes referred to as wraparound, schools that also offer some health services, dental services, theyve been shown to be very effective. They can often cost a little bit more so we have to be prepared to spend more on these types of schools, that can be very successful. Host we have 25 minutes left. Our phone lines are split up differently. Parents, teachers, and all others. If you want to call in, submitis calling from arizona. Caller good morning. One of the problems we have here this morning is you have two people on the panel that are both like minded, both come from the same background, and both believe the same things. Im going to use a word here and i get in trouble when i do but theyre basically socialists. The Common Core Program was written by socialists. Its to take the curriculum away from states because they say the states can do anything they want but if they dont do what the common core people want they lose their federal funding is what will happen. Host darlene opfer, another question on common core. But if you also want to talk about your perhaps policy difference is with the center for american progress. Guest sure. I think generally people think that rand is probably more conservative, in our thinking, but part is because over time we have done things Look Research on vouchers, on Charter Schools. We when the evidence shows those things work, regardless of our own political belief, we put out the evidence and say, this looks like a promising practice. So, it may seem like were aligned right now, but part of the alignment between us is based on the evidence, and we where the evidence is going in terms of how we need to improve schools. Host mr. Boser . Guest i think one thing id add to that is trying to get a look at what we know about effective schools, and what we know about Successful Schools, whether theyre in right to work states or not, Charter School states, which another divisive issue. Is it Successful Schools are focused on bringing people together. They do a great job of having teachers focus on a common vision. We see this in the research. Ton where bright has shown that full systems, whether more trust among the teachers, are much more likely to achieve in the long term and we see this in terms of practice. You look at toledo, ohio. Theyve done a smart job of bringing teachers together in evaluation systems where teachers are giving each other feedback, and that has shown an effect in terms of achievement and motivation for students. When it comes to education we need to do more to bring people together, to bring schools together to bring teachers, parents, and students, focused on a common vision. Thats going to be key for success. Host illinois next on the line for parents, jerry. Caller good morning. Im just like to comment that theres no amount of money you can put in the schools going to teach kids to open up a book or have the teacher teach what a child needs to learn, because you just throwing money away, and here in illinois we done seen that too many times because the Public School system here is so messed up, its unbelievable in chicago, schools closing, not because of money. They closed because the schools was just in bad shape. I mean host jerry, whats the answer . What is your suggestion . Caller just suggest that before they start throwing money into the Public School system, like they say, you got to have a choice to parents. You got to be able to let the parents make the choice where the kids want to go to school, and the lady said the money follow this parent. No, if your kid wants to go to any school, you have to give them avoucher. It might be a Charter School or something else, but theyre sinking money in the Public Schools and keeping the Public Schools, youre losing. Miss opfer. Guest well, i mean, i think that the evidence on vouchers is not very clear. We have better evidence on School Choice that actually some schools some Charter Schools are doing much better than their Public Schools. But, again, goes back to what theyre actually doing in the schools. Its not a public versus charter issue or private versus public. Its the processes going on, the kinds of support teacher are providing for students, and they have a common vision theyre working to. So i think its not about which kind of school but what the schools are doing themselves. Host a couple teach efforts, one from cleveland, ohio. Caller im a retired plan, principal. I have a program, we put 15 kids in jobs between the ages of 12 and 17. They learn a work ethic, how to market their skills, how to write a resume and how to go for a job interview, and its called its very successful. Ive been doing it for the past nine years. And once they complete the summer jobs program, then theyre eligible to receive a scholarship to college. So its very important that they learn a work ethic early as possible, even 12 years old, and the soon they work in the area businesses in cleveland, ohio, and they get inkind services. They dont get paid but learn the work ethics. Host talking about the efforts show is involved in cleveland. Will is on the line for teachers in columbia, tennessee. Will, good morning. Caller good morning to you, cspan. So happy to see that theres something about education here and its very important to this great nation of ours. I was fort nat enough to be in a school that provided for homeless children, more like an orphanage but provided a great background in education, and it was so important, and the best thing they provided in the secondary level was Vocational Training. I know that they dont put nothing like that in the core. But its so important for young people to have a job today, they have some kind of variety to pick up some skills before they get out into the real world, and they i mean, tps had a Vocational Training in every area where there is typing or short happened, vocation automobiles, woodworking, so vitally important. Host calling about Vocational Training. Mr. Boser . Guest i think Vocational Training can be very important for students. One of the key things we have to understand about education is we want students to be motivated. We want students to be engaged to develop those really rich, deeper learning skills. The one thing the call are did mention, want to push back upon. We have to separate out what schools are doing and what the common core do, which is this policy that has been developed by the states that raise expectations. Theres nothing in the common core that prevents teachers from taking a more vocational approach to education. So offering students those types of programs, whether theyre Vocational Education that might be motivating some students, or sports or arts, other things we know are part of a rich, deep curriculum. Common core is Language Arts and mathematics and tries to push up the standards and expectations of students, allowing us to do more to offer a richer curriculum for students. The other thing that is important about common core that hasnt been brought up that i think is worthwhile to talk about is testing. A lot of parents complain there are too many tests in school, theyre not fair, and that is an issue. We know that many School Districts are not have too many tests and students feel overwhelmed and the common core offers potential to create better exams that are more relevant to students and give a better sense of what they know and are able to do. Host our line for all d. Guest i want to jump in on the vocational issue, and also talk about the role of businesses. One of the problems with Public Schools offer vocational is being able to keep up with how employment changes. And every day we have new jobs being add as technology changes, and i think if were going to train students for the work force now and for the future, we need much bigger and much closer cooperation between businesses on the one hand and schools on the other, and meeting that need. Host now to calvin on the line for all others. Calling from new york, delware. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host go ahead. Caller calvin davis, jr. Ive called cspan in the past i have a question and a comment [inaudible] rand corporation, the think tank policy organization that works for the government, and so [inaudible] the center for american progress. My question is, with all the Extensive Research that we know your organization has been afforded, we still see that the policies that are being implemented by the government is failing people like me, black men and women, and the reason why that teacher who said she taught black kids, why she doesnt understand why we may not pick up a book, were under stress from psychological warfare. The kkk military police literally shoot news broad daylight with no reap percussion repercussions so were dealing with a psychological environment where were constantly being told our lives are worthless, we mean nothing, we contribute absolutely nothing in society, when true history will show that we contributed just about everything that everybody else has. Host mr. Boser do you want to take some of the racial achievement gaps the caller brings up . Guest i think the caller brings up some interesting issues, and a broader debate around race and education. The issue of achievement gap where we look at the achievements between white students and students of color. We have seen, as we talk about at the beginning of the show, that that gap has been narrowing slightly over time. Some of that could be partly attributable to the vision of johnson. But we have to also acknowledge we have a long way to go before we really narrow that gap, and we need to be focused on policies we know work. Focusing on building instructional capacity, the teachers have the tools they need, and focusing on high standards. Something else the caller brought up that i would like to address. We have done some research on the situation of teacher diversity and make sure we have a diverse teacher work force. What we have seen is really tremendous gaps in some states, like carr and arizona, where you have largely a white teacher work force, and the students who are largely students of color. So, you also have to make sure we get teachers in the classroom who are prepared to teach, who are highly effective, but we also know that teachers of color can relate better to students of color, as they understand their background. So making sure we have a diverse and highly effective teaching work force is key to our future. Host ms. Opfer on teacher diversity. Guest i think definitely is an issue. We have seen recently that teach for america has made a big push to increase their diversity in response to some criticism that they were too white. And so i think that has been a longstanding issue, and the question is, how do we incentivize and aattract really highperforming minority teachers into classrooms and environments that probably arent the best conditions to teach in. We really need to think about how to do that in order to address the problem. Host east st. Louis, illinois, on the line next for parents. Good morning. Good morning. I grew up in the 50s and 60s, and i did not learn until i was an adult that youre not supposed to stare at the sun. Or that youre not supposed to swallow toothpaste. After you brush your teeth. If youre going to teach, you need to teach children things theyre going to need in life. Like filling out a checkbook, or writing a check. Teaching people about nursing. So and these communities where the hospitals are all closed down, theyll have someone they can go to for medical aid or to fine out what they need to do about their health and about nutrition. There were many days i set in school, i didnt have anything to eat. And i was hungry, and i couldnt concentrate on what they were talking about, also the blackboard and im sitting there with my gut growling. Honest, if you can find money for wars and for all this crap, why want you take care of the people here in this country . Guest i think the caller addresses some important points, that we need to think about ways in which were going to improve education for young people. We have heard this now from a lot of callers. People talking about the role of money and education, and i just really want to stress we need to think about productivity in schools, how we get the most bang for our buck. We did a study that came out a few months ago that evaluated the seven thousand School Districts and we only see across the United States only two states, two states, texas and florida, that really evaluate the productivity of their school. We need to put more money in our schools but we need to make sure those dollars are well spent and thats going to take looking closely at what programs are effective. I think the research is pretty clear on things like prek and clear on supporting teachers that they can have those rich skills to attract students. And i think ultimately education reform in our nation is common sense. We know it works. The question is, do we have the political will to do it, to focus really on those programs, those policies, that are best for kids . Host warrington, pennsylvania is next. Carol on the line for all others good morning, carol. Caller good morning. About the teachers, in order to bring a more broadbased Teaching Staff into teaching profession, i lived in philadelphia when i was growing up, and in the up until the middle 60s i think it was, nursing students would come from all parts of the state because that was the only thing they could afford. And plus the only place they could probably get it because they were at that time all women. But they did not lower the quality of or the expectations of their scholarship, but they did it was practically free. Now, dont understand why the government cant subsidize Something Like that. We need more teachers anyway. All over. But particularly for lowincome areas. You could draw people from the community, both men and women, that could come in and at a low cost and teach. The other thing is teacher quality. I think teachers get a bad rap. I think there are very, very good teachers out there, but of course i live in a different area where there is great support for the School System. But i think that you can begin to change the curriculum, and one way you can do that is through the accreditation for colleges. Each area has its own accreditation throughout the United States. And they could begin to look at what is needed for better teaching and more preparedness and more student teaching or mentoring. Host carol, thank you for the call. Darlene opfer, on teacher quality and attracting teachers financially into the profession. Guest there have been a number of efforts to attract teachers into the profession where tuition has been waived or forgiven, particularly in high need subjects like science and math, and they have been successful. Although theyre hard to scale. If we want to solve this problem longterm we need to sort of think about the profession. She talked about how in nursing they had high standards, and i think when we look at other countries that have very high quality teaching, going into teaching is a very difficult profession to get into. We need to think about that and what it means in terms of professionalizing teaching, raising the standard of teaching, making it an attractive profession for people to join. If youre a minority student right now, who has excellent grades and qualifications, theres a world of opportunity available to you, and we need to make teaching one of the choices that they think is a good one to make. Up next on our line for parentscalling in alexandra, minnesota, good morning. Want to make a quick comment here. When i see these associations on the contract, the focus is all once three things, wages, benefits and retirement plans, and then about four months later, the complaint is that the class sizes are too big. Host by teachers unions . Caller yes, teacher unions. And i think until the focus changes from tenure and retirement plans, i dont think education is going to get better. Thank you. Host mr. Boser. Guest i think the debate over teacher tenure is, and the roll of teacher unions has been a lot in the headlines recently. I think that the teachers unions play an incredibly Important Role in making sure the nation has a strong middle class, but win we look at Successful Schools, they are schools that have brought people together and i mention toledo. Its so powerful. Thats a School System where management and labor came together, where teachers and administrators came together, to really focus on improving teacher practice, and thinking about what is going to be best for students, and i think that is ultimately the way of the future. Thats ultimately what is going to work in schools. In. Host our last call to one of the teachers, karen is waiting in texas. Good morning, karen. Caller good morning. I was calling with a a comment regarding what i believe your guest speaker from rand said regarding money following the students, and what actually happens is the money isary marked to to state and the state earmarks the money show to district. I taught for nine years in title i schools, and who actually happens that the School Principals get to decide how the money is spent. A couple of the last two districts i worked with, schools received over 2 million. Unfortunately none of that money went into the classrooms. The principal decided that she would take all of that money and redecorate her offices and the secretarys offices and she would buy free bicycles to give away to the students if they showed up on time. Another district received 2 million to buy computers and technologies for the classrooms, which were all put in the computer lab that each stunt got to use for 15 minutes out of the week. The entire school week. And then lo and bee hold the computers were stolen by the computer teacher and sold on the black market. So host karen, want to give darlene a chance to respond. Guest sure. I think this raises a question that just kind of circles back to where we started. Esea was about input. The then sort of switched under no child left behind to output and we now need to focus on profits. What are we doing with the inputs we have. How are they being used . Are they being used in evidencebased ways to improve student achievement. If we want to get the outcome wes hope to have, i think focusing more on those processes in schools and the way schools are using the money and making sure theyre using money for really effective processes is the way we need to focus now. Host mr. Ulrich, you want to chime in. The only other thing is the use of technology school. Technology is going to a lot of schools but students arent using the technology in very effective ways. A study found a toward of students are using a third of Students Using Technology in school for drill and practice. I want to reiterate a theme we start off with, Money Matters when its glued effective ways, and we need to focus on raising expectations for students. Common core is a great way to start out for that. We also need to empower our teachers and make sure we prepare students for a college and a career. Host americanprogress. Org, and darlene opfer with rand education, rand. Org. Thank you so much for joining us today as we discuss the 50th 50th anniversary of the great society. Heres a look at our primetime programming this evening across the cspan networks. On cspan at 8 00 we take a look at genetically modified foods. Show you both sizes of the argument in a recent event in colorado. Here on cspan 2 at 8 00 its booktv. Were focusing on fracking in america. We hear from authors who have books on the subject. And on cspan3 at 8 00, its American History tv. Tonight theme is the civil war, Overland Campaigns. Looking at a series of major battles that took place in virginia in may and june at 1864. Heres a look at our rhymetime lineup this week on the cspan networks, each night at 8 00 eastern. On cspan tonight, debate on genetically modified food, and then on tuesday, issues spotlight on General Motors safety recall. Wednesday night, high lights from the new york ideas forum, including cancer biologist. Thursday we look at the issue of climate change, and friday night well visit important sights in the history of the civil rights movement. Tonight on cspan2, its booktv in primetime, beginning at 30 00 p. M. With a discussion about fracking. Tuesday night at 8 00, after words, on the history of money. On wednesday, the authors of the second machine age talk about how new technology will fundamentally change everyday life. Thursday night, discussion about the future of politics with former maryland governor, and on friday, in depth with scholar. An entire week on the civil war. Tonight a look at the Overland Campaign in virginia, and then the battle of fort stephens. Wednesday night, the 150th 150th anniversary of the union defeat at the battle of the crater, and thursday, the chapter of atlanta and general shermans march to the sea, and on friday, look at hollywoods portrayal of slavery. Find our schedule at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs youre watching. Call it as 2026263400 or email us at comments cspan2. Org. Cspan 2 providing live coverage of the u. S. Senate floor proceedings and key Public Policy events, and every weekend, booktv, now for 15 years, the only Television Network devote to nonfiction books and authors, cspan2, created by the cable tv industry and brought to as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Well wrap up todays edition of washington journal by with a discussion of Mental Health issues in the wake of Robin Williams suicide. This portion is just shy of have alan hour. A ledline from last weeks Washington Post, the death of Robin Williams prompts grassroots conversation about Mental Health, and we want to continue that conversation this morning in our last 30 minutes on the washington journal. Toy to kick off the conversation, were joined by congressman tim murphy, psychologist and cochairman on the congressional enemy Health Care Caucus good morning. Good morning. Host this grassroots conversation that was referred to in the Washington Post headline, what do you want to see come from this conversation in the wake of the death of Robin Williams . Guest well, we have been putting off action on dealing with the Mental Illness for decades in this country. And so i want to make sure that we are coming up with real reforms and putting them into place. In the past, the federal government has done is simply pass programs to throw more money at federal programs without looking at the root causes of in fact the federal government has worsened the situation. When we closed down state hospitals in the 60s and 70s and 7s so and had a promise of helping people with youth patient care that never came true. The federal government has put barriers up such as if your are on medicaid you cant see two doctors on the same day. Meaning if a parent brings a teenager to a physician and the physician says your child is showing some signs of psychosis, severe depression, but cant see another doctor that day. Medicaid has a rule that says they wont reimburse hospitals that have more than 16 beds in it. But the problem is, when someone is involved in a severe Mental Health crisis, hallucinating, depressed or something along those lines, and they need hospitalization to help them get stablized again, they not enough beds in america. So where do we put these anymore while the number of hospital beds has decreased from 550,000 in the 1950s when the population hoff the country was 150 million, and enough its less than 40,000 hospital beds for Psychiatric Hospital and the population if 316 million. We have seen an increase in incarceration in homelessness, in substance abuse, in suicide in unemployment, among the mentally ill. None of those are good signs, and it is time we change the way we approach this. Host you have been pushing legislation to increase access to Mental Health care programs. Where does that stand . Guest well, 37. 17, helping families in Mentality Health crisis act, we have near lay 100 cosponsors. The bipartisan bill in energy and committee, we have been working with leadership so see which parts of the bill we can move forward now. But frankly theres a lot of parts the bill we still need to move with solid support. This includes such things as reauthorizing suicide intervention work, making sure that we take i mentioned the two doctor visits, increasing the number of hospital bed and also programs such as the response after initial schizophrenic episode to make sure were funding early treatment, because we know when a person is in treatment, theyre much less likely to be involved in a violent act or suicidal act, and quite frankly, the mentally ill are more prone to be victims of violence in all these cases we want to make sure were dealing with this. Theres also some interesting points here, too, that states still maintain a standard establish ned the 17th century that theyll only intervene in sort of compel someone to get into treatment with a judge if they are in imminent danger of suicide or homocide. That means in a bad case like Robin Williams or shootings, only if theyre catching that person about to commit suicide, about to be violent towards others, or saying theyre going to do that, will the state subpoena. What we have heard from so many parents across america, stories, how theyve lost touch with their kids, lost control, they kids who are maybe on the streets, teenagers, adults, et cetera, but with some of our hipaa laws theyve completely blocked the ability for families to help. Think of it this way. Someone with alzheimers disease or maybe a soldier with brain damage. Someone with alzheimers wander out of their night, into the cold next darkness. Their picture would blow on the evening news, they would alert everyone, search parties would look for them. If someone had severe Mental Illnessly depression or psychosis and theyre wondering around, hallucinating delusional, not able to care for themselves, we have rules that say no one can know about it or talk about. Its time we recognize that Mental Illness is a brain disease, as well as physical, in case like Robin Williams, certainly speculation of what role this he had with parkinsons defense, someone with chronic illness is more subject to depression. Lets keep in mind that with depression, like mr. Williams 0 others, this is not just the blues. This is not just someone being sad. This is a place where it is so pervasive, there they are now an act of desperation, theyre trained to end the sadness. Theyre no longer able to think straight, and using the kind of measure wes may use with each other, when we just down in the dumps, having a bad time lately, its different for someone with this kind of level of breakdown in their able to think for themselves and thats where our bill, helping families in Mental Health crisis act, will step in to say we want to help people, just dont want city them suicidal. One of thousands sued suicides in the country. We dont want to see them caught up with the police or in jail or homeless. Host congressman well, ask our viewers for the thoughts on the state of the Mental Health system and we can put up the phone numbers so viewers, call in. But before we let you go, what to you say to people who look at a person like Robin Williams with all of the fame and wealth and they say he couldnt beat his depression, his Mental Health issues, how can i make it . What would you say to those people . Guest thats a perfect question. Someone like Robin Williams had all the money in the world in order to get the right kind of treatment. But what happens when you are severely mentally ill, you can no longer think straight, and maybe some of your viewers or listeners would call in and say we should never force someone into treatment. I say for the most part absolutely true. But with a brain disease with where a person can no longer think and understand clearly, they no longer know who they are, where they are, what they are. They dont have that same kind of its a time when family members and others want to intervene and say, lets get you help, and thats what difference is. Where there is no help there is no hope. And we want to make sure were reaching out, that those who are in need, those who have these kind of problems, understand they can get help. Help does make a difference with psychiatrists, psychologies, people trained to do this. We can make a difference. I dont want people giving up hope. I want them reaching out for help and if they cant, i hope their families are reaching out. Host congressman do you worry at all this topic will recede back into the shadows the farther we get from the death of Robin Williams . Guest well, when you look at what is happened over the last year or so since ive been doing my investigation in the treatment of million illness america, the 1 2yard shooty, sandy hook shooting, shootings at the army base, these things will continue on. The tragic suicides, the arrives, the homocides, the victimization of the mentally ill that are beaten and robbed and assaulted more than the rest of the population. Every one of these i consider to be a signal. So i hope all of this keeps a lying bright in our hearts, to understand we cant keep turning away. We cant become numb to this. We cant just turn our face away because Mental Illness in america, the problems with the mentally ill are worsening, and if we dont do something, shame on us. That blame rests in our hands and we have to step up and do something. Host congressman tim murphy, republican of pennsylvania, cochairman or their Mental Health care caucus. Appreciate your time this morning. Guest thank you very much. Host we want to get our viewers in p comments on the state of the federal healthcare system. Host michael from alabama on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. First of all, wish you al would allow those who call not cut them off so quickly. You had a wonderful author on islam and christian relations and their history. Im the one who phoned in that sunday, q a, and talked about allah protestants down here getting the telling islamics they worship a false god host michael, stay on this topic. We have people waiting. Caller well, anyway, was cut off when the host asked me what political affiliation i was. Okay. I have three concerns ill try to list them very fast. Lawabiding and let me tell you about these before i mention these concerns. I have oc im coming from the perspective of somebody recovering from obsessive compulsive disorder, borne with appears his si and a adult add and also a social work art therapy christian volunteer for different united way type people groups. Here are my concerns. A. , lawabiding citizens who own guns, but they have Mental Illness in their families, in their homes, and the nra being blase and silent about this and the Mental Health community saying that this will violate confidentiality of their records. Theres got be some way around the that problem. Host quickly this eother two. Caller teacher training this is a personal thing of mine about having rare autism, aspergers syndrome, which i still have, but being in rural schools that were not trained where the teachers were not trained in the 1970s. Additional teacher Training Like with their last segment, for dealing with the mentally ill students and autistic students as well as the deaf and blind, and, third, how to prevent Police Departments from just locking up people who even firsttime marijuana users as well as those who have never who are not committing crimes. My gosh, some of these are outstanding military veterans who happen to have post traumatic shellshock or whatever its called, and these republicans say they love our veterans but it seems to me they love giant defense spending on expensive weapons, cold war style, morn they do actual returning veterans and their families. Host thats mikeol on our line for democrats. On the line for republicans, suzanne in new york. Good morning. Caller good morning and thank you for taking my call. Its sad what happened to Robin Williams. I do know where his mindset was. Its like a very dark cloud that hangs over you, and its actually the serotonin, melatonin. Theres not enough in your system, and you go into this black death and you cant get out of it. Its like you have to wait for it to pass. And this really nothing that you can do about it. You can take medication, you can go see a healthcare provider, but its just something that your body just goes into this depth and you crawl in a corner and hide until it passes. I know that because i had ptsd and i wasnt in the service, however, i think what has changed in the healthcarerelated issue here of Mental Health is, what im finding is the changes of the escript files where private doctors who are psychologists or psychiatrists have to use a computer, and a lot of them use paper and pens still. And its quite costly to get that computer and software. So, a lot of them have closed their doors. Also, across the state, a lot of the states are shutting down the state Psychiatric Centers because of budget cuts. And it is very difficult to find a psychologist or psychiatrist, so now were looking at our own doctor to prescribe us medication for depression. Host were talking about the conversation of mental1 2 in the United States prompt by the death of, the suicide of actor Robin Williams. The Washington Post have something statistics on suicide deaths in the United States. Noting that Robin Williams was in a group facing higher risk of suicide, old are white men with depression, white males, far leading the number of suicide in the country, these stats from 2011, followed by white fee fail mailsfollowed by blackmails and then Asian Pacific islanders then the story also nowedding suicide death by age group as well, noting those in the 4554yearold range are in the highest risk groups for suicide deaths in the United States. That story from the Washington Post from august 12th if you want to read that. Lets go to sue wait income austin, texas, on our line for democrats. Good morning. Caller good morning. I would like to say before i get to my point, yall tell people all the time to turn their sound down. You should also tell them not to watch, because even though their sound is turned down, theyre seeing the digital cues of people conversing, and its still throwing them off. Even when theyre sound is down, theyre going but youre not talking right, you know what i mean . I appreciate the suggestion. What your thoughts on the state of the u. S. Mental health system. Caller i just happen to be 63 years old and i happen to be fighting a severe case of depression at the moment. And i discovered that just finding a psychiatrist is almost impossible in the state of texas, and its got nothing to do with obamacare, although shame sure people will try to say it has. It has to do with the fact they want to charge rates higher than any of the insurances want to pay so they just dont take insurance, period. And trying to find a doctor is almost impossible. But with Robin Williams being 63, and i, too, am 63, the question you asked just before you quit speaking with the specialist, thats what if they cant fix Robin Williams, how can they i expect them to fix me . Because he had to have had so many things available to him. But what im seeing is that part of the babyboomers, my eras problems, are that were seeing our bodies break down, and its unacceptable. Still so much we want to do. And its just not going to happy because were breaking down. And i think the fact he had parkinsons is a major factor in what would have driven robin to what he did. But its so much deeper than people just say, youre letting someone have control over you. Or youre not looking at things from the bright side. You should always try to see things brightly. Its just an impossible when youre in the depths of depression, and my daughter, when she heard about Robin Williams, she said that she was disappoint by one of her heroes because this man had been response for giving her so much joy, and that she felt he was not only letting down his family, but the world, and i thought, what kind of responsibility would that weigh on you . That the idea that you have to stay alive not just for your family but to keep the world happy . Host sue in austin, texas, appreciate the call. Ledy writes in on our twitter page think sad reality of depression is most people with it feel ashamed to ask for help. As long as stigma is here more people will die. Facts about u. S. Mental health. This from the National Association of Mental Health. One in four adults, 62 million, experience a Mental Illness in given year. 20 of youths aim 13 to 18 have severe mental disorders in a million. Patrol 6. 7 of American Adults live with major depression and approximately 60 of adults and almost 50 of youth with a enemy Health Illness receive no Mental Health service in the previous year. Lets go to hunter now calling in from templeton, california im surery andrew in ontario, canada. Good morning. Andrew, are you with us from ontario, canada . Will will go to hunter in templeton, california. Good morning. Caller hello . Host hi, go ahead. Caller hi. Good morning, america and im from not from templeton. Host sorry. Caller i want to give my heart, heartfelt condolences to the williams family. I am a former standup, and were manic depresssives. I started comedy bus my son was kidnapped and you dont know dish got no help from the fbi, i got no help from the police department, i had to find my son. On top of that i had to make a living to hold my house up. I had to take care of family. I found my son six weeks after he was kidnapped in mexico. The perpetrators were not punished because they were millionaires, a family kidnapping, trying get my son into russia because the family is fullblooded russian. I stopped it to this day theyre living high on the hog and my son is in a bad state of mind up in northern california, and i have to deal with this daily. And robin did have the weight of the world on his shoulders, but i do believe that if he just got out of rehab, and anybody getting out of any form of rehab, you need to have someone, a constant come pannor, so we need to develop a Constant Companion organization to where these people who are get ought of any form of rehab, have a Constant Companion with them for at least 90 days because 90 days after any form of rehab your mind can athletic left and youll do something drastic. Host thats hunter in tempington, california. We raul try get to as many calls as we can. As we talk about the state of the u. S. Federal Mental Healthcare facilities and programs. Paula, good morning. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Youre on washington journal. Caller himself thank you. I want to talk about a population that really hasnt been mentioned, not in the segment before this, and just barely touched upon in this segment. And that is elementary age children. I am a School Social worker. Ive been a School Social worker for almost 20 years. And prior to that altogether ive been a social worker for 24 years. And my experiences in the the Public School system is i went from a time where psychiatrists believed that children could not suffer from major depresssive disorder, to finally accepting that, then finally accepting they can suffer from other mood disorders such as bipolar disorder, and now we have moved on to more children this past year than in all 20 years that i have worked, where we have had suicidal children, and they range in ages from second grade, which is about seven, to fifth grade, which is about ten or 11. And its very frightening, the lengths they will go to while in school to hurt themselves. I had this one student who would take those Little Pencil sharpeners, those little plastic ones, that they have in their pencil boxes, and take it apart because theres a little razor blade in there that does the sharpening. Host all right, paula. Were going to lorena lower low rain in wisconsin. Good morning. Caller good morning. I want to know if they check out what kind of medication that Robin Williams was taking . Because im taking a medication for seizures that and the slip that comes along with the mid indication says if you medication that says if you have thoughts of suicide, then see your doctor. But then when they have stuff advertised on television, they always say, side effects of for that can lead to suicide. So, if they check that out besides any illegal drugs, check out what he was taking for his depression. Host okay. Dont have any information for you on what Robin Williams may or may not have been taking. Heres a story from the wall street journal. Robin williams different suffering from the early stages of parkinsons disease, along with severe depression, at the time of this suicide. Drawing public attention to the correlation between the diseases. The story notes that more than half of those who suffer from parkinsons also experience clinical depression, according to the national parkinsons foundation. 50,000 and 60,000 people are diagnosed each year with parkinsons in the United States. It typically affects people older than 50. Lets go to bernadette, waiting in new mexico on our line for democrats. Good morning. Were talking about the state of the u. S. Mental health system. Caller yes good, morning, and thank you. I have a couple of really major questions that i would like to ask, and it is im finding different segments of the population are being im going to use the term targeted for specific illnesses. Do we have someone out there i hate to say the government playing god with peoples lives . Number two, regarding mental the Mental Health workers or providers, how qualified are they . What is their mental capacity . Because many times people have been misdiagnosed, and been given medication that actually drives them to Mental Illness. So, i have questions regarding that. Host lets go to vicki in florida in our last couple of minutes here. Vickie is on the line for democrats. Caller hi, and thank you for cspan. This is the best program that allows regular people to have sense of belonging across the nation and beyond. I think the Mental Illness is what it boils down to too. We all want a sense of belonging, and we want to a healthy mind. I know this economy, personally, has taken a toll on me where i thought i could have blown off my head last year. And it was just because of the economy. I mean, we as americans should feel the sense of belonging wind our own country, and were so scattered with the things that are happening, and so i hope that this the representatives that talk about this in commitees, really take this economy into consideration because just regular people out there that are touched by this massive depression that is happening and causing suicide, calling this dilemma in Mental Health rise. In my age group, between 50 and 70, and anytime we need to make that comment because this temporary crazy that we have is really affecting us, and i think the economy and our financial state is really needs to be considered. Well hear from author seamus mcgraw, tom wilbur, Greg Zuckerman and russell gold, all of whom have books on the subject. On cspan3 at 8, its American History tv. Tonights theme, the civil war, looking at a series of battles in virginia in may and june of 1864. And on cspan at 8, well take a look at the debate over geneticallymodified foods. Heres a preview. So were going to talk about something thats in our food, and you may or may not know about it, geneticallyengineered food. Its in nine food crops, soy, corn, cotton, alfalfa, zucchini, yellow squash and papaya, and you can ask me to say that slower during q a. Now, the reason theyre on our plates is because of a sentence in the fda policy from 1992, and that sentence is that the agencys not aware of any information showing that gmos are significantly different, therefore, no safety testing is necessary. No labeling is necessary. So Companies Like monsanto, the biggest gmo producer who had previously told us that pcbs, agent orange and ddt were safe they can determine on their own, and maybe get it right this time, that their gmo seeds and the crops that they produce are safe. Now, it turns out that that basic sentence which is, in fact, the basis for the u. S. Policy overseas, its for the state department, etc. , etc. , it was a lie. It was complete fiction. We didnt know about it in 1992, but we found out about it in 1999. Because 44,000 secret internal memos from the fda were forced into the Public Domain from a lawsuit. Not only were they aware that gmos were significantly different, it was the overwhelming consensus among their own scientists that they were different and of high risk. A house subcommittee recently looked into the medicare appeals process, and according to officials, theres a current backlog of about 460,000 medicare appeal claims that are waiting to be heard by Administrative Law judges. By statute appeals should be completed within 90 days, but due to the current backlog, some claims are taking up to 28 months to process. This is just under 90 minutes. Good afternoon. We apologize for a little bit of delay. Well have additional delays this the moments ahead. Ms. Speier and i both were on the floor doing some debates. The votes, we understand, will be called for that in the next 1520 minutes, so this is an opportunity for us to be able to go through our ong