A grimoire of incantations and spells.

— Stephen Coughlin (@S_Coughlin_DC) October 18, 2026

from James A. Furey,

There is no student behavior extreme enough that won’t be excused if they’ve been diagnosed with some sort of mental health disorder. A school will excuse them of responsibility for deadlines, attendance, completion of assignments, threats and violence, abhorrent language, and the absence of any prosocial behavior whatsoever. These students, along with their parents, essentially have the entire staff and student body at the mercy of sometimes spurious diagnoses because we’re worried about violating IDEA or FAPE.

This is the single most corrosive influence on general standards of education among anything else you could name today.

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China, Robert Jay Lifton, 2024. 

Walking Targets: How Our Psychologized Classrooms Are Producing a Nation of Sitting Ducks, B. K. K. Eakman, 2007.

Admirable Evasions: How Psychology Undermines Morality, Theodore Dalrymple, 2020.