Part 1: What is the Problem with Social Emotional Learning?
As part of the citizenry, we instinctively know that basic needs must be met before education can take place. Those basic needs include elements such a safe place to live and food to eat. Once those needs are met urgent health issues followed by emotional issues must be addressed before learning can happen effectively.
I think most people would agree with the idea that emotional stability is important as a precursor to learning. In addition, most people believe in helping those in unstable situations. It is likely that these widely shared beliefs have enabled the concept of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to permeate our schools.
So what is the problem with Social Emotional Learning anyway?
According to CASEL – The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning, Social Emotional Learning is defined as:
“We define social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
“SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.”
If you reread the definition above, but focus only on the bold words, it is difficult to see why SEL may be problematic, but stick with me and I will explain.
Now reread the definition again, but this time focus on this set of bold words.
“We define social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.”
“SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.”
There are three elements that Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, and other Marxist teachings have in common.
Identity; Notice differences (identity)
Injustice; Connect those differences to power and privilege
Activism; Become an activist
The first element of critical theory involves noticing differences between groups. Groups are made of people who share traits such as race, gender, socioeconomic, hair color, skin color, religion, or age. The second element of critical theory involves analyzing groups in relationships and ways those groups have suffered or triumphed. For example, groups may be deemed to have power, privilege, persecution, or received special treatment. It doesn’t matter so long as groups can be ranked against each other so that one group can be shown to have an advantage or disadvantage with respect to another group. Advantages and disadvantages that evoke the strongest emotional response are the groups that tend to receive the most focus by critical theorists. Once groups have been identified to fit a certain oppressor/oppressed dynamic, everyone is called to action to vilify or fight for those groups of people.
These elements are embedded in the lessons of Social Emotional Learning.
In practice, Social Emotional Learning boils down to teaching psychology without a license. Most proponents of SEL believe they are doing good. After all, we all agree that emotional needs must be met before effective learning can take place, but the reality is that SEL does not fix emotional needs, but instead creates division and hurts society.
Aside from the obvious problem of using valuable class time that could be spent learning reading, writing and arithmetic, to focus on SEL, what students are actually learning are the correct answers (according to Marxist Theory) to emotional questions which have social societal outcomes.
For example, in a Social Emotional Lesson students might discuss the unfairness and injustices of poverty, racism, and sexism. They may be more specific and ask “What do you think of the education students from lower socioeconomic areas received during Covid as compared to wealthier districts?” Then, they discuss what actions they can take to reduce the inequities. (Steps 2 and 3 above). These types of questions discussed with children do not improve the emotional health of individual children.
In addition, when students are given the “correct” answers to these moral questions, they typically learn that their parents do not know the “correct” answers. Therefore, they must turn towards the experts in regards to these issues. Marxism is being taught to our children under the guise of Social Emotional Learning because it sounds helpful, and the public doesn’t truly understand the goals of the teachings, and has not viewed the lessons.
Using Social Emotional Learning as a cover Critical Social Justice warriors are slipping these teachings into our schools. Under SEL students are focusing on the injustices of groups in society and discussing how to resolve society-wide issues. They are not receiving counseling for their personal emotional issues, and they are not learning how to change their situation.
The sad part is that teachers and administrators everywhere are being tricked into believing that Social Emotional Learning is essential for student mental health. They believe they are helping students when they discuss these topics. It is critical that we as citizens, teachers, administrators and parents take the time to truly understand these teachings BEFORE implementing them in the classroom.