Just the title makes my head spin. This was a well intended program which has just gotten weird and inconsistent. Put this in the category of non-academic things that school systems have delved into which waste academic instruction. Schools are not parents. They are not grandparents. They are not aunts and uncles. They are learning institutions which need to be dedicated to academic instruction. And I have news for most schools. Many students don’t like SEL. There is little buy-in. And honestly, speaking as a parent, some of that content is an overreach by the school system. They are having conversations with our students that are meant to be in the realm of the parent.
Don’t think that school systems are overstepping their bounds? Take a minute and read this article from the New York Post before continuuing. The following is an excerpt from this article:
But recently, SEL purveyors, including the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, have openly revised their goals. CASEL advocates “transformative SEL” to promote “justice-oriented civic engagement.” Translation: make your kids into activists.
SEL is beginning to sound like a large umbrella for some ideas which many of us don’t agree with. Indeed, it might well be a sneaky avenue for passive indoctrination. To paraphrase the City/Journal article, SEL is being used to smuggle political content into the classroom.
I am a fairly informed parent. There is very little communicated from our local school systems about SEL time. Kind of makes one wonder why that is. Maybe we need to be asking more questions. What I can glean from what my kids do share sounds like a group therapy session. I have nothing against therapy at all. However, I am not sending my kids to school for group therapy led by untrained individuals. I am sending them to school to learn mathematics, literacy, science, and social studies from teachers who are certified in those subjects. I am sending them to school to maybe learn a musical instrument. I am sending them to school to possibly learn a sport. I am not sending them to school to learn techniques which require introspection techniques acquired from non-Christian religions. And to be blunt, some SEL topics have bordered on political, spiritual, and social indoctrination.
In education, we are incredibly guilty of creating obtuse terms which sound great but are just word salad. The phrases make sense to the user, but the actual terminology goes right over the head of the recipient. Why? It is just weird. I really don’t have another great term for some of the terms that we use in education. Take a look at this graphic (the one with the circles) from the Kingsport City Schools SEL page. Just follow the highlighted link.
I will bet money that most people have no idea what the two outside circles mean – aligned learning opportunities and authentic partnerships. What in the daylights are those things? I am sure the someone has a great explanation. I can make an educated guess. It is just a great example of word salad by bureaucrats trying to make a name for themselves. As for the rest of the graphic, it sure looks like stuff that parents should be doing at home. For a topic(SEL) that my kids have spent a lot of time doing at school over the years, sadly I don’t think my own kids could name a single part of the circle. Seriously, that is so freaking complex…it makes my head hurt.
Ya’ll, I am going to speak on behalf of young men everywhere. We don’t like talking about that stuff, especially in middle school. It is a 100% turnoff to the learning process. And I betcha most grown men wouldn’t sit down and discuss any of that without some serious coercion. I said this the other day…I am not sure most adults right now could handle the current school setup – massive amounts of test prep and then digging deep into their feelings. Some of our personal thoughts are just none of the school system’s business!!!
With that said, I do understand and support helping children who have been through trauma. I fully support suicide prevention and awareness. I support the prevention of bullying. I support building support systems for children with terrible home lives. I would hope some of that awareness and instruction occurs consistently during SEL time. But let’s not give confusing and boujee names like “social emotional learning” to those aforementioned serious topics. Instead, let’s be up front with students, and talk honestly and openly without the mind numbing, psycho-babble terminology. Kids see through insincerity. We need to speak plainly and let them know what is important and what is the purpose. Students also fully understand indoctrination. They can spot it a mile away.
Our teachers are not trained therapists. They are not medical doctors. Most are not trained counselors. They are not their students’ parents. I do fully admit that we have some students attending school who lack proper parental guidance. But I am telling you, SEL time is not fixing any of that. To put is simply, SEL is erroneously trying to build a mass production line of individualized therapy through a group setting. Why? We are trying to generalize topics which might not apply to the entire student population. The kids who really need those messages…well, they need to hear it one-on-one from someone who is trained in handling trauma.
So, what does help? Teachers building authentic relationships with their students. Teachers taking the time to talk to a student who looks like they are struggling, and then taking the time to follow-up! Teachers involving parents in the conversation about their child’s struggles. Teachers who see bullying and stop it. Trained medical professionals working with at-risk students who show suicide ideation.
What else helps? Building a clearly spoken, school culture which promotes the well being of students. Don’t beat around the bush with students. In my experience, kids want straight talk. We don’t need a well crafted name like SEL to do this. Honestly, this example begins at the very top of the school system in central office. Are those folks modeling compassion? Are they modeling responsibility? Are they promoting a culture which allows for free thinking without indoctrination? Are they taking time to build relationships? Are they listening to their employees? Are they treating people humanely or referring to them as human capital? Are the people of central office in the buildings interacting authentically with students and staff? Is HR going the extra mile when there is a problem? Are they eating lunch with them, helping students with assignments, and building resilient relationships with the people they serve?
Remember the Titans is an incredible movie. Gary Bertier comes over to Julius Campbell and says that he(Julius) has the worst attitude ever. Julius responds with truth that cuts to the marrow, “Attitude reflects leadership, Captain.”
Social Emotional Learning (SEL) shouldn’t be a class. It should be reflected in in school culture during every hour of every day. In turn, that culture should be reflected in the daily lives of the people who lead our system at central office.
Attitude reflects leadership.
