As we approach midterm elections, I feel compelled to address an odd battle happening in the fringes of some small but important elections.
The acronym SEL has become a new, contentious topic, especially among school board candidates, leaving parents and other caregivers wondering what it is and whether they should be concerned. The argument is that schools should stick strictly to academics and leave social development to families. Those who work with children wish that were possible, but know it’s not.
Very simply, SEL stands for social-emotional learning. In most cases it is not canned curriculum with any agenda or measurable goals. Rather, it is how the human needs of students are addressed during the many hours they spend in school.
If you have ever spent time with more than one child in a confined space, you know how the emotions and conflicts of the still-developing can derail the best laid plans. Now, imagine putting dozens of children from many varied backgrounds into a small room, often with a single adult, whose goal is to teach content that no kid woke up and decided that’s what they wanted to learn that day. Impossible, right? Enter social-emotional learning.
Schools have always employed SEL because children are humans with social and emotional needs that don’t have an off-switch. Teachers’ jobs would be immensely easier if 30-plus little automatons, who could spend the next 6-7 hours being programmed with academic content, filed into their rooms each day.
Instead, as we all learned in our teacher prep courses, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs tells us that unless children have basic physiological, safety and belonging needs met, they are incapable of learning. Thus, schools and educators have frameworks for meeting these needs.
What’s beautiful about them is their universal design. They are beneficial for many and harmful for none. Snacks and lunches are offered (and often subsidized) daily. Teachers work around endless student trips to the restroom that rarely align with recess. Skinned knees are bandaged, hurt feelings are resolved and disruptive behavior is neutralized. In worst-case scenarios, trauma is empathetically addressed or referred.
None of these issues are academic, but they are addressed because we can’t meet the baseline goal of teaching academics without addressing them. Schools cannot ignore emotions or social issues any more than they can withhold the bathroom or food.
It is not an act of grooming, overreach, nor an added responsibility. It a necessary facet of success.
In a continued and concerted effort to chip away at the public’s trust in its schools, SEL has become the latest weapon. I encourage parents to talk with teachers and school staff about specific concerns regarding any part of their SEL framework. We welcome partnership and support. Please also check with your local and state school board candidates to make sure their campaigns align with your values on public education.
Individuals seeking to dismantle it from the outside shouldn’t be elected to dismantle or weaken it from within.
Brittinie Gleave
Brittinie Gleave is an elementary educator with Granite School District.