ALERT: Students Primed for ‘Social and Emotional Learning’ While Failing in Math and Reading [VIDEO]

by Terresa Monroe-Hamilton | September 5, 2017 10:01 am

I long for the days when schools actually taught reading, writing and ‘rithmatic. Not anymore. Everything is social and emotional learning. Great for brainwashing… lousy for real life adventures. Only 37 percent of US 12th graders were adequately prepared for college-level coursework in mathematics and reading in 2016, but many public school districts have become fixated on the latest progressive trend of “social and emotional learning.” I don’t know about you, but I want my children to learn solid subjects… not yoga and self-actualization crap.

Not only that, but high school students are getting more A’s than ever in the classroom and their SAT scores are declining anyway. This is obviously artificial grade inflation and is actually hurting and handicapping students for their preparation to enter the real adult world. At best, US students have a mediocre performance in math, science and reading in our schools. More often than not, they are illiterate and even though they are passing, are in reality failing every subject. Teachers and schools are not doing their jobs and parents aren’t catching it. In the end, it is the kids who will pay a very high price for all of this nonsense.

“Taking PISA and TIMSS together, the news isn’t great, especially considering that we spend more on K-12 education than almost any other country in the world,” wrote Cato’s education director Neal McCluskey. And somehow, that money never seems to get where it was intended, does it? I am not even sure what social and emotional learning (SEL) is… but school districts who have been prodded by the federal government and the tech-ed industry through programs such as Common Core, have become obsessed with it. All I know, is it isn’t real learning… it’s social engineering.

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Exactly what good do personal and relational skills do you if you can’t do the actual job to begin with? I’m beginning to really believe that apprenticing kids is the way to go and getting your hands dirty a la Mike Rowe is where we should be heading. Put another way, social awareness and self-management aren’t going to put meat on the table. You’ll feel really great about yourself while you starve.

This collection of psychological SEL data is encouraged by the federal government in the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which promotes the measurement of some “non-academic” accountability measures. Gee, I thought teachers and schools were for… you know… actual academics. My bad.

Pediatrician Dr. Karen Effrem is president of Education Liberty Watch and the executive director of the Florida Stop Common Core Coalition. In a column at the National Pulse, she explains that organizations such as the National Association of State Boards of Education and the American School Counselors Association openly acknowledge that one of the primary purposes of the Common Core State Standards is “to mold and profile students’ attitudes, beliefs and behavior — through what’s called social emotional learning (SEL) or ‘21st Century Skills.’” They are brainwashing the kids and turning them into mindless robots.

And here comes Google and their evil agenda. Natasha Singer wrote in the New York Times last May that tech giant Google – with its plethora of Chromebooks and free classroom apps – is “helping to drive a philosophical change in public education – prioritizing training children in skills like teamwork and problem-solving while de-emphasizing the teaching of traditional academic knowledge, like math formulas.” I find that beyond alarming and downright creepy.

Middle and high school students will now be taught and assessed in six psychological areas, according to ACT:

• Tenacity/Grit
• Composure/Resilience
• Organization/Responsibility
• Curiosity/Ingenuity
• Teamwork/Cooperation
• Leadership/Communication Style

Exactly what the hell does that have to do with education? I don’t want my children taught by psychologists… I want them taught by great teachers. This is warped. Kids are students and should be treated as such. Not as social experiments, lab rats and mental patients.

How do we measure social and emotional learning? https://t.co/POFb5XwLfT[2] pic.twitter.com/en1vi99fcB[3]

— edutopia (@edutopia) August 26, 2017[4]

Check out our blog series on personalized learning! https://t.co/T43fo2g9Jf[5] #edtechchat[6] #edchat[7] #edtech[8]

— Office of Ed Tech (@OfficeofEdTech) August 25, 2017[9]

How does social -emotional learning benefit the economy? https://t.co/ZyCOcQyWuT[10]

— Niroga Institute (@Niroga) September 1, 2017[11]

Complete social-emotional learning units in a neat and tidy package. We gave @Peekapak[12] 5 stars, gr K-5 https://t.co/GnBHHUiD0n[13] #ELA[14] #SEL[15] pic.twitter.com/L8VYAN4z1B[16]

— Common Sense Ed (@CommonSenseEd) September 1, 2017[17]

How is social-emotional learning embedded in our teaching every day? ⬅️ Today's professional development theme

— Kelly Condon (@kellycondon) September 1, 2017[18]

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Teaching Social Emotional Learning builds a foundation for student success! We love Mojo & Katie @Carver_Tigers[20] @ClassDojo[21] #WeBuildLeaders[22] pic.twitter.com/KezqWXDpVL[23]

— Melody (@mjmcalli) August 31, 2017[24]

Way to go HV staff! Celebrating our work with social emotional learning. #webelieve[25] #emotionsmatter[26] pic.twitter.com/DHVkaYTBk1[27]

— Hazel Valley (@hazel_valley) August 31, 2017[28]