I was recently asked if I knew what “social emotional learning” is. Many proponents of SEL, for short, ask this question in order to shut down civil discourse. The answer to that question takes research, which I have done. I encourage all parents to do the same.

The answer is complex, which is no accident, but the reality is that the agenda behind SEL seeks to continue the pattern of indoctrination within government schools. There is nothing new under the sun. This method is just a continuation of the foundation of the Prussian model of education that is still in effect today. It is a cancer whose roots can be traced back to the very origins of compulsory education. It isn’t going away; however, it will simply be reinvented under the guise of new names.

“The reality is that SEL lacks operational validity and therefore it cannot be defined with precision,” describes Dr. Robert Jones, a Truth in Education Board member, speaking in a YouTube interview titled “Psychologist Sounds Alarm over Social-Emotional Learning.” “It can’t be measured. It is a vehicle that can allow anything.”

The Collaborative for Academic Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) sets the standards for the SEL programs.

What is CASEL?

“Dr. Roger P. Weissberg began the New Haven Social Development program that pioneered SEL strategies across K-12 classrooms. Around the same time, Dr. Weissberg, along with Dr. Maurice Elias, chaired the W. T. Grant Consortium on the School-Based Promotion of Social Competence, bringing together leading experts to create a framework for promoting social and emotional skills in schools,” according to casel.org. “In 1994, a passionate group of people came together to develop a field that would address the ‘missing piece’ in education. The multidisciplinary collaboration included researchers, educators, practitioners, and child advocates who believed that schools must attend to all children’s social and emotional needs. The group emerged from their meetings with a name and a mission: Both CASEL and the term ‘social and emotional learning’ were born.”

The “CASEL 5”—self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision making—can be taught and applied at various developmental stages from childhood to adulthood and across diverse cultural contexts, CASEL literature continues.

“Many school districts, states, and countries have used the CASEL 5 to establish preschool to high school learning standards and competencies that articulate what students should know and be able to do for academic success, school and civic engagement, health and wellness, and fulfilling careers,” casel.org continues.

What this website is outlining are basic principles of parenthood. This is a direct attempt to usurp parental rights and responsibility. You don’t need a government-funded program teaching children basic principles of parenthood. CASEL seeks to replace the primary role of the parents with the school.

During the 1900s, educational psychology appeared on the scene and the belief was adopted that “experts” were better equipped than parents. William Torrey Harris, U.S. Commissioner of Education 1889–1906, propagated the radical notion “regarding children as the absolute property of the political state,” according to author and educator John Taylor Gatto.

This has been a recurring theme in education ever since. It has just been repackaged as SEL. Parents should be alarmed and concerned where this type of overreach is headed.

In Georgia, legally, school counselors can make behavioral health diagnoses. (Rule 135-12-.02) This is concerning on many levels. First, children with special needs receive more funding. In Tennessee, for example, the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) formula that was passed awards even more money to students with disabilities. This is a red flag and can potentially result in the over-diagnosing of children in order to benefit financially.

“Schools could receive anywhere from $1,029 to $10,290 in additional funding for students with one of 10 unique learning needs, including disabilities,” The Tennessean reported.

Secondly, someone without the proper level of medical training should not be diagnosing children with a label that they could likely be saddled with for the rest of their life. In Tennessee, there is a push, per the new TISA funds, to increase the number of counselors in schools.

“Our goal in the next five years is to have full-time mental health clinicians and therapists in every school 5 days a week,” Murfreesboro City Schools Trey Duke said. “And we know when that money goes away, we have other funds to subsidize that.”

Duke said that with the new funds coming from TISA, they hope they will have surplus funding to use to address the needs they didn’t have before.

“With our school counselors right now we’re sitting at a ratio of right under one-to-500, which is something that we want to maintain,” Duke told WSMV. “Ultimately, we would love to grow that even more.”

Duke mentioned that the national recommendation is 250 students to one counselor.

Do parents really want government schools replacing the parents? Do we want government schools financially profiting from labeling and diagnosing our nation’s children? If we take a look at the Nation’s Report Card, the government has failed at educating our children. Now we want to abdicate their social and emotional development over to the government schools as well? At what point will parents decide they have had enough?

While adults are busy fighting losing battles, our nation’s children are the causalities. What is the answer? Get them out of government schools. Stop allowing school boards and the government to replace your God-ordained right as parents.

If you would like more information on home schooling, I can be reached at freeyourchildren@gmail.com.

.