SEL 2.0: The “Fundamental Transformation” of America Continues
By Claudia Henneberry
June 2022
By Claudia Henneberry
June 2022
By now, you have probably heard of “SEL”, or, Social Emotional Learning. This is perhaps the latest and greatest of the hundreds of fads, gimmicks, and “reforms” that have been used by educrats over the last century to affect the outcome of education of our children in kindergarten through high school. But this is not your grandparents’ Character Education!
Social and Emotional Learning became a thing during the Greek Republic. They knew that education must address not only the traditional academic disciplines, but also morality in order to produce “good citizens”. Fast forward to the 1960s when a Yale researcher, James Comer, produced a pilot called the Comer School Development Program. Comer’s belief was “the contrast between a child’s experiences at home and those in school deeply affects the child’s psychosocial development and that this, in turn, shapes academic achievement.” His test study included a school in New Haven, CT. The school had abysmal attendance, but after the study concluded, the school exceeded the national standard of attendance and student success.
New Haven became the lab for SEL research. Between 1987 and 1992, Yale professor Robert P. Weissberg and a New Haven public school educator, Timothy Shriver, led an effort to devise curriculum for schools through the W. T. Grant Foundation.
Throughout the 1980s, SEL came to the classroom in the form of anti-bullying and good character discussions, which was absolutely acceptable and probably needed for some students. Yet these discussions were limited, otherwise, schools would be overstepping their bounds.
By 1994, the nonprofit, CASEL - the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning - was born. Then in 1995, CASEL changed its name to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, as if to admit that they had left out the term “Academic”. Their goals, as stated by the formulators, was toensconce “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.” Who can be against helping students develop good attitudes, manage emotions, and make caring decisions, right? But, whose attitudes, emotions, and decisions? And, isn’t that the job of parents?
Fast forward to 2020 and, from stage left, enters “Transformative SEL” onto the education scene. According to CASEL.org, the new and improved “Transformative SEL” is “a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.”
The Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the CDC are intertwined with CASEL to likewise support the implementation of SEL practices in K-12 classrooms, to some extent or another, across the U. S., which begs the question, why is the Department of Education entering into the mental health arena and why would the Centers for Disease Control involve itself in education? Food for thought for another article. There are so many layers to this onion.
Back to the task at hand. Notice in their definition of T-SEL that, among the jargon used, the word “inequity” stands out. That leads us to question why “inequity” and not “inequality”. “Equality” was once considered a great thing, an American thing, but according to SEL compatriots, it’s a really bad thing. Equality means treating people the same; equity, by contrast, means treating some people better than others depending on the level of oppression they can claim for themselves or their ancestors or unrelated people with the same skin color or chromosomal makeup. Today, SEL is all about “anti-racist” education and is using CRT (Critical Race Theory) in its curricula. Therefore, whatever the educrats deem an inequity shall be condemned and the perpetrators punished.
Jane Robbins is an attorney and senior Fellow with the American Principles Project and an expert on the subject of education and SEL. She contends that “the new concept of ‘anti-racism’ has a more sinister meaning,” whereby “white children are by definition oppressors, minority children (except, presumably, higher achieving on average Asian children) are by definition oppressed, and all of education must devolve into a churning mass of guilt and resentment.”
Another expert, Frederick Hess, a senior Fellow and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, weighs in with, “The truth is that “anti-racist” education isn’t interested in anything so small as educational improvement. The aim is cultural revolution in the name of an illiberal doctrine that poses a mortal threat to schools and colleges. Anti-racism’s hostility to reason, rejection of civilizational virtue, and labeling of skepticism as blasphemy represent an assault on the very soul of liberal education.”
One of the high-priests of CASEL, its president and CEO (2014-2021), Karen Niemi, acknowledged in a webinar in June, 2020, that the true intent of the anti-racism aspect of SEL is to, obviously, produce obedient Marxist activists.
The 2020 CASEL webinar presenters designated SEL as a tool to develop community organizers for leftist causes, thereby defining Transformative SEL as an approach that “takes action to fight injustice” (injustice as seen through a leftist lens).
According to Niemi, “social-emotional learning helps students move from anger to agency and then to action,” primarily for the cause of anti-racism. (She announces this within the first minute of the webinar.) All this will come from teaching children to “examine prejudices and biases . . . [and] evaluate social norms and systemic inequities . . . .” This is going well-beyond teaching students to be good citizens—today’s SEL intends to launch them into becoming Antifa and BLM ‘agents of change’. What we saw play-out on America’s streets in 2020 is precisely the outcome intended, I believe. Those kids who tore down statues, killed or injured cops, burned buildings, and looted Macy’s got an A+.
Predictably, the pandemic allowed educrats to put the pedal to the metal in terms of SEL in the classroom, or, Zoom rooms, and to expand it into communities. “Pandemic-related data uncovered life struggles for students, their families, and staff, such as housing insecurity, lack of technology and broadband access, and health concerns,” according to Katari Coleman, project Director for the Education Development Center. To the rescue, more of your money - American Rescue Plan Act funding - to address SEL. “Through tragedy, the pandemic functioned as an incubator for developing innovative activities and resources, and resulted in unprecedented steps forward for making SEL more accessible and comprehensive,” elaborated Coleman. Never let a crisis go to waste.
Oh, there’s more inside the Trojan Horse of T-SEL. Among CASEL’s funding partners is the NoVo Foundation which is “dedicated to . . . moving [society] from, a culture of domination to one of equality and partnership.” NoVo seems to focus on abortion rights, LGBT interests, and anti-capitalist economics. CSE, or, Comprehensive Sex Education, which goes over and beyond what you and I remember in school, is a subsection of T-SEL. It is probably being taught under the radar in a school near you.
Other T-SEL enthusiast groups include the Arcus Foundation, which is all about LGBT, primarily the transgender portion. The Morning Side Center for Teaching Social Responsibility offers resources for using SEL to develop leftist attitudes about topics such as climate change. According to Jane Robbins, “These are the types of outfits churning out T-SEL curricula to shape children’s opinions and behaviors.”
Not to be overlooked, the largest influencer and biggest donor is, you got it, your own federal government (e.g., your money) which expands the tentacles of T-SEL. Under President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget, CASEL received a $2 billion increase from the 2021 budget to bring more mental health and child development experts in to schools, “to provide comprehensive services and expand evidence-based models that meet the holistic needs of children, families, and communities.” Biden’s budget also contains more money for professional development training for teachers in T-SEL strategies.
As one can see, Social Emotional Learning has grown into a transformative behemoth.
The ancient Greeks taught their children good citizenship. The American colonists educated theirs specifically to have Biblical morals and values and to be learned in academic disciplines. The American pioneer taught academics, responsibility, hard work, freedom, and opportunity which resulted in the most exceptional country in history. Now we find ourselves here, in the midst of an education autocracy taking aim at your children’s psyches, beliefs, and attitudes, while seemingly not that concerned about teaching academics.
Parents, if you find yourselves at a school board meeting concerned about what your child is learning, or not learning, keep in mind that Merrick Garland and his Department of Justice will take note. You may wind-up on a list of “domestic terrorists”. But like American heroes before us, do not let them deter you from standing up and stopping what could cause the fall of our Republic!
---------------------------------------------
Claudia Henneberry is a retired Social Studies teacher, Executive Director of the National Constitution Bee, and Contributor to Potomac Tea Party.
Social and Emotional Learning became a thing during the Greek Republic. They knew that education must address not only the traditional academic disciplines, but also morality in order to produce “good citizens”. Fast forward to the 1960s when a Yale researcher, James Comer, produced a pilot called the Comer School Development Program. Comer’s belief was “the contrast between a child’s experiences at home and those in school deeply affects the child’s psychosocial development and that this, in turn, shapes academic achievement.” His test study included a school in New Haven, CT. The school had abysmal attendance, but after the study concluded, the school exceeded the national standard of attendance and student success.
New Haven became the lab for SEL research. Between 1987 and 1992, Yale professor Robert P. Weissberg and a New Haven public school educator, Timothy Shriver, led an effort to devise curriculum for schools through the W. T. Grant Foundation.
Throughout the 1980s, SEL came to the classroom in the form of anti-bullying and good character discussions, which was absolutely acceptable and probably needed for some students. Yet these discussions were limited, otherwise, schools would be overstepping their bounds.
By 1994, the nonprofit, CASEL - the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Learning - was born. Then in 1995, CASEL changed its name to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, as if to admit that they had left out the term “Academic”. Their goals, as stated by the formulators, was toensconce “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.” Who can be against helping students develop good attitudes, manage emotions, and make caring decisions, right? But, whose attitudes, emotions, and decisions? And, isn’t that the job of parents?
Fast forward to 2020 and, from stage left, enters “Transformative SEL” onto the education scene. According to CASEL.org, the new and improved “Transformative SEL” is “a process whereby young people and adults build strong, respectful, and lasting, relationships that facilitate co-learning to critically examine root causes of inequity, and to develop collaborative solutions that lead to personal, community, and societal well-being.”
The Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the CDC are intertwined with CASEL to likewise support the implementation of SEL practices in K-12 classrooms, to some extent or another, across the U. S., which begs the question, why is the Department of Education entering into the mental health arena and why would the Centers for Disease Control involve itself in education? Food for thought for another article. There are so many layers to this onion.
Back to the task at hand. Notice in their definition of T-SEL that, among the jargon used, the word “inequity” stands out. That leads us to question why “inequity” and not “inequality”. “Equality” was once considered a great thing, an American thing, but according to SEL compatriots, it’s a really bad thing. Equality means treating people the same; equity, by contrast, means treating some people better than others depending on the level of oppression they can claim for themselves or their ancestors or unrelated people with the same skin color or chromosomal makeup. Today, SEL is all about “anti-racist” education and is using CRT (Critical Race Theory) in its curricula. Therefore, whatever the educrats deem an inequity shall be condemned and the perpetrators punished.
Jane Robbins is an attorney and senior Fellow with the American Principles Project and an expert on the subject of education and SEL. She contends that “the new concept of ‘anti-racism’ has a more sinister meaning,” whereby “white children are by definition oppressors, minority children (except, presumably, higher achieving on average Asian children) are by definition oppressed, and all of education must devolve into a churning mass of guilt and resentment.”
Another expert, Frederick Hess, a senior Fellow and Director of Education Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, weighs in with, “The truth is that “anti-racist” education isn’t interested in anything so small as educational improvement. The aim is cultural revolution in the name of an illiberal doctrine that poses a mortal threat to schools and colleges. Anti-racism’s hostility to reason, rejection of civilizational virtue, and labeling of skepticism as blasphemy represent an assault on the very soul of liberal education.”
One of the high-priests of CASEL, its president and CEO (2014-2021), Karen Niemi, acknowledged in a webinar in June, 2020, that the true intent of the anti-racism aspect of SEL is to, obviously, produce obedient Marxist activists.
The 2020 CASEL webinar presenters designated SEL as a tool to develop community organizers for leftist causes, thereby defining Transformative SEL as an approach that “takes action to fight injustice” (injustice as seen through a leftist lens).
According to Niemi, “social-emotional learning helps students move from anger to agency and then to action,” primarily for the cause of anti-racism. (She announces this within the first minute of the webinar.) All this will come from teaching children to “examine prejudices and biases . . . [and] evaluate social norms and systemic inequities . . . .” This is going well-beyond teaching students to be good citizens—today’s SEL intends to launch them into becoming Antifa and BLM ‘agents of change’. What we saw play-out on America’s streets in 2020 is precisely the outcome intended, I believe. Those kids who tore down statues, killed or injured cops, burned buildings, and looted Macy’s got an A+.
Predictably, the pandemic allowed educrats to put the pedal to the metal in terms of SEL in the classroom, or, Zoom rooms, and to expand it into communities. “Pandemic-related data uncovered life struggles for students, their families, and staff, such as housing insecurity, lack of technology and broadband access, and health concerns,” according to Katari Coleman, project Director for the Education Development Center. To the rescue, more of your money - American Rescue Plan Act funding - to address SEL. “Through tragedy, the pandemic functioned as an incubator for developing innovative activities and resources, and resulted in unprecedented steps forward for making SEL more accessible and comprehensive,” elaborated Coleman. Never let a crisis go to waste.
Oh, there’s more inside the Trojan Horse of T-SEL. Among CASEL’s funding partners is the NoVo Foundation which is “dedicated to . . . moving [society] from, a culture of domination to one of equality and partnership.” NoVo seems to focus on abortion rights, LGBT interests, and anti-capitalist economics. CSE, or, Comprehensive Sex Education, which goes over and beyond what you and I remember in school, is a subsection of T-SEL. It is probably being taught under the radar in a school near you.
Other T-SEL enthusiast groups include the Arcus Foundation, which is all about LGBT, primarily the transgender portion. The Morning Side Center for Teaching Social Responsibility offers resources for using SEL to develop leftist attitudes about topics such as climate change. According to Jane Robbins, “These are the types of outfits churning out T-SEL curricula to shape children’s opinions and behaviors.”
Not to be overlooked, the largest influencer and biggest donor is, you got it, your own federal government (e.g., your money) which expands the tentacles of T-SEL. Under President Biden’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget, CASEL received a $2 billion increase from the 2021 budget to bring more mental health and child development experts in to schools, “to provide comprehensive services and expand evidence-based models that meet the holistic needs of children, families, and communities.” Biden’s budget also contains more money for professional development training for teachers in T-SEL strategies.
As one can see, Social Emotional Learning has grown into a transformative behemoth.
The ancient Greeks taught their children good citizenship. The American colonists educated theirs specifically to have Biblical morals and values and to be learned in academic disciplines. The American pioneer taught academics, responsibility, hard work, freedom, and opportunity which resulted in the most exceptional country in history. Now we find ourselves here, in the midst of an education autocracy taking aim at your children’s psyches, beliefs, and attitudes, while seemingly not that concerned about teaching academics.
Parents, if you find yourselves at a school board meeting concerned about what your child is learning, or not learning, keep in mind that Merrick Garland and his Department of Justice will take note. You may wind-up on a list of “domestic terrorists”. But like American heroes before us, do not let them deter you from standing up and stopping what could cause the fall of our Republic!
---------------------------------------------
Claudia Henneberry is a retired Social Studies teacher, Executive Director of the National Constitution Bee, and Contributor to Potomac Tea Party.