When they first hit schools, Social Emotional Learning (SEL) techniques were billed as “the process of developing the self-awareness, self-control, and interpersonal skills that are vital for school, work, and life success.”

This sounds benign, even desirable, at face value. But what observers have noticed is that SEL has become more integrated into classrooms as way of exposing students’ private lives, emotional needs, and familial
belief systems to the scrutiny of teachers, faculty, and other students.

Even worse, data-mining companies provide tech platforms and curriculum to collect sensitive data on your child under the name of providing SEL services. This is also called known as Regulatory Capture, where special interests end up profiting by the decisions of  policymakers at the expense of the real constituency that policymakers are there to serve in the first place (in this case, your kids).   

Surveys administered by these outside interests ask children scholastically irrelevant and subjective questions such as “Do students in your school need support or help [to] recognize and defend human rights?” or “Do students in your school need support or help with respect for other cultures and viewpoints?” These examples came from CTE Surveys and are from the Granite School district at the Junior High level.

Improper and intrusive curriculum is not limited to these examples. 

Social Emotional Learning environments reward and celebrate personal attitudes and circumstances that are deemed “acceptable” because they fit a progressive outlook (i.e., favoring collectivism over individualism, gender non-conformity over gender norms, race essentialism over non-discrimination, subjectivity over objectivity, outcome disparities as ipso facto proof of discrimination, etc.).

Conversely, children whose thinking doesn’t conform to this mold are told their attitudes are “not inclusive,” “insensitive,” “biased,” “privileged,” and “racist.” 

In an SEL framework, schools displace families as the main definer and transmitter of personal and social values—this is unacceptable to parents. 

Through techniques like “sharing circles,” surveys, “emotional health journals,” and “affinity groups,” complicit teachers create the classroom conditions to open the door to replacing “outdated mindsets” with ones that are supportive of the following ideologies listed below. Click to read more.