By Jennifer McWilliams | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice
Social-emotional learning (SEL) is championed as a way to instill empathy, emotional strength, and relationship building skills in students. Sounds perfect for K-12, doesn’t it?
Think again. SEL is designed to push a leftist agenda on students and transform their attitudes, values, beliefs and worldview towards “leftist radical ideology.” It promotes specific emotional behaviors that force kids into lockstep conformity, crushing their individuality and critical thinking, all while hiding behind the facade of “mental health.”
An ongoing challenge to stopping this is that parents are deceived into thinking SEL is teaching their children life skills in a way they approve. They hear “Social Emotional Learning’s flowery language” and immediately interpret it through how they would teach their own children at home.
One effective way to shield yourself from this manipulation is to start by asking one key question: THROUGH WHO’S LENS?
Parents impart life skills to their children that are shaped by their own cultural values, personal experiences, religious beliefs, and their child’s individual needs and personality.
Can a government institution teach all children how to feel and act while respecting your own viewpoint? Absolutely not.
Far from simple lessons about sharing or stopping name-calling, SEL delves deeply into psychological manipulation. Masked by terms like empathy, compassion, anti-bullying, mental health, and resilience.
We call this “Language Contamination” – they use your vocabulary but not your dictionary.
The SEL framework is entirely rooted in undermining American values and usurping parental authority by promoting equity, social justice, and intersectionality; core tenets of Marxism.
SEL was implemented as a systemic change permeating every facet of a student’s daily educational experience.
It is woven into the curriculum, teaching method, discipline policies and school culture. For example, school counselors will conduct lessons focusing on empathy and compassion for “marginalized communities,” teachers will incorporate lessons on systemic oppression with discussions about white supremacy, administrators will revise policies to prioritize equity (inclusive restrooms, etc.), librarians will showcase books highlighting America’s racism or celebrating transgenderism, and the school environment will emphasize the celebration of specific racial, sexual, and gender identities.
Justification of an SEL program, TRAILS, found in Pueblo D70, Colorado.
SEL exploits the emotions of students and creates a school culture that requires conformity or risk being ostracized (i.e. Social and Emotional Learning).
Students who question the narrative are accused of having privilege, bullying, discriminating or being hateful.
Students who have a hard time fitting in quickly realize they can become accepted and celebrated if you join a marginalized group (e.g. children who think they are transgender).
SEL deceives the parents because everyone wants their children to have the life skills necessary to be successful.
- If your kindergartener comes home and says they are celebrating National Book Week, many parents are not aware their children will be exposed to books about boys who believe they are girls?
- When your 5th grader comes home and says they learned about the Civil War, would you be surprised to hear that they learned slavery in America never actually ended and it’s present through “white supremacy”?
- When your 10th grader tells you they are doing a project on the Holocaust, would it shock you that parents who don’t want pornographic books in school are compared to Nazis burning books?
- Did you know that SEL teaches students showing empathy means girls should share their restrooms, locker rooms, and sports with biological boys? Or that SEL teaches that kindness means understanding that if you were “born with privilege” then you should be willing to give up things you earned to marginalized people?
- Are you aware that building successful relationships through SEL means you must be a vocal supporter for transgenderism and abortion?
The emotional manipulation of SEL doesn’t stop at the school doors, it is carried by your children into your homes, businesses and communities.
The ultimate goal of SEL is to produce Social Justice Warriors who will work to dismantle America (because it’s oppressive).
Students are taught that being resilient means challenging the traditional beliefs of their family & community to force new radical norms on society.
They will work to destroy the nuclear family, abolish capitalism, and transform communities to resemble the worst of cities like Portland, Chicago and San Francisco. They will do it all while declaring themselves the empathetic, kind, compassionate, and inclusive ones.
Are these the life skills you want your children learning in the name of “empathy, kindness and anti-bullying”?
Whenever you hear Social Emotional Learning, ask yourself “Through Whose Lens?”
Jennifer McWilliams is a parental rights advocate and the co-founder of Courage Is A Habit, where she trains and equips parents to navigate education-related challenges. She’s a nationally recognized speaker, consultant, and writer focused on restoring transparency and accountability in schools. Learn more at linktr.ee/jennmcw.
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in commentary pieces are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the management of the Rocky Mountain Voice, but even so we support the constitutional right of the author to express those opinions.