An important but seemingly hurried debate is currently under way regarding whether a pedagogy based in something known as Social Emotional Learning (SEL) should be present in early childhood education settings in Louisiana’s public pre-schools and daycares. One side says, “Yes,” while the other is saying, “Let’s slow down and make sure we know what we are getting with these new academic standards.”

We support strong and appropriate standards that inform curricula in all our public schools. School should be a place where students feel safe, are safe, and where they can learn, advance when appropriate, and go on to become productive citizens in a free society. We believe ALL of Louisiana’s public school students should have a healthy environment where they are allowed to develop, learn and maximize their potential.

Pedagogy matters. Pedagogy is the art and science of teaching. It drives how subject matter is conveyed and how students receive information.

Words have meanings. Sometimes three words standing alone or in sequence mean something different than those same words pieced together as a title or acronym. SEL stands for Social Emotional Learning and is the recognized acronym for a controversial education model.

The words “social and emotional learning” crafted and applied separately from an education framework may mean different things to different people. A healthy school environment should foster the development of children who add to their own body of knowledge as they learn to work with other students (social), and in a healthy (emotional) way. We cannot fathom anyone opposing a safe environment where children develop skills of interaction and mature at an appropriate pace.

SEL, on the other hand, is a framework that has been written about, codified and even trumpeted by education scholars. On the surface, it might seem harmless, but the words in use in the documented explanations of SEL are a matter of grave concern.

CASEL is a framework organization that is a primary proponent of SEL. CASEL stands for Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL). From their own website, the organization states the following:

“SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.”

While some of these words SOUND GOOD, they are flash points that raise concern for what we are about to thrust not only on our school systems, but also into the lives and families of the citizens of Louisiana.

Early Childhood Education should be about the foundations of education and preparing children for K-12. The standards currently under review and consideration have some acceptable elements, but willingly adopting a framework of SEL, either tacitly or implicitly, places the structure of our schools in jeopardy. Adoption of the proposed standards will require a drastic change in prioritization that has not been accepted by the State of Louisiana.

As citizens, we should all want equal treatment under the law. But a focus on “educational equity,” “forms of inequity,” and creating “just communities” are not items relevant to the development of our youngest students. In truth, those concepts aren’t acceptable as pedagogy in later grades either, but we’re not talking about that right now. As we said last year, concepts and theories should not ever be banned as points of instruction but using them as the bedrock of academic standards is another matter entirely. Back to the original point…

For our youngest students, standards should build a foundation for education, introduce them to educational basics, reinforce good behavior, and facilitate cooperation in a peaceful, safe and inspiring environment. Any standards developed should provide both direction and flexibility for local control of our school systems. The rigidity and lack of clarity in the proposed standards are a point of concern.

We hope and believe that most Louisianans want basically the same things for our schools. Every decent human being should want—DEMAND—safe schools, where children learn both academics and the frameworks for functioning in society. We hope no citizens want to use education to indoctrinate or mold young people in political or socially-agitating directions.

Schools should be hands-off for such things and our students must be allowed to be children.

While we respect that it is BESE’s job to approve learning standards, the success achieved last year on the Social Studies Content Standards came through extensive public input. We believe an amicable resolution to the consternation we now face should be found by traveling that same pathway, directing the Louisiana Department of Education to revise the proposed standards based on public comments and concerns.

By Representatives Charles Owen, Kathy Edmonston and Beryl Amedee