View the draft SEL regulations here: https://www.baconsrebellion.com/app/uploads/2021/05/106-21a.docx

The draft SEL Standards cover theses 5 competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and decision making. These are all skills that individuals (not just students!) need to be successful in everyday life. It's great for students to know how to solve equations, but what use is that if a student cannot work in a group (relationship skills)?

Not only do many teachers already teach students these same skills, but these skills are also explicitly taught by case managers to assist students with IEPs. As teachers, sometimes we get caught up in preparing students for an SOL test or for a district assessment.

We can always use a reminder that we are teaching students to be successful citizens and problem-solvers and not just equation-solving-machines. 

When we look back through history, we may remember Horace Mann, who created the first State Board of Education in Massachusetts, and is regarded as the Father of the Common School. "Mann believed that public schooling was central to good citizenship, democratic participation and societal well-being." (https://www.pbs.org/onlyateacher/horace.html)

This has been at the center of our public education system since its inception! And remember that it is possible (and it happens in classrooms everywhere!) for our current education system to emphasize both academic success and good citizenship. What value do academics have if they're taught in isolation?

For all of those reasons, I am highly in favor of social-emotional learning in all classrooms and not just mine.