I am a parent of a Virginia public-school student.

I fear that the proposed revision to the "SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING STANDARDS" will result in lower grades and opportunities for children, not based on their academic performances, but based on expression of their political and social philosophies.  For example, how will a student who disagrees with a socio-political philosophy mandated by an unelected state bureaucracy be graded on "citizenship"?  Will that child be "reminded" of the “proper” philosophy with a referral to guidance for "counseling"?  Ultimately, it is naive to believe that school administrators will welcome a student's dissent to dogma and, further, will protect free speech against those who may – and may not – have been offended.  Instead of welcoming various perspectives, school administrators likely will quash and punish student free speech with lower grades and disciplinary methods that will hinder children’s progressions.  Their "citizenship score," i.e., how well they conformed to an unelected bureaucracy’s socio-political philosophy, will disproportionally impact their future opportunities. 

Furthermore, some items in the standards are classic examples of bureaucratic overreach.  For example, SeA2: 11-12c reads, "I can express pride and confidence in my personal and social identities within a variety of settings."  Such a statement has nothing to do with an academic mission and instead has an unnecessarily divisive, balkanizing effect.