Many writers may not be aware that the SEL definition so widely attacked was written more than 25 years ago, but it may be more relevant to the needs of today's students than ever. As a school psychologist and mental health provider for over 40 years, I have seen our culture become more complex, more intolerant and more polarized than ever. The simple childhood that I experienced does not exist anymore. So, even though SEL has been in our public schools for at least two decades, it is very timely that we provide a thoughtful tune-up of our SEL standards NOW. I commend the SEL Advisory Committee Members who developed these standards, and I sincerely hope they will be adopted and implemented by schools. 

While SEL standards alone will not solve the deep-seeded complexities our children are facing every day, they will at least provide tools and life skills to help them navigate to adulthood successfully. These tools, self-efficacy, executive functioning, empathy, and conflict resolution, have never gone out of style, and they are likely the very ones that helped us become successful adults.

I would like to highlight a few comments from my fellow respondents that seem especially pertinent to this discussion. I didn't intend to steal their thoughts, they just wrote things better than me.

SEL helps prepare children for the "real world" and all of the difficult situations and emotions they may encounter. (Carmen Garcia, UVA, ID98652)

I have to point out that without first focusing on equitable social emotional supports in our schools, how can we expect students to have appropriate access or even the ability to engage in reading and mathematics in the first place? (a school psychologist, ID98644)

There is nothing 'leftist' about teaching kids to be good people (ID98629)

We, as a country, need to learn to respectfully LISTEN to one another, EMPATHIZE by taking the perspective of others, and get comfortable with feeling a little uncomfortable. That's how we all grow as individuals and a society (a clinical social worker, ID98571)

The truth is, a lot of academic instruction can be lost if we do not take care of students' basic physical and emotional needs first (a school psychologist, ID97985). 

Thank you very much.

Lawrence E. Sutton, Ed.D.