Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Education
 
Board
State Board of Education
 
Guidance Document Change: The 2020 Virginia General Assembly passed House Bill 753 directing the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) to develop guidance standards for social emotional learning (SEL) for all public students in grades Kindergarten through 12 in the Commonwealth. The Virginia Social Emotional Learning Standards were developed in collaboration with an SEL Advisory Committee, composed of educators, community leaders, agency personnel, and parents. The Virginia SEL Standards are aligned with the Profile of a Virginia Graduate and centered in equity. This intentional focus allows the Standards to explicitly teach the skills needed to be “life ready” and to create more equitable learning environments.
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5/26/21  4:04 pm
Commenter: Chris B

SELs Political, Judgmental, Unfair
 
1. I think many of these SELs are okay. Many are good, positive, neutral, and apply to everyone equally.
a. Some talk about setting goals, tracking them, setting a path to get there. Being confident and persevering through tough times and turning them into a learning experience. Know what peer pressure is. Positive communication on social media.
b. It's safe to say everyone probably agrees with these and there's no way take them the wrong way
2. But hiding among these positive ones, are others that can be taken the wrong way. They do not apply to everyone evenly, and some vary depending on what the child is.
3. Politically-Motivated. Some of them sound all too familiar, and are vulnerable to being corrupted by the hyper-partisan politics of today. And given the timing of these SELs, I think it's reasonable to suspect that some of these are politically motivated.
a. Anyone who has watched the news in the last couple of years can easily derive several politically-motivated scenarios that can and may be used to implement some of these SELs.
b. It is obvious that some of these SELs were designed to address societal issues happening in the adult realm, all of which have nothing to do with our children.
c. The word "Society" is mentioned 9 times.
d. The words "Equity, Equitable, or Inequities" are mentioned 16 times, "Injustice" - 4 times, "Bias" - 8 times. Why are these politically-charged headlines and slogans being codified in K-12 curriculum? None of these national issues should be imported into small-town schools.
e. Schools are not responsible for carrying out God's work, fixing current issues with adults, or teaching people how to live harmoniously with one another.
4. Labelling, Group Identity. There is too much emphasis on labelling and group identity, and too much focus on "what" a child is vs what they do or say.
a. The words "Identity, Group Identify, or Group Membership" are mentioned 15 times in a document with only 15 pages of content. I personally think this entire way of thinking is a fundamental flaw in some of these SELs.
b. Some of these SELs claim that is defined by their membership to one or
many group identities. Frankly, I don't think any individual should be stereotyped so simply, and this actually contradicts another SEL that says how wrong it is to stereotype.
5. Feelings-Based. Too many of these SELs are based on feelings.
a. The words "Empathy or Empathize" are mentioned 7 times, "Feelings" - 12 times, "Beliefs" - 4 times.
b. Now I realize that's the whole point of SEL. But I don't think one could measure and evaluate a student's ability to feel. The SELs say the student must demonstrate these desired outcomes. Do you get an F if the teacher believes you're not feeling a certain way?
6. Out of Scope ome of these SELs are an overreach of the state and intrude on individual discretion and the family's scope of responsibility. Also, these SELs are a complete oddball. I've never seen anything like these before. Reading, Writing, Mathematics (Trig,
Algebra, Statistics, Calculus), Science, Chemistry, Biology, Engineering, History, Geography, Earth Science, Foreign Language, Music... and Social and Emotional Learning.
7. Next, I'm going to step through 4 topics that I have suspicions about. use extreme
cases to illustrate how badly some of these SEL can go. All of these cases actually heard before, and actually fit within the abstract definitions of some of these SELs.
 
GROUP IDENTITY AND LABELLING
8. SEL: "Describe the multiple groups in society that help create my identity"
9. SEL: "Evaluate how my membership in multiple groups make me who I am"
10. I believe there is too much focus on labelling children. Not only is it belittling, it's distancing. Us and them. I understand explaining to kids that we live in a diverse world and the human beings are unique individuals and everyone is different, but why the extreme labelling.
11. SEL: "Comfortably talk about myself and positively describe my various group identities"
12. Now if an individual has an insecurity issue they're struggling with, this SEL does help them be comfortable with that, and that's good, but they shouldn't force a child to associate themselves with labels and group identities. And they should not say that labels define them.
13. SEL: "Describe my beliefs, values, and the groups of society that help create my identity and inform my decision-making"
14. SEL: "I can understand that all my group identities and the intersection of those identities create who I am and influence my decisions"
15. These SELs claim that an individual's group membership determines their behavior.
16. I'm not sure where this is going, and I'm not sure what group identities they're referring to, but this is open to corruption. Of course beliefs influence decision, but I'm suspicious of the word "group".
a. Are they saying that is you're a Male, you'll like Football? Or are they claiming that certain
ethnicities are predetermined to act in certain ways?
b. One of these use cases is innocent and anecdotal, another is inappropriate and judgmental. Either way I don't think schools should teach that an individual's group identity determines their thinking and decisions. Decisions should be made objectively.
17. SEL. "I can understand that people may face different barriers based on their identity and group in society and that is not fair"
18. This SEL claims that certain barriers exist for certain identities.
19. Again, I don't know where this is going.
a. There are indeed barriers that prevent boys from strolling into the women's locker room.
b. Or, are they suggesting, that barriers to success in America exist for some identities and not to others?
c. One of these use cases is about the basic rules in life, the other is political, I reject it, and I
don't think it should be taught.
d. Also, I don't want kids thinking that they have systemic barriers in their way, and that their
situation in hopeless. I hope they're not planning to tell young girls that there are systemic
barriers stopping them from becoming an Engineer in the Hard Sciences.
e. This is of course false, but I've heard it before.
 
BIAS AND UNCONCIOUS BIAS
 
20. SEL: "I can recognize that my conscious and unconscious biases affect my interactions with others"
21. This goes too far. It is inappropriate, judgmental, and unfair to assume that our children
automatically have unconscious biases that they are unaware of.
22. This SEL has a high risk of accusing innocent children of biases that they do not have. And I think it is ridiculous to target the subconscious of a child.
23. SEL:"I can identify and work to address my own conscious ad unconscious biases"
24. Unless a child's behavior is somehow disrupting the normal functioning of the classroom, or unless they're acting openly bigoted towards another classmate, the state has no right to compel kids to change any behavior at all.
25.My fear is that since this is all subconscious, the student will most-likely be accused based on their group identities assigned to them by other SELs. If this is their plan, this is wrong, unfair, and this is the first SEL that should be removed.
26. On the flip-side, I believe it is good to explain that bias is bad, and unfair, using a hypothetical scenario.
a. For example, when I was a kid growing up in New Jersey, we watched a video where a teacher allowed only blue-eyed kids to get seconds during some sort of class buffet. The brown-eyed kids immediately felt the bias and discrimination.
b. Then the next day, the teacher allowed only the brown-eyed kids to get seconds.
c. Afterwards, all kids, having been on both sides, immediately learned how unfair bias and discrimination was.
d. A hypothetical scenario where both sides (bias-side and victim-side) were rotated evenly, without singling out any particular group identity as the accuser.
e. These use cases I am okay with. Bias is wrong, we just need to be careful about teaching it, and if we can't be fair then we shouldn't do it at all.
27. SEL: "Identify causes that matter to me and how I can advocate or take action for change"
28. At first, I thought this was innocent. Identify something that matters to you, like rescuing animals.
29. But the lower-grade SELs are just a precursor to real the intent revealed by the vertically-aligned SELs in the higher grades.
30. SEL: "I can make ethnical decision about when and how to take a stand against bias and injustice in my everyday life or community and will do so despite negative peer or group pressure"
a. These SELs don't just teach the right to protest, or that injustice is wrong. They encourage and promote social activism outside of school grounds.
b. These SELs use words like "take a stand", "will do so", "in your community". This is clearly a call to action and encourages students to get involved in altercations that could be potentially dangerous.
c. Now, I don't mind the "school bullying" use case, but intervening is still a matter of personal discretion, and schools shouldn't compel any action at all.
i. If the High School football captain wants to get in between 2 guys during an unjust situation, and he's willing and able to do so, that is his decision.
d. This SEL is also very vulnerable to modern politics.
i. After being taught this SEL, I don't want children to think that it is okay to intervene
in any situation involving the police, if they sense injustice.
ii. These SELs mention words like "law" and "societal practices".
iii. I think it is irresponsible for a school to tell students to plan for and carry out any behavior that could have them arrested or flagged as an extremist by their
government.
iv. They also should not be made to feel guilty for not acting, in other words, "Silence is compliance". No it is not.
v. The simple fact is that the individual chooses whether they will intervene against anything.
vi. I also don't believe minors are mature or experienced-enough to accurately evaluate or fix any societal practices at all.
 
ADVANTAGES / DISADVANTAGES BASED ON IDENTITY
 
31. SEL: "I can recognize that all people (including myself) have certain advantages and disadvantages based on who they are and where they were born"
32. This SEL claims that some groups have one set of advantages and disadvantages, and other groups have another set of advantages and disadvantages.
33. As always, I'm not sure where they're going with this.
a. Now, when they say "advantages based on where they're born". America is a great place to be born in.
b. And when they say "based on who they are", I interpret that as, their family. Yes, families provide advantages. I dedicated my life to ensure my children have as many advantages as possible (just like my parents did for me).
34. But again, I think this SEL is vulnerable to corruption by the identity politics of today.
a. What I suspect, is this SEL will claim that certain advantages (e.g. opportunities for success in America, or a corporate job) are pre-determined solely by your group identity. I reject this idea. And this theory should not be taught.
b. The term "White privilege" has been recently dubbed, and is often used in a negative context. that are outside their control.
c. Just because some statistics may show positive correlation between "success" and a certain group identify, does not imply that is the direct cause.
 
COURSES OF ACTIONS
 
35. I know I have illustrated the extreme case for how these SELs could be implemented.
36. I did so to illustrate that, the way some of them are currently written, there is a lot of room for corruption.
37. Also, all of these fringe examples I have heard before.
38. Some courses of action. At the very least, clarification and transparency is needed. The SELs that are ambiguous, and open to corruption, need clarification and examples need to be defined and disseminated to parents.
39. Now, there are some SELs that I believe are completely inappropriate and shouldn't be taught in K-12. These should be excluded.
40. For some of the others, other courses of action include parents being able to opt-out. This has been done in the past
41. I would say that the SELs vulnerable to corruption, should be compartmentalized, so they can be supervised and controlled. But unfortunately, both the SEL article and a speaker from another Board meeting said a Task Force (bit of a bureaucratic term) will weave SELs into the fabric of the entire curriculum, making them harder to supervise.
a. This should not be done. I recommend either separating the vulnerable SELs, or excluding
them prior to integration.
 
CLOSING REMARKS
 
42. I like how the schools have been run so far.
43. I believe some of the SELs are politically-motivated and I don't want a politically-charged school environment with a curriculum that conjures up feelings that didn't previously exist.
44. I also don't want a precedence to be established that schools are a valid political target with a curriculum that ebbs and flows depending on whichever party has power.
 
CommentID: 98815