In a terrific essay written around 1998, Heather Mac Donald lamented that American ed schools operated on the “anything but knowledge” mantra. Teaching was supposed to be about all sorts of soft and fluffy goals, but not ensuring that students learned any facts. That is still the case (even more so) as Daniel Buck shows in today’s Martin Center article.

His topic is the fad of “social-emotional learning” which is another product of all those “experts” who run the ed schools.

He writes, “Even in its benign form, however, SEL warrants skepticism. Is a teacher’s role to play therapist and psychoanalyst with students? What must schools push out of the curriculum to make room for social and emotional learning?”

But of course, SEL is far worse than that. Like everything else that “progressives” control, it is geared to achieve political ends. Buck continues, “At its worst, SEL is a means to slip progressive politics into the classroom. Social and emotional learning is difficult to define but euphonious. Who would oppose teaching children basic emotional skills? As such, it acts as something of a rubber stamp, justifying whatever dream-list progressive educators want. Everything from eliminating math and traditional grading to providing lessons on gender identity and privilege comes under the banner of SEL.”

It’s a typical leftist covert operation.

Read the whole thing.