This episode delves into the troubling state of public education in America, spotlighting critical issues such as student underperformance in basic subjects and the controversial role of Social Emotional Learning (SEL). With alarming statistics, our discussion unpacks how SEL, though well-intentioned, has evolved into a tool of political and ideological indoctrination. Experts weigh in on the impact of this emotional education on young minds, questioning its place within our schools.
The Crawford Stand with the president of Crawford Broadcasting Company, Don Crawford.
SPEAKER 02 :
32% of America’s 12th grade students do not read at even the most basic level.
SPEAKER 1 :
32%.
SPEAKER 02 :
45% of those young students do not do math at the most basic level. Well, two tragic statistics. Only 22% of those students do math well. The public schools in America are in utter disarray, so says the nation’s report card. Are they ever? Right-thinking Americans know that critical race theory is dead wrong, and that diversity, equity, and inclusion, the so-called DEI, is very wrong for America. But SEL, now so very universally pervasive, can be extremely harmful as well, maybe even more so. SEL is a therapeutic approach to education. Teachers conduct a form of group therapy in the classroom. Public school children in the classroom gather in a circle, sit on mats akin to a yoga experience, and the teacher leads the group in a radical empathy experiment and leads the class in a circle in an emotional self-examination. Remember now, these are young children. The exercise is internal to the neglect of external subject matters. The SEL empathy generated is used by the teacher to indoctrinate students in various left-wing ideologies, from climate change extremism, to support the transgender ideology, to globalism, to the gay agenda, and more liberal and radical causes and ideologies. The concept developed as far back as the 1960s, and it was invented by Dr. James Comer, who, by all accounts, was a decent man, well-intentioned. The motivation for the origination of SEL in 1960 was legitimate. It was designed to teach underprivileged, underprivileged minority students in New Haven, Connecticut, how to regulate their emotions. and make decisions and behave appropriately in schools. However well-intentioned, SEL quickly became mostly political and became an excellent tool for radical thinking teachers and counselors and school psychologists to indoctrinate children in liberal ideology. This focus on internal and emotional matters led to a certain de-emphasizing of external subjects including and especially reading, math, writing, and basic educational subjects. Many experts agree that this therapeutic approach to life has taken over the lives of Gen Z, to the detriment of these young people. These same experts argue that this unceasing attention to emotions and the emotionally difficult parts of a student’s life create emotional instability. SEL seeks to dominate the thinking of the child and, as such, sabotages the parent-child relationship by undermining the moral authority which a parent rightly has over values and religion in the home. It is another attempt by radical, some say even anti-American, individuals to disrupt and even destroy the family. and treats children as agents of social change rather than as individuals to be educated. This radical activism seems to be made a part of everything, including math and history and language and all other subjects. SEL is there, and the objective of education becomes the training up of children to become social activists. SEL, social emotional learning, these experts say, is a disaster and left unchecked can severely weaken family bonds and authority, or even destroy them. So that SEL becomes a total indoctrination system, and social ideology was the main and most important thing that children 12th grade and below in America’s disastrous public schools were learning. Ah, what a tragedy to the once great American public education. The bottom line was that schools and their education came in many instances to replace the family as the place and with the individuals where public school children learned values and principles. And not at home. And not from the parents. Public schools in America were notoriously populated by liberal, radical teachers determined to change the moral structure of this country. Why? And why do we let them? Naturally, right-thinking parents rose up and fought back and did their best to do away with SEL and return public school education to basic external subjects and learning opportunities. In some cases, they were successful, but in others, not so. When SEL was identified and exposed and dealt with, it was simply renamed and reborn and came back to the classroom in a different form, Child indoctrination in grades K through 12 went on, and with the same negative and disastrous consequences. Major textbook companies built SEL into everything they published. And so did software firms, and now even UNESCO endorses and promotes SEL as well. But the teachers who promote SEL are not equipped to engage in this psychological, emotional exercise and training. And they should, as one expert said, be teaching reading, writing, arithmetic, history, language, and all other external and accepted subjects for learning. What is worse than this ideological indoctrination is the fact that SEL allows a child to think that it is acceptable to fail at a job. A teacher, says one expert, can say that reading and writing are important, but by teaching the whole child and developing emotionality, it allows the child to decide, get this now, that failing at reading, writing, and arithmetic, it can be acceptable for him or her. Obviously, obviously, that will be disastrous for society. Any child in public school K-12 is simply not prepared to analyze and evaluate his or her emotions. and to make critical decisions which can last a lifetime. In reality, SEL perpetuates any kind of emotional disorder which a young student may have. What a tragedy. There is little question that American public schools are failing, and that is why private schools and homeschooling are all growing by leaps and bounds. Parents want control over the education of their children, and wherever possible, they are willing to pay for it. There have been many nationwide attempts to introduce reform and change to public school education, and almost all are failures, at least to some degree. And that is why parents by the millions are seeking other ways and means to educate their children, to make certain that education deals with the basics, training up the child in the basics, including and especially reading and writing, and arithmetic and making certain that the family remains dominant and in control of values and morals and religious teachings and that the child their child is trained up in the way in which he or she should go so that when they are an adult they are responsible an independent member of society and they will be able to compete and understand and live a productive, happy, and fulfilled life. SEL can’t make that happen. So, my fellow Americans, SEL, social emotional learning, will do its best to win that battle and dominate public school education. But right-thinking parents are determined to maintain the authority and control of their family and their children. That goal, my fellow Americans, achieved and perfected and without compromise, is critical for the future of America.
SPEAKER 01 :
Tell Mr. Crawford what you think about what you heard this week here on the Crawford Stand in your email to him at stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you write, be sure to tell Mr. Crawford on what station you hear the stand. The email address again is stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Broadcasting Company and this station. Serving God and country, I’m Bill McCormick.
