Tim Ryan Wants Social-Emotional Learning in Every Public School Nationwide

 

2020 hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) wants to introduce social-emotional learning standards to every public school in the country.

The Ohio Star’s Beth Lear recently did a deep dive on the Ohio State Board of Education’s efforts to bring social-emotional learning to the state.

“This is part of a national movement to psychologize education falsely advertised as improving academic achievement and preventing violence and suicide,” said Dr. Karen Effrem of Eagle Forum. Effrem said she was concerned that social-emotional learning standards would lead to an erosion of parental rights, over-medication of vulnerable students, and inaccurate mental health assessments from personnel not trained as mental health experts.

“Many of us on the state board of education are concerned about the state getting involved in social and emotional learning for a variety of reasons,” State School Board Member Kirsten Hill told The Ohio Star. “Measuring children’s feelings, values, attitudes, dispositions and behaviors is difficult to do and then sharing this highly sensitive and personal information with parties beyond the teacher and the school breaches privacy. There are student surveys being conducted that parents aren’t aware of. Is the school role going to expand into mental health treatment?”

If it’s up to Tim Ryan, then the answer is yes.

“When it comes to K-12, we’ve got to reform it in the sense that the first thing we have to do is deal with the kids’ trauma. Most of the kids—my wife’s a first grade teacher—most of the kids that come in are in some kind of trauma,” Ryan said during a recent appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.

“They have adverse childhood experiences that we never deal with, and I want to push a social and emotional learning curriculum in every school in the United States, a trauma based curriculum,” he continued. “I want a mental health counselor in every school in the United States, so we can start dealing with the root causes of our kids’ inability to learn.”

Ryan reiterated those claims in a tweet Tuesday morning.

“This is incredible. Here’s how social and emotional learning is helping 88,000 students across 168 Metro Schools in Nashville,” he said. “SEL is creating an environment where students and teachers are thriving as lifelong learners. This should be a part of every school’s curriculum.”

This is incredible. Here's how Social & Emotional Learning is helping 88,000 students across 168 @MetroSchools in Nashville. #SEL is creating an environment where students and teachers are thriving as lifelong learners. This should be a part of every school's curriculum. https://t.co/jLSXjy8uJe

— Congressman Tim Ryan (@RepTimRyan) June 18, 2019

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Tim Ryan” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.