School districts in the state of Florida are phasing out social and emotional learning courses after the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) warned schools such curriculum violates state law.
Social and emotional learning, or SEL, has been incorporated in numerous schools in districts across the country with the stated goal of teaching students to be more empathetic and understanding of their peers. But critics warn the courses are used as a primer or ”
Trojan horse ” for critical race theory.
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In February, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz published a memo to the superintendents of Florida school districts warning them that SEL curricula from the companies Edgenuity and Imagine Learning were not permitted because they violated state law barring divisive concepts from being taught in public schools.
“Edgenuity/Imagine Learning’s divisive and discriminatory content branded as ‘social-emotional learning (SEL)’ has no place in Florida’s classrooms,” Diaz wrote. “Schools should immediately cease using any materials that conflict with Florida law.”
Diaz thanked the school board for Miami-Dade County, which was recently flipped to a majority conservative board, for informing the Florida Department of Education of content within the SEL lessons that “appears contrary to Florida law,” prompting the memo.
Other school districts in the state have since erased SEL from their programs and websites. USA Today
reported that the School District of Palm Beach County had scrubbed the phrase “social emotional learning” from its website and had informed the state that the classes were now called “skills for learning and life.”
The effort to crack down on the controversial curriculum earned praise from conservative parent activists and criticism from teachers unions.
“Social emotional learning sounds good and can be good,” Parents Defending Education’s director of outreach, Erika Sanzi, told the Washington Examiner. “But it underwent a fundamental change in definition in 2020 … that added ideology, equity and a focus on the collective — this means that a lesson on empathy can include telling young girls that their discomfort with biological boys in their changing rooms and on their sports teams lacks empathy.”
She continued, “It’s not up for debate that many schools are including lessons and texts on gender identity under the SEL umbrella. As with all educational fads, SEL is big business, and with that come bad actors and, yes, politically motivated ideologues. If the SEL in Florida schools is not what its critics claim, its proponents would be wise to demonstrate that with evidence rather than unfounded smears against those who express legitimate concerns.”
Andrew Spar, the president of the Florida Education Association, said the push to eliminate SEL lessons was another way to drive a wedge between parents and educators and would also scare school districts from adopting such curricula.
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“If districts are getting surveyed on this stuff, it’s going to cause them to panic and worry that they may be called out and targeted and face consequences,” Spar said
.
The crackdown on SEL is the latest effort by DeSantis to weed out so-called woke education concepts. The state has banned critical race theory from public schools and has limited classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation.
