For the past year, South Carolina lawmakers have focused on a major education reform plan. Unfortunately, their plan will likely not include the most significant education reform possible: school choice.
Therefore, it was disappointing to read a recent column in The Post and Courier arguing Palmetto State families do not need school choice after all. Instead, Jamie Cooper, executive director of Communities in Schools of the Charleston Area, argues South Carolinians need another supposed panacea imposed from on high: social-emotional learning (SEL).
Cooper asserts “SEL is a vital and necessary component of education, not just another thing to add to the plate of teachers and administrators but the very plate upon which all other content should be placed.”
Apparently SEL, not arithmetic or reading, is the foundation for all learning. According to Cooper, “SEL instills the competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making within the daily life of the student.” Of course, he offers little evidence to support this audacious claim.
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