Modern schools have changed much in the last fifty years, and one of the subtle changes is in the way children are encouraged to become good citizens and participants in society. (Before you read here, I suggest you read “The Greatest Divorce” for a backgrounder.) In the 1990s, a new buzz word appeared in school curricula: emotional intelligence. According to Daniel Goleman, a World Economic forum member and founder of CASEL, “emotional intelligence is just as important as academic intelligence” (https://illinoisfamily.org/education/2-the-connections-between-the-global-elites-the-world-economic-forum-and-the-social-emotional-learning-movement/). While that may be so, is it in the purview of the school to teach emotional intelligence? Is that not what a parent starts to do even before school begins?

The emotional intelligence movement started infiltrating every avenue it could find to promote the agenda. An insidious teaching tactic began to be taught in teachers’ university curricula that every emotion is to be validated. If a child is angry, there must be a valid reason. If a child is happy, that is a good thing, so we must get the unhappy child happy again. The theory avers that if one child hurts another, it is because they have an emotional response to something and we need to validate that emotion.

However, children are not logical thinkers, and they act out in ways they cannot process rationally. For example, I once stuck a pin in a couch and made my sister sit on it to see if the pin would recede back into the couch or stick into my sister’s behind. Of course, she was poked by the pin and I received a spanking. When I asked myself why I did that and did not sit on the pin myself, I had no answer. Have you ever heard a child say, “I don’t know,” when asked why they did something to hurt another? They really don’t know! Their reasoning powers are undeveloped, and they do not develop until given a reason to do so. My curiosity was not validated by my parents and I had the opportunity to think carefully about why I was disciplined. I learned to think before experimenting on someone else.

This validating phenomenon actually has a name: Social and Emotional Learning. A whole global initiative called CASEL has pushed its way into every level of education. Their five pillars sound great on the surface, but their curriculum hides the core concept that children do not learn the concepts of responsibility, self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, and healthy relationships at home. So the global pundits presume they should teach them to children. They even say that they are there to help families learn these concepts. Apparently, the adults had not learned them either.

The theory is laid out here: “Students spend the majority of their school day in classrooms, and these spaces are at the heart of the learning process” (https://casel.org/systemic-implementation/sel-in-the-classroom/). If you spend a bit of time studying their theory, you can see and hear the attempt to make SEL rather than the family a foundation of society. After all, they urge, we need to become a more compassionate global community, and they believe families cannot do that. However, “[t]he transition to SEL places more of an emphasis on emotional rather than academic development” (https://illinoisfamily.org/education/ 2-the-connections-between-the-global-elites-the-world-economic-forum-and-the-social-emotional-learning-movement/).

CASEL grew out of the globalist Club of Rome, whose members developed “youth programs which seek to transform children”. Today, a teacher is taught to say, “I understand,” even when a child is raging and out of control. The child does not even know what those words mean. Their control centre is blocking any kind of input, and when they do not receive what they want, “I understand” means nothing. Children are self-centred naturally, and it is an adult’s job to help the child unlearn their selfish ways.

But the theory says that validating feelings makes the child receptive to input and helps him calm down. So the teacher focuses on the biggest problem, the one demanding attention, and validates their feelings. With their feelings always validated, kids feel free to express whatever outrageous feelings they may have. Most people, with guidance, eventually learn that their feelings are temporary and changeable, but too many do not. Instead, they learn that they are the centre of the world and everyone else’s feelings are less important. In essence, they become narcissistic to a certain degree. Whatever upsets them must be changed. They become hypersensitive to the slightest offense. In fact, they “pick up” offenses even when offense is not intended. Have you heard of “micro-aggressions”? These are perceived offenses that supposedly are done on purpose by a person of privilege. They are “perceived”, which means they are likely not real.

On the other hand, whatever feels good becomes paramount to their lives, and temporary pleasure rather than long-term satisfaction with earned gain is their goal. Terms like faithfulness, persistence, and quality-rather-than-quantity are foreign concepts. Things and people are entities to be used, not valued. Nothing and no one have intrinsic value except themselves. A “My way or the highway” attitude leaves a wake of unfinished or destroyed relationships behind them.

If you think I am exaggerating the effects of the validation of feelings, just listen to a few You Tube posts and note the sense of outrage against anyone that can be called a disparaging name. “Racist”, “misogynist”, and “extremist” come to mind. The names hardly ever refer to the real condition of the person being named, but they have become buzz words used to disparage anyone who says something an immature person does not like. Their feelings matter more than anyone else’s because no one ever told them that feelings are fleeting, but actions have consequences.

This short post cannot hope to address the complex issues arising out of the cult of emotional navel-gazing that has erupted. But it is important to be aware that while emotions are important, they should not form the basis for education.