The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Episode 85
Critical Education Theory Series, Part 17
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) is a key battleground topic in education today. Parents across the country are rightly very upset that what sounds like and could be a very useful program for kids who struggle in certain ways at school has far less wholesome purposes. On the one hand, they’re noticing that SEL tends to be misapplied in classrooms and through other subjects, not in controlled therapeutic settings with kids who have been identified to need it. On the other hand, they’ve noticed far more nefarious uses like data mining of children and a diversion of educational resources into overtly grooming and Marxist programs they don’t support or want for their kids. In this episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay goes through a paper on Social-Emotional Learning in the context of the pandemic to reveal that there’s an intentional bait-and-switch being sold to school districts (unless they realize what they’re doing, which is unconscionable). What sounds good in SEL is being sold to promote “Transformative SEL” (CASEL model) or, in this paper, “Social-Emotional Learning for Social-Emotional Justice (SEL-SEJ),” which is just a different description of essentially the same thing. What’s obvious here is how flimsy SEL programs of this type are and also how overwhelmingly Marxist in the Paulo Freirean mold Lindsay is exposing in tremendous depth here on the New Discourses Podcast. Join him to learn about how SEL is definitely not what it might seem to be.
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7 comments
I realize more and more of late that I keep saying how afraid I am of what’s around the corner, but what I fear is already here, entrenched for decades. How much worse it will get is the stuff of nightmares, but we aren’t at “the beginning.” We could be well into the third act. Unfortunately I struggle with addiction, and I can tell you that they are putting extremely deadly poison in substances that is causing chaos, harm and death that you’d have to experience to believe. I see the fear and shock in the ER Doctors’ faces as they try to hide the fact that they
have no idea what zombie flesh disease they’re looking at that they’ve never encountered before. I apologize if this seems tangential, but it’s another branch of this deadly tree in the plot to destroy America.
“Blood Money,” exposes in disturbing detail, with ample receipts and in the CCP’s own words what they’re doing to kill Americans. James, you’re an important part in exposing this. The woke iterations are obvious and easy for me to resist and see through, but they have captured our youth. This is more of a symbolic death, a slow decline as we seem to destroy ourselves and erode our values as if we came up with it.
Of course, our “leaders” know the truth but their cowardice knows no bounds. I’m going to the hospital to get off this poison and and hopefully I live long enough to bear witness and join the fight. Stay safe and thank you for your brain and unwillingness to conform.
Dear Jespar Kristensen
There is no legitimate correlation between transformative learning & SEL unless a totalitarian entity has chosen to hijack or plagiarise TL. In fact exponents of transformative learning would generally be more than keenly anti political correctness, fully supporting the form of andragogy that is seeking to expose the elites sociological fraud. Anything good way to bahave socially can be infiltrated by contagion and transported systemically. Pedagogy is only another neutral model open to be implemented for the good or the worst. There does not seem to be any model which the human race can put into practice that is immune misuse actually, a fundamental that appears to be a key reason in enabling what is going on around us.
A great new article on Audre Lorde.
https://compactmag.com/article/stop-doing-the-work
Please keep hammering at this topic. Years ago I guessed that graduate schools of education were America’s “contribution” to Marxism. You fully confirm with texts my insufficiently evidenced stipulation. There are, of course, other cultural swamps in contemporary America, but most of these are of consequence only for the amusement of our oligarchic elite. The cancer you dissect threatens all, especially the young ( who are already victims of Fauci and his ilk). Of course these discussions do not produce in you or your audience anything apart from negative emotions, like repulsion. It is, I think, impossible to review this literature without a feeling of disgust, appropriate given our human nature. Thanks, again. You are right: taking a shower is necessary when descending to the cultural sewer. As Heidegger put it, alas, “Only a god can save us.”
The Borg on the other side of the Woke.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/the-borg-of-the-gargoyles
Thanks again , James .
Very disturbing and urgent . These terms and phrases , thanks to prominent media and celebrity politics , has seeped way too deeply in our daily discourse . Its going to take yeomin work to get it out .
I’m from Denmark and just did a quick search following this podcast to see whether these ideas are to be found around here.
When I searched for SEL I actually mostly got the old school SEL, and even with some close reading it didn’t really stick out as particularly Marxist or Friere’ian .
However, around these parts searching for “transformative learning” (‘transformativ læring’) helped. Then the search results were exactly what you’re talking about. But boy do they sell it well. I’m continually amazed at how well their sales department works.
This is from the info box for the conference (translated from Danish):
“Paulo Freire & The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Another contribution to the development of the concept came from the end of the 1960s were a number of movements worked towards ending social injustice and inequality.
The Brazilian adult educator Paulo Freire plays an important role in the populistic and libearing movements, and his book “The Pedagogy of the Oppressed” has been sold in over 700.000 copies worldwide, which possibly makes it the most read book on education and pedagogy ever.”
‘Adult educator’ … heh, not a word about what he intended to do to our children, and did!
The conference I found pointed to a local “big shot” in education, Knud Illeris, a professor emeritus now. I really hope they don’t manage to infect it all … maybe they already have and I just have to dig deeper?