The Daily Signal - Social-Emotional Learning: The Insidious Teaching Tool You’ve Never Heard Of

Episode Date: December 6, 2021

What is social-emotional learning? By now, many Americans are aware of critical race theory, which makes race the focus of all aspects of American life. The philosophy categorizes individuals into groups of oppressors and victims, and is currently making its way through the political sphere, the military, and of course, education. But less well known is its ideological cousin, social-emotional learning. The program seeks to indoctrinate kids into leftist ideology by reinforcing a series of critical race theory-based morals and values. Jennifer McWilliams was working as a reading teacher at Frankton Elementary School in Indiana when she noticed that social-emotional learning was being taught as part of the curriculum at her school. When she voiced her concerns about the racist ideology, she was summarily fired. McWilliams says there’s nothing good about social-emotional learning, and that it’s based in racist critical race theory. “It is all negative,” she says, “When you understand the program fully, and you understand the framework and the ideology behind it, you will understand that it is not good. The entire social-emotional learning framework is based on the critical race theory ideology.” Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Monday, December 6th. I'm Doug Blair. And I'm Virginia Allen. On today's show, Doug talks with Jennifer McWilliams, an Indiana teacher who was fired after she criticized critical race theory and social emotional learning in her local school. We also read your letters to the editor and share a good news story about a Florida man who is using his love of fishing to mentor the next generation of strong young men. Before we get to today's show, we have a very important. important announcement. The Heritage Foundation is currently accepting applicants for the Spring 2022 internship program. We still have a few intern positions available across the building for qualified candidates. If you or maybe your young adult son or daughter is passionate about conservative ideas and looking for a great real-world work experience this spring, then consider applying for

the Heritage Foundation Spring Young Leaders program. In addition to gaining work experience in the nation's capital interns receive policy briefings, take part in first principal lectures, and have the opportunity to build lasting relationships with their fellow interns. Plus, it's a paid internship. So if you are interested in learning more or applying for the program, which does begin on January 10th, and it runs through April 22nd of 2022, it's 15 weeks in total. So if you would like to apply, if you want to learn more, you can simply search for the Heritage Young Leaders Program. Now stay tuned for today's show coming up next.

Our guest today is Jennifer McWilliams, an Indiana teacher who was fired from her job after she criticized the use of social emotional learning in her school's curriculum, as well as the founder and CEO of Purple for Parents, Indiana. Jennifer, welcome to the show. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Excellent. Well, we are very excited to have you as well. Before we get into some of the story behind your firing, let's start by. defining our terms. What exactly is social emotional learning? Social emotional learning,

it is a teaching method that has for the past five, six years, transformed the education system. And it comes from Castle, which is the collaborative for academic, social, and emotional learning. And basically, they sold it to the public education system as a way to teach children life skills that they are not receiving. But through my two years of research and understanding of this program, it really is the key to what parents across this country are looking for right now. Social emotional learning is the psychological manipulation of our children to adopt the critical race theory ideology. So you mentioned critical race theory, which is something that the Heritage Foundation and the Daily Signal have been very invested in fighting back

against and to countering. What about social emotional learning is so bad? Why should parents be concerned about this if it's in their schools? Sure. So when the program comes into the schools, and it is in all 50 states, so this is relevant to everyone. It comes in through a different programs, And so there's a lot of names for the programs that they use. But they all follow a framework. And the framework that they use from Castle is based on the critical race theory ideology. And so they influence children and they want to shift their perception of their values and beliefs and attitudes worldview through the critical race theory viewpoint. So that ideology.

And they use language that is very confusing to parents because it sounds nice. But when they understand that this SEL is coming into the school to influence the children in that way, then it makes sense. And it really is that critical race theory that they are looking for. Okay. So to get to your story, you were fired from your school for criticizing the use of social emotional learning in the curriculum. Specifically, there was a module called Leader in Me. Would you be able to walk us through the events leading up to you getting your contract being terminated? When I started as a Title I reading instructor, I had stayed home with my children for quite a while.

So I was just starting my career. And when I started at the school, I started noticing a lot of changes in the education system. And my school was in the third year in 2019 of this program. And the focus of staff meetings and, you know, all of the things that we were doing within the school was focusing around this program called Leader and Me. And so I started researching it because I really wasn't sure why we were focused on what the children, what their morals and values and beliefs were as opposed to their academic success. And when I started to research the program, I became very concerned. One of the things that really kicked off my research into this was when they had teachers and staff using this program to role play social scenarios with children. And so I thought, you know, I'm like, why are we doing this?

We should be focused on academics. And I spoke out against it. I had started a program for people or parents to, you know, kind of get an idea of what was going on with the school so they could get involved. And I found a blog post that I did not write it, but I found one that was relevant to the program leader in me that was actually at my school. I posted it in my own personal time. And that was on a Monday. And then on Friday of that same week, my school fired me for doing that. So one of the things that struck me when you were telling that story is they were having children model social scenarios or something similar to that.

What exactly does that mean? They would take the children and they would, so I was at elementary school and it was so it was kindergarten through sixth grade. They would mix the children up, have them go to a different classroom. So you would have a classroom full of children that were not even your students. And they were, you would have students from all of the grade. grades in there. And so socially emotional learning, like I said, it comes into the schools under the guise of they want to teach the life skills that children need. And so they teach these competencies, that's what they call it, to the children through many, many ways, but the way that I became

introduced to it was that we would give the children a scenario, a social scenario, and then we would give them a skill that they would have to apply to that scenario. And so I will give you example. At my school, the competencies were called habits. And just to be clear, other people at other schools may call them different things. It's really a game of semantics. That's why a lot of people across the country are so confused right now. But at my school, they were called habits.

And so I would give them a scenario. And then I would say, okay, now you need to apply this habit. one of the habits that we had was seek first to understand before you are understood. And I always tell people that that does not sound like a bad skill as adults. When you understand what is comfortable for you, your morals, your values, that skill, we all use that skill at times. But they're influencing these children to use that skill in all scenarios to be successful. And at the same time in 2019, my school transitioned their restrooms to be inclusive. So the idea behind this whole program is to get children to compromise what they believe,

what they've been told, and to start believing these new social norms. So you were critical of this module leader in me. Did you comply with the teaching of the module or did you refuse to comply with it? And why did you decide to do what you did? No, I did my job and I did the lessons that they gave me. I did not feel in my position that I could refuse at that time. But I did speak out against it in my own personal time. So when they fired me for doing so, that was a violation of my First Amendment,

which I now have a federal First Amendment case against my school. When they fired me, I explained to them because they came at me in terms of being an employee there, and I said, you know, I do everything I'm supposed to do here. But as an American and citizen that has a child at this school, I have every right to raise concerns about this program because the school should not be influencing these children in this way, no matter what family you've come from. And so I really just wanted to, you know, get parents to understand what was going on within the school, but they did not obviously want me to do that.

Right. We actually do have some audio that you recorded of your encounter with the principal and the vice principal where they let you go. We will include a link to an excerpt of that conversation in the description for this podcast and they write up for the podcast. On that note, I have a two-part question. When they called you into the office, did you know you were being fired? And then why did you decide to record audio of the encounter? I did not know I was going to be fired that morning. I had because I had started Purple for Parents, Indiana, I knew there was some concern within the school about me doing that.

But I was very careful and very respectful. I never shared anything that was confidential or anything. I just spoke out as a very concerned American citizen about what was happening in the public education system. And they had pulled me in a couple times for conversations about my, it was just a Facebook group at the time. And they had pulled me in with some concerns about it. The conversations that I had with them, I explained to them that just like teachers fighting for the red for ed, which is the teacher's union movement outside of their own. in their own time. I had the right to also have my opinion. And they agreed with me at the time.

So, but I had had a couple of situations prior to that where there were some teachers that actually were, they had made up a couple of things that I had done. There was an investigation within the school that they found out it was not true. And so when I got the message on that Thursday night that I needed to be in the office the next morning, something just told me I needed to be very careful about what was going on and so I thought you know the best thing to do was just have proof of the conversation and I recorded it. When you were let go, did you find that there was much support from members of your school community? Did people come up to you and say, I think this is wrong? What was the response from the school community to your firing?

It was quite a firestorm. I had both. I would say it was about 50-50 as far as people in the community that stuck up for me and became very concerned about the program as well. There were people that didn't agree with me. But I think what the most concerning thing about it is that my school really used me as an example to basically bully other employees to not speak out. And not only that, I had parents that would, they would write.

to me, message me, call me, and they were in full support of what I had done and were very concerned about what was going on in the school. But they were also bullied into silence because they were afraid to speak out publicly because they send their children to school there every single day and they were worried about there being some kind of consequence for their speaking out and support of me. So they really used me as an example to basically tell everybody, you know, get in line. I want to go back to sort of the actual key argument of social emotional learning. Some people might argue that social emotional learning has some good aspects.

As you mentioned before, there were certain things that they were teaching kids about, like, you know, being respectful and, you know, having these learning and understanding. Are there any positive aspects to this teaching style, or is it all negative? It is all negative. I know that people, that's a common argument that I hear is, well, we may not like some of it. it, but a lot of it is good. And what I like to tell people is if when you understand the program fully and you understand the framework and the ideology behind it, you will understand that it is not good. The entire social emotional learning framework is based on the critical race theory ideology. So everything that they do within the school, see, SEL social emotional learning is what they

call they want to teach the whole child and it is a culture shift within the school. So everything they do with this program is to be integrated into all parts of the children's day at school. That includes academics. That includes everything, the whole culture. And when you understand that all of those shifts are through the lens of a critical race theorist, you understand why we are seeing what is happening right now across this country. And I have been working really hard to, I'm really glad that people are picking up on the critical race theory concern within the education system. But if we don't, we don't focus on the right thing, we are not going to be able to fix it.

So CRT is the ideology, but social emotional learning is the delivery system. So what you're saying is that critical race theory, the ideas and the philosophy behind it are being packaged up in this new sort of social emotional learning. box and being delivered to children. Yes. That's exactly what they have done. Excellent. On a similar note to what we've heard about critical race theory, a lot of the dialogue

surrounding critical race theory from the left is that, you know, critical race theory is just teaching real history or just fostering accurate dialogue about America's past. How do you respond to that? Critical race theorists believe in revisionist history. And that's what we're seeing infiltrating the schools right now. And this revisionist history is not based on facts and how it transformed our country. It is actually just based on perceptions that they choose. And of course, because a critical race theorist believes that in all of our systems in the country and in every situation, there is some form of oppression.

And so they choose these stories, whether they be true or false, for the context. of whatever they're using, they always choose the ones that expose some sort of perceived oppression. So the entire social emotional learning program and transformation of our education system these last five years is through the belief that America is systemally racist. And they do it through revisionist history. So when they say we're just telling accurate history, that's really not what they're doing. They're choosing perceptions based on oppression to rewrite our history.

So as a teacher, there are going to be circumstances where maybe you interact with a parent that disagrees with how you are teaching or doing things. Obviously, this is sort of the human experience where people disagree with each other. How would you explain your opposition to social emotional learning, critical race theory, all of these ideas to someone, maybe a person, maybe a parent who is in favor of it in order to get them on your side if you could sit down with them? I would tell them that I believe that it is their right to teach their children, morals, values, attitudes, beliefs, and that it is not the job of a government institution to do that. They're pushing these children into a group think box, and that is not what America is about. And I have said to people that have disagreed with me that they have every right to believe what they believe in their personal life and that I would absolutely stand next to them and fight for their right to teach their children and the way that they want, whatever ideology they believe and want to teach them.

But when the children go to school, they are there for academics. And that is, we are, we have transitioned the purpose of education from academics to a very radical ideology. And so they don't have to believe in my beliefs and morals and values. And I don't have to believe in theirs. But we should all stand together and fight for the innocence of these children and allow parents or caregivers to teach their children the way that they want. Shifting gears a little bit. We mentioned to the top that you are the CEO and founder. of Purple for Parents, Indiana.

Would you be able to tell us a little bit more about that organization and what it is that you guys do? I will. I actually, I will tell you, I just a couple weeks ago, step down. I'm going to start working on a, so what I built with Purple for Parents, Indiana, it is the biggest parental rights group in Indiana. There are members, active members in all 92 counties. and for the last two years, I've worked extremely hard to bring this awareness to our state. I actually think that as far as the critical race theory narrative goes in our country,

Indiana really is at the forefront of bringing the actual delivery system, SEL, to the front. And so I decided a couple weeks ago, I've had a couple opportunities that I would like to help the rest of the country do that. So I actually stepped down for purple for parents, but it is still going strong. And they are just fighting for parental rights within the school system and to expose what's actually happening. I am now start, have my own, it's Jennifer McWilliams Consulting.com if anybody's interested. But I would like to take what I've done here and the knowledge that I have, which is two years. I've mostly dedicated my life to understanding this and educate other states. or school districts or groups, anybody who wants to understand the delivery system of CRT,

because we cannot stop this if we don't understand it. Absolutely. What are some of the successes that you can point to from Purple for Parents? You mentioned that you have members in each of the districts in Indiana, but are there some concrete successes you can point to where we can say Purple for Parents did that? Well, Purple for Parents, Indiana has used a lot of the information and spread this knowledge. They are really in the fight for this parental rights. they have had influence with the parental rights that was just put out from Todd Rakita here in Indiana,

which is a whole packet for parents to know specifically what the rights are with the education system and for their children. And they are having a huge impact right now with legislators and policymakers in our state. And so we are hoping that in the, you know, when this next legislative session comes up, that there will be a lot of influence and voice there. You know, the teachers union is such a powerful movement and they are fully in support of this SEL ideology. So we've just worked really hard for this last year to make sure that we have a counter voice strong enough to impact. One of the things I'm very curious about, the Heritage Foundation and the Daily Signal have talked with people from very similar organizations. One that comes to mind is Ian Pryor, Fight for Schools in Loudoun County, Virginia. Do you find yourself working with other organizations across the country, or are you more locally based in the state of Indiana?

No, we have worked with other organizations, and I have also worked with personally other organizations across the country. we have received a lot of praise for the awareness that we have brought, including Loudoun County and all the way out to California. So, you know, I think it's encouraging to see all of these parental groups support each other and share information and tell each other, you know, what works, what doesn't. And I think 2022 is going to be an extremely interesting year for all of this because there is a massive, movement happening right now. As we wrap up this interview, I'd like to get your opinion on if parents are maybe finding concerning materials in their child's curriculum, how would you advise

them to deal with it? So you have to take it to obviously the teacher and the administrators. And I have found that a lot of them, especially with SEL, because it does use such innocuous language, some of them really don't understand what they are influencing. So it may help if they are willing to have a conversation about it to explain how this works, how the framework works. And of course, I'm happy to help people do that. But then you have to get to the school boards. You have to speak to the school boards. And you have to be represented there consistently.

And I think for a long time, we're all guilty of kind of dropping the ball on doing that. but we have to hold them accountable. And then, of course, the legislators need to understand it, so they need educated on this because the language sounds nice. It's very confusing to people. So that's all great information. And if our listeners are interested in learning more about social, emotional learning, critical race theory, purple for parents, where do you recommend that they go?

So, of course, Purple for Parents, Indiana is a, there is a Facebook group. And then, like I said, because I had just stepped down a couple of weeks ago, I have Jennifer McWilliams. That's MCW Consulting.com. And I just started that. So I'm starting to get some information on there for everybody. But I am starting to schedule things where I can travel across the nation to help people understand how this works and what they need to do about it. Excellent.

That was Jennifer McWilliams, an Indiana teacher who was fired from her job after she criticized the use of social emotional learning in her school's curriculum, as well as the founder and CEO of Purple for Parents, Indiana. Jennifer, thank you so much for your time, and I wish you the best in your endeavors. Thank you so much for having me. The Biden administration has been in power for almost a year, and the radical left has been imposing its dangerous ideology on America. Not only do they want to expand government control and promote cancel culture, but they also want to rewrite our nation's history, indoctrinate American students in our public school system,

attack our traditional values of honor, liberty, and justice for all, and implement a Marxist agenda that unleashes socialism throughout our country. Here at the Heritage Foundation, we need your help to finish the year strong and prepare for the battles that lie ahead in 2022. By making a tax-deductible year-end gift right now, you'll help. advance your principles, free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense at a time when our nation needs these principles most. Visit heritage.org slash year-end to make your tax-deductible donation today. Thanks so much for sending us your letters to the editor. Each Monday, we feature our favorites

on this show. Virginia, who's at first? In response to the Daily Signal's coverage of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court case, Marv writes, Dear Daily Signal, thank you for making clear the Dobbs case and what we are up against. We as a nation should be praying for the minds and the hearts of our Supreme Court justices today and until they make their decision. May the jurisprudence of God be within the minds and hearts of these justices. And in response to Rob Bowie's piece, 27 books that would make a great gift this Christmas. Jay Martinez as writes, I want to thank you for listing all of those books. I am retired, 81 years old, and an avid bookworm. I read about three to four books per week and listen to audiobooks when I am not

reading. I gave a listing of these books to my wife and daughter, and they came back with several of them. These will keep me busy for a couple of weeks. I am grateful to you for the list. Thanks so much for your letters. If you would like your letter included in the Monday edition of the Daily Signal podcast, be sure to send us an email at Letters at DailySignal.com. Do you have an interest in public policy? Do you want to hear lectures from some of the biggest names in American politics? The Heritage Foundation hosts webinars called Heritage Events Live. These events are free and open to the public.

To find the latest heritage events and to register, visit heritage.org slash events. Virginia, you have a good news story to share with us today. Over to you. Thanks so much, Doug. We have all heard the old adage. give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Will Dunn has spent the past 11 years literally teaching men to fish. It all began with an eight-year-old boy named Cameron DeLong who lived right next door to Will. When he first met Cameron, Will noticed that

the boy seemed frustrated and was showing signs of anger. He soon learned that Cameron's father was not in his life. So he decided to take the young man fishing, a pastime that has always been a place of peace and safety for Will. The one-time excursion became a habit, and soon Will and Cameron were fishing together several times a week. To this day, the two share a close bond. Will to me is like my father. He's always there for me if I need something. He's a great man. After seeing the positive change in Cameron, Will decided he wanted to invest in other young fatherless kids through the love of fishing. So he started taking kids in need out on the water. For years, he paid for all the fishing supplies for the kids that he was mentoring. And then three years ago, he formerly founded a nonprofit

called Take a Kid Fishing Inc. Will takes foster kids and other underprivileged children out on the water and teaches them how to fish and how to be people of integrity, as he told LL Bean in a special highlight video. A lot of them's never been on the water before, ever hold a fishing rod, never caught a fish, and it blesses me every day that I can wake up every morning at 54 years old and be able to take these kids out and, like I said, show them life experience and showing them that somebody loves them. Will has literally taught thousands of kids how to fish while actually.

as a mentor in their lives. The kids that we take out, it boosts our morale when you just tell them that you care for them, you're there for them that day if they need anything. Ty Haryel is one of the young men Will has mentored out on the water with a fishing pole in hand. He says his life has been changed forever by Will. I was living in the children's home and they invited us to go fishing on his boat, teaching us how to use the rod. He got a real good heart. He cared for people a lot.

Will says that now many of the young people he has invested in are like family to him. And what a powerful testimony to live a life of loving young people who are in need of that mentorship and that love. If you would like to learn more or donate to take a kid fishing ink, you can visit T-A-K-FFL.com. Again, that's T-A-K-F-F-L.com. Virginia, thank you so much for sharing that story. A guy myself, I completely understand the need to have a father figure in your life, somebody

to take you out, somebody to instill those values of traditional masculinity and positivity in your life. And I'm so glad that Will is doing this for kids that really, really need it. Me too. It's such a critical need, especially for the rising generation where we do see so much fatherlessness to have a gentleman who is taking that time to really invest in these kids. It's beautiful. Absolutely.

Well, thank you so much, Will. and hopefully things are going well. We're going to leave it there for today, but you can find the Daily Signal podcast on the RICOchet Audio Network. All of our shows can also be found at dailysignal.com slash podcasts. You can also subscribe on Apple Podcasts,

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