U.S. schoolchildren once were told to emulate “Honest” Abe Lincoln and George Washington, who ” could not tell a lie.” Traditional virtues like “character, decency, perseverance, responsibility, and citizenship,” now known as “persistence,” “grit” and “noncognitive skills,” have been “rebranded as ‘social and emotional’ learning (SEL),” writes Rick Hess. He offers advice for SEL advocates. First, “be clear about what the ‘it’ is,” he writes. If it’s frank talk about the impor

In “Schools Are Still Peddling the Self-Esteem Hoax,” Fordham’s Checker Finn criticizes social and emotional learning as another fad. Marc Tucker jumps into the debate with a post on how high-scoring Singapore and Hong Kong educators combine social, emotional and academic learning at schools for vulnerable children. (Teachers) know they cannot reach these young people in order to engage them in learning until they first do what they need to do to earn their trust.  The facult

Years ago, I speed-read a self-esteem book about a hedgehog (or some such) who was afraid to go to school on the first day because he didn’t know how to read. By the final page, he’d learned it was OK: His teacher would “love” him “just the way you are.” Parents love their little hedgehogs. Teachers do not. It’s not their job. Their job is to teach reading, among other things. If “just the way you are” is illiterate, then a good teacher will do her best to change that. I agre