The Child Mind Institute defines Social Emotional Learning (SEL) as: “the way children acquire social and emotional skills," including managing emotions, decisions, stress, goals, and relationships. Currently, SEL is sprinkled throughout the curriculum of Michigan public schools. That saturation level is about to change.

In the new Health Standards, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) stresses the importance of providing a well-rounded education that helps support the "whole child.” The standards apply SEL competencies “in every area of content,” promoting self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and a sense of belonging.

Last September, the updated standards were introduced as a draft to the State Board of Education. The standards then made the rounds for feedback. During that time, one of the more public platforms of debate involved Interim State Superintendent Dr. Sue C. Carnell presenting the draft to the House Oversight Committee on October 28, 2025.

While many of the Committee members questioned and expressed utter disbelief at the standards' inclusion of gender ideology, there were two senators in particular who additionally questioned the concentration of SEL.

State Senator Lana Theis, former Chair of the Education Committee for the Michigan State Senate, expressed her disapproval of SEL by referencing the Neo-Pi-R personality test used to identify neuroticism. She explained that the test defines self-consciousness as a subset of neuroticism, and that there is no identifiable difference between being anxious, depressed, or self-conscious. “Yet,” Theis said, “all SEL does is tell students to keep checking in with their feelings. We’re causing them anxiety. We’re causing them depression. We’re not strengthening them in any way.”

Theis said that for students who already are self-conscious, SEL makes that feeling even worse—especially for pubescent girls. “I have never met a woman who thought going through puberty was a good time…," Theis said, "[or who was] perfectly comfortable with her body going through puberty.” Rather than filling their minds with SEL, Theis suggested telling students, "Yes, it’s uncomfortable. But you’ve got this." She went on to say that students need to be encouraged and told how amazing puberty will be on the other side.

“SEL training is like group therapy combined with a struggle section and is, of itself, causative of trauma,” Theis said.

Theis added that as part of SEL, students are releasing information that they have "no business telling other kids," sharing what that they wouldn’t otherwise tell were they not feeling pressured.

According to Theis, what actually would help students would be to "focus them outwardly." She said, "We need to tell them to figure out how to help others, to treat others the way they would like to be treated. We don’t need to tribalize these kids. You treat everybody with respect. You treat everybody with kindness… You don’t ask them to identify their tribes and make it worse.”

Theis mentioned a book in which three hostages would spend every night identifying what made them grateful—and it was that practice that stabilized their mental health. “Not all kids need to receive information as if they’ve undergone trauma…," Theis said. "You should be treating the actual victims.... the actual kids that need help. But this is not something you can scale school wide. It shouldn’t be done.”

State Representative Jamie Thompson told the House Oversight Committee that she, too, opposes the formal adoption of SEL incorporated into the Health Standards. She shared a review by the National Education Policy Center which notes that many programs push to make SEL the central focus, raising issues about what exactly the role of the school is versus the role of the family. "We do not co-parent with the government," Thompson said. But SEL appears to be aiming for that role.

Thompson shared that there are critics who question whether SEL diverts time and resources from actual academics. There also is concern for parental rights. “Parents have raised objections,” Thompson said, “that SEL curriculum may encroach on their value system, their own character, and their beliefs…—areas where families believe [schools] should be refraining from."

At the November 13 State Board of Education meeting, when the standards were being voted upon, many public commenters spoke against the gender ideology content. Additionally, just as during the Oversight Committee meeting, there were objections to the inclusion of SEL.

One of the public commenters said, “Kids are subjected to personality quizzes, self-reflection prompts, and empathy exercises. There's no escape... Learning is not therapy. You're treating reading failure with therapy instead of teaching kids to read… We don't want you to probe the minds of our children and shape their world views. Nor should teachers be expected to act as therapists or spiritual gurus. Parents need to see through the rhetoric and the fog of whole child education.”
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And now for a personal example of SEL in action: Back in the 2010s, before SEL was at the forefront, my son was in grade school. I remember him coming home excited to tell about Modigliani and other artists he was discovering in his class. Art, he was learning, was about expression, and color, and trying different styles and mediums.

Fast forward to the 2020s. The concepts that had captivated my son years before were not the ones I heard listening to an elementary art teacher’s presentation at a school board meeting. Instead, she spoke of students learning to self-contain, to respect personal space, and how to think about the person sitting beside you. That change in content focus is not only happening in art classes. SEL is leaving no room for the beauty of a good education.

Parents are to have the strongest voice in shaping the moral fabric of their children. Schools, curriculum, methodology, ideology—none of it is to replace parenting. And the Michigan Constitution agrees.

Schools have veered out of their lane.

What will it take for parents to pull their kids out of the public school system?

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