There’s a lot of talk in education about how to engage kids in social emotional learning. In the past year, more educators have also started taking first steps to engaging in antiracism work.
What is sometimes missing in conversations is that these two areas of learning belong together. Social emotional learning that ignores the effects of racism (and other forms of bias) upholds oppression. Antiracist education that focuses only on imparting information about race, without addressing how racism continually shows up in our minds and bodies, is ineffective.
In this post, I’ll share why antiracism and social emotional learning must be integrated with each other (and with all school subjects.) I’ll also provide resources that help educators carry out both approaches at the same time.
Six reasons that antiracist learning and social emotional learning belong together
1. When social emotional learning (SEL) ignores racism, it masks oppression.
Helping students develop strategies for resilience is a big emphasis in SEL. These strategies can be helpful for students, encouraging them not to give up easily when they fail at something or run into obstacles.
But racism and other forms of oppression have a huge influence on what kinds of obstacles and stresses students face. Tony Weaver Jr. compares the emphasis resilience and grit to “The Talk” that most Black parents have with their children on how to interact with the police. Both assume that if kids of color do everything right, they can protect themselves. Tragically, that’s often not true.
Related Post: Antiracism at school: 9 examples to inspire educators
Weaver writes, “We can’t tell Black kids to take 10 deep breaths when people who look like them are dying because they can’t breathe. There is no amount of grit that can prepare a Black girl to live in a world where she can be shot eight times while sleeping in her bed and months later no arrest will be made.”
He also points to the effects of perpetuating racism on white people’s emotional well-being. “It is not possible for a person to be racist and socially emotionally well,” Weaver writes.
However, when educators talk honestly with students about racism and injustice, social emotional learning tools can be powerful ways to advance equity.
2. Social emotional learning that isn’t antiracist ends up blaming the victims of oppression
In recent months, I’ve heard a lot of antiracist educators expressing frustration with how much concepts like “grit” are emphasized in schools.
It’s simply not true that students can overcome all obstacles through grit. Children of color face systemic racism in many forms, from over-policing of their neighborhoods to underfunded schools and implicit bias from teachers.
Grit cannot change these realities. Implying that it can ends up blaming kids for “failing” in systems that were designed for them not to thrive. And it discourages kids and adults alike from working together to change these unfair systems.
Transformative SEL is a new model developed by Robert Jagers, Deobrah Rivas-Drake, and Brittney Williams. It explicitly focuses on equity and racial justice while providing kids with social emotional tools.
When children can experience transformative SEL, they can process how systems disadvantage or advantage them based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability. They can develop strategies for coping with the effects of oppression in their own lives, and recognize that this oppression is not their fault.
Related post: 13 children’s books about courage for all ages
3. An antiracist lens keeps SEL from being Eurocentric
This article from the Communities for Just Schools Fund points out that the way the 5 basic principles of SEL are carried out in schools is often based on Eurocentric, patriarchal, cisgender norms.
But when educators encourage students to embrace tools that are relevant to their cultures, then “social emotional learning relates students back to their ancestry while recognizing and addressing trauma.” The article uses the example of a Latina student who became upset while waiting to speak at a conference about a traumatic experience. One of her friends began braiding her hair, a calming practice that has often been used in both brown and Black communities.
I think it’s also crucial for white children to learn some of the many different ways communities of color have cared for one another in the face of trauma. Too often, white kids think that what is typical in their communities is either the only way to solve problems or is superior to other ways. This teaches them patterns of racism and control that white people need to unlearn.
Related Post: When discussing racism makes kids of color feel ashamed
4. Both SEL and antiracism are most effective when they’re integrated into the whole school day
It’s of course helpful to have specific times set aside in the school day or week to talk about social emotional learning and antiracism education.
But both antiracism and SEL are really about understanding all subjects, relationships, and interactions in a new way. They’re both lenses that can and should be used everywhere from literature to science to history to recess. Children learn best when we don’t try to compartmentalize their experience into neat little categories.
Related Post: 7 ideas for social justice lesson plans
5. Antiracist SEL can help white children understand themselves as having race
One of the reasons that it’s so difficult to talk to white adults about race and racism is that many of us don’t believe race affects us. Because whiteness isn’t talked about, white people learn to think of ourselves as “normal,” and of race as only affecting of people of color. This makes it easy for white people to disengage from issues of racial injustice, assuming it has nothing to do with us.
Two of the core competencies of SEL are self-awareness and social awareness. An antiracist approach to social emotional learning will help kids of all races, including white children, understand how their experiences are shaped by race. Just as important, it will help them grasp, and have empathy for, how race shapes the lives of classmates who are not their same race.
I sometimes imagine what an effect this kind of education would have in reducing white fragility and strengthening cross-racial relationships. It could be so powerful for a whole generation of children to not only understand how race impacts them, but to also have tools for resisting racism!
6. Antiracist SEL discourages white people from turning racism into an intellectual experience
One of the thing that white supremacy culture does is teach white folks to prioritize thinking over feeling. That means those of us who are white often have a hard time exploring how racism shows up in our emotions and in our bodies. It also makes it harder for us to listen and respond empathetically when people of color experience racism. And when we can’t listen deeply, we’re much less likely to do our own work for change.
Related Post: Overcoming anxiety so you can talk to kids about race effectively
But white kids can learn a different way if their trusted adults have modeled social and self awareness when talking about race. Over time, with continued practice, they’ll learn how to identify and process all the feelings that come up from talking about race or even having unintentionally done something racist.
For children of color, antiracist SEL can provide models for naming when a classmate has hurt them, and for calling on that classmate to change. (This assumes of course that adults are providing a safe antiracist space that meets students of colors’ needs.)
Tools and resources for integrating social emotional learning and antiracism
Samantha Song has written a piece on 4 ways to plan for social emotional learning and anti-racism in early elementary
This article from Cierra Kaler-Jones warns about when SEL is used an another form of policing.
Elizabeth Devaney reflects on ways to ensure that SEL is antiracist in this piece.
Kamilah Drummond-Foster shares on the role social-emotional learning plays in teaching white children about race.
I [STILL] Can’t Breathe: Supporting kids of color amid racialized violence webinar from EmbraceRace provides practical advice from Dr. Allison Briscoe-Smith.
This piece provides a brief introduction to transformative SEL. You can find an in-depth article explaining transformative SEL here.
To better understand how white supremacy culture might be shaping the norms and behaviors in your school/classroom, see this piece from Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun.