In an age when education has become a big number battle to combat low test scores and students’ lack of ability to perform the basics after high school, The New York Times offers an article highlighting new support for social and emotional learning.  A Loyola psychologist and a Times staff member conducted a large quantitative study to understand the effects of social and emotional learning on academic learning.  They found that children who had components of both performed 10 percentage points higher on standardized exams. 

As a parent, I think this is great, and I can only hope that schools will start helping some of the bratty, pushy kids I see in public adjust their behavior.  I am constantly trying to find new ways to explain to my kids that even though they see other kids pushing and bullying, it is not ok, and that I as a parent will not tolerate it.  It would be nice to go back to some decent social standards so that parents who want to teach their kids to wait their turn for a piece of playground equipment do not have go find a nice plastic bubble somewhere to live in.

But I digress from the educational issue.  It is easy to understand why test scores would go up if kids are taught how to behave.  The academic time spent in the classroom is much more fruitful, and the children know their boundaries, and hopefully would spend less time testing them.  So, I wait patiently for the idea of educating the whole person to take flight.  Until then, I’ll be searching for my bubble. 

Kudos to The New York Times for being part of this study.  It is about time that we start formalizing the idea of teaching children about ethics and behaviorial standards.  Many people I talk to feel that manners and behavior in our world have suffered greatly, but still we all end up shoving our shopping cart ahead of someone else at the grocery store.  Hopefully, this type of research will fuel a resurgence of manners, ethics and just generally being nice.