Forget Social-Emotional Learning. It's Just Foundational Learning.

Last week my house flooded. Half the living room, our kitchen, a bathroom and three bedrooms were destroyed within a few hours. And in the ensuing days, I’ve packed as if we were moving, clearing out furniture, toys, clothes, wet dust bunnies and all the rest. Our walls tested positive for asbestos, upping the ante on the extent we needed to clear the rooms out to avoid any possible containment. In between all this, our family of five relocated to a cozy little hotel studio where we’ll be for the next few weeks. In an effort to make it homey for my children, I brought over our fridge magnets, favorite toys and loads of books.

And because life is life, while all this was going on I was facing looming deadlines for both work and school. A presentation to our school board, the planning of a six hour professional learning day, two final papers, a variety of assignments requiring thought and reflection...and I found, shockingly, that I had absolutely no mental capacity to do any of it. In the few hours I was able to carve out for school and work, I was able only to stare at my screen and wonder about how much insurance would cover, what things I needed to grab to make sure we had what we needed while the house was under containment, whether or not our hotel stay would be extended and paid for.

Which brings me to my point. When faced with a lack of basic needs - what Maslow calls physiological needs - there was no way I was able to “self-actualize”, to reach the point of thinking critically and creatively. My shelter, food, sleep, all had been disrupted and where I would stay, eat and sleep was questionable. I don’t in any way intend to compare my situation to those who are far worse off; I mean only to express that for the first time in my adult life, with young dependents, I was facing an amount of instability that I had never experienced before. And I struggled to think straight.

There is a lot of talk these days about social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools and places of learning needing to step up and also be places of safety where basic needs can be met. School meal programs, babysitting, counseling, social service referrals are all commonplace in schools today. As they should be (although funding is another story - if all these programs were fully funded by those in power, they may then begin to have the full impact some have envisioned). And I now have a level of understanding about the importance of SEL and barrier removal that I didn’t before. When 19% of our country’s children live in poverty, and up to 43% if different measurements are used, we cannot expect them to thrive in learning environments that don’t first provide for their basic needs. There is no reasonable expectation that a child who doesn’t know where their next meal will come from or who lives in squalor can learn at the deep, meaningful levels our new standards envision. And that said, many children do, because children are amazingly resilient.

I want to know what would happen in Washington if our politicians all lived where 19% of our children live. I want to know what would happen if their houses flooded and they lost their belongings and were unsure of how long they would be displaced. I want to know what would happen if they didn’t eat breakfast and had no idea when or if dinner would come. Forget lunch. Could we function? Could our government keep it together? The only way to understand the needs of those who lack fundamental needs is to live it - and I know my dip into this has been only surface level.

Forget social-emotional learning. It’s foundational learning. When students arrive to school hungry, tired and mired in instability, there are some foundational programs schools absolutely must put in place in order to help these students begin to even reach for their true potential. I was able to meet my deadlines in the end (most of them). Why? Because I have all the other levels of Maslow’s hierarchy. I have safety. I have love. I have strong relationships that have helped me through the past week. When I get to class tonight, I know I will be able to participate and think at the deep levels that are required because my class is a safe place. I’ll be able to check in with my friends, share my story, get sympathy and be understood. And because of this, I will be able to self-actualize and think critically and creatively. I may not have my bed, my routine, my normal food or any control over my housing. But I have friends and a place where I am known and loved. And so I’m good. And I can do what’s asked of me. And that - that safe place where everyone belongs and is loved - that is what our schools can do. No funding needed, just big hearts and a students-first mentality.

(image credit goes to Dawn McConnell!)

Maslow, Bloom and Motivation