Maggie's Farm

They have learned that they cannot raise IQ, though they won't admit it. They can teach crap information or quality, but they don't like the lessons that go along with the quality literature, so they can't have that. Yet they are sure that because of their training and their good intentions that there must be something valuable they can do, so they light upon the skills they were good at in school and have decided to call them the most important. Most educators did not test well, take much math and science, or challenge themselves intellectually. Spatial knowledge tends to be weak. They did, however, show a remarkable ability to understand what teachers wanted and produce that. They are in fact very good at sensing the Zeitgeist and producing it.

Conscientiousness is especially prized. Conscientiousness is a very good thing, of course, but it is not the only virtue. They would rather have a student who is obsessed with pleasing the school than one who is obsessed with learning a subject. Thus, getting along and not disturbing the routine with any uncomfortable ideas is also prized.

This is why social-emotional skills are what they always return to. It is what they are good at, it is what schools have stressed for decades, and what they think must be most important. Do not think that it was different in the old days. The requirements for conformity were present, but different. We learned some aspects of government when we learned Civics, but we also learned how important it was to Be Good, in a school sense.

It also provides an opportunity for kids who aren't that smart to succeed as well, not by working hard or figuring out alternative strategies, but by Being Nice. And this is where it becomes not merely pointless, but pernicious, because Being Nice now means Political Correctness, and this will be enforced.