Emotional Education Should Be Addressed in Schools

            I believe that schools should address emotional education in their curriculums. I feel that emotional education is especially important for kindergarten teachers to include in their lesson plans/activities. Many children upon entering “school” for the first time, have separation anxiety from their parents. Therefore, it is important for kindergarten teachers to allow their children to express their feelings through art and by talking. Teachers also need to help children realize that school is just as safe a place as their homes are. This will help the students to view school as a positive and safe place for them to come to every day.

           Many children also have diverse home situations. They might have divorced parents or they might be living with a grandmother or grandfather. The children might also be experiencing verbal abuse at home or parents who are constantly fighting and doing drugs and alcohol. Many children come to school with stress, anxiety, and feelings of sadness and anger which are then reflected in their interactions with other students and in the way they behave during the school day. It is important for teachers to teach their students about different emotions, so the children can begin to match the name of an emotion to how they are feeling. It is also important for teachers to help children learn how to express their emotions in safe ways. According to Child Development and Education by Teresa McDevitt and Jeanne Ormrod, “As children grow…they may observe their parents controlling anger physically…They may use a similar strategy in dealing with peer conflicts” (422). Because children learn how to express their emotions through their parents, it is important for teachers to correct their students actions if they are getting their anger out physically instead of with words. Teachers need to teach their students “I feel” statements so they learn to verbalize their feelings when they are in a conflict with friends or with siblings. Teachers also need to provide their children with a variety of situations so children practice how they would respond to those situations in verbal ways. It is very important for the physical, violent, and aggressive behaviors of students to be corrected in school while they are still young, otherwise if this behavior is not corrected, then it will become worse as the students get older.

           Another part of emotional education is building children’s self-esteem and helping them to realize their own identity and how they are similar to and different from other people. This is touched upon in an All About Me unit that is very common in the primary grades. In order for children to begin to form friendships, especially in first grade, they need to have an understanding of themselves and their likes, dislikes, and interests before they can have the confidence in theri own abilities to find children in the class that have the same interests as them. Children also need opportunities for them to share aspects of themselves to peers and adults and receive positive compliments and encouragement from their teachers and parents so they feel good about themselves. When children have a high self-esteem, they perform better in school.