What Do Earthquakes Have to Do with Socioemotional Development?
I was in Mexico City for an EdTech conference in early September. My keynote was on the last day, and I came two days before to enjoy a truly missed human interaction with the industry's professionals. On the first night, I was ready to go to bed when an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit Acapulco's coast and rippled into Mexico City, making my 6th-floor hotel room move up and down and sideways as if I were surfing. I knew it was an earthquake as soon as the big lamp in the room started swinging. Suddenly the Champlain Towers in Surfside, FL, came to mind. My first thought was, "This building may fall apart!" Another voice said, "This building is prepared for earthquakes, and it is supposed to hold on!" But would it?
I had to ignore the "holy s*#%!" moment and think fast. While doing my best to be centered and in control, I wore shorts and a shirt and ran towards the door, just to remember it was cold and rainy outside. I went back to change into jeans and a jacket while the floor was still swinging under my feet. "Do I hide in the bathroom? Oh, man, this ceiling will crash on my head. I got to get out of here!" The moment felt like an eternity, but it was less than three minutes.
We never expect moments like this. But it is reasonable to wish to be prepared for it when it happens. The only way not to freeze in despair under pressure is to have emotional control. In my book Becoming Einstein's Teacher: Awakening the Genius in Your Students, I point out that cognitive and socioemotional development must happen simultaneously in schools, and I share a framework to make it happen. Emotional control is part of socioemotional development, as shared in a recent OECD report, Beyond Academic Learning. It is our responsibility to fully equip students to deal with any situation in their lives. The school is the safest environment to foster this practice.
Although there is much attention to socioemotional development in schools, we still have a lot of work to do until we see consistent positive outcomes. Weekly one-hour sessions for socioemotional development will not make it happen. It must be a continuous, daily practice, or it won't stick. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), suicide attempts among teen girls rose 50.6% in early 2021. Would this feeling of purposeless and unworthiness rise at this level if we were doing a good job?
You may argue it may be almost impossible to address every emotional aspect of a student's life. There are so many issues outside of our control – this child lost her parents. A stepparent abused that child. These children were immigrants left by their families. There are so many situations that require an army of professionals and years of therapy!
We can't change every student's context, nor can we predict what they will go through. But we can ignite hope. And hope will ignite perseverance. Schools can address how children evolve in their emotions while they are in school. In a recent webinar with students promoted by Learning One to One, one person in the audience asked 15-year-old Juan David Varela: "How is a good day and a bad day for a self-directed student?" Juan David emphatically answered, "[When I face a bad day, I] draw strength from inside. I am aware of my interests, and I rely on them to motivate me to keep going when I feel bad." No child is shielded from bad days. We will all face adversity moments throughout our lives. The difference is how equipped we are to deal with them. Juan David's answer demonstrates his character, drive, and resilience.
Back to the earthquake in Mexico, luckily, there was no significant damage anywhere. At the end of my keynote, one person in the audience asked: "How do you think the world will look like in 50 years?" I answered: "I am not sure how it will look like. What I am sure is what we can do to shape the world as we want it to be today. Our job is to prepare our students for the unexpected, so they have the right state of mind to make the right decisions."
