An Arizona State University professor in the School of Social Work questioned the appropriateness of a district’s social-emotional learning lessons, designed to teach sixth-graders at Verrado Middle School in Buckeye to reflect on the impact of racist comments made to Black students, from the perspective of a perpetrator’s feelings Tuesday.
The professor, Alison England, speaking privately as a concerned parent of a biracial student, said the lesson plan was inappropriate for sixth-graders and was more geared to an adult audience rather than 11- or 12-year-olds.
“The target audience was for adults,” England said. “The context was almost like an HR type of training. In passing, it uses terminology like systemic discrimination, vicarious trauma, and the economic impact of dehumanization; it then continues to connect mental health and racism, citing hypertension and cardiovascular problems.”
