What happens when students develop strong social-emotional skills without an equally strong ethical compass?

In this episode of Life = Choices, Choices = Life, Kim Olver welcomes back Dr. Ed Dunkelblau, internationally recognized expert in social-emotional learning (SEL), safe schools, character development, and humor in education.

Ed explains the five core areas of social-emotional learning and why SEL matters not only for academic success, but also for relationships, behavior, decision-making, and emotional well-being.

Kim and Ed then move beyond traditional SEL to explore social, emotional, and character development (SECD). Having strong social-emotional skills doesn't necessarily mean those skills will be used well. Character and ethics can provide the internal compass that helps determine how our interpersonal skills are applied.

Their conversation also explores the changing ways young people communicate, the growing role and ethical use of artificial intelligence in schools, cultural differences in values, and the role parents and communities can play in determining which values schools seek to nurture.

What happens when people agree that honesty and family loyalty are both important but disagree about which should take priority? Kim shares a personal family story illustrating why conversations about values can become much more complicated than simply deciding which values are “good.”

This is Part 1 of Kim's conversation with Dr. Ed Dunkelblau about social-emotional learning, character, ethics, values, and what education can prepare young people for beyond academic achievement.