Schools are laboratories for social competency

In "Teaching Children to Care," Ruth Sidney Charney wrote, "We need to establish an ongoing curriculum in self-control, social participation, and human development" and "We need to accept the potential of children to learn these things and the potential of teachers to teach them."

This argument led me to implement a social competency curriculum at Northeast Elementary School in Waltham, where I am the principal. We have been using Open Circle (a program of the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College), which focuses on three essential areas: creating a cooperative classroom environment, solving people problems, and building positive relationships. The Open Circle Principal Handbook speaks to providing "students with a foundation for learning lifelong skills, not just skills for elementary classrooms."

When children are taught listening and speaking, leadership, team building, and problem solving, and are given the opportunity to practice these skills, they are more likely to use them in difficult situations outside the classroom. By the time they get to middle and high school, students will have a strong foundation of social competencies.

Students who develop these skills build a foundation for the development of emotional intelligence. They grow to see themselves as a part of a larger world and understand that they can play a role in making that world a better place.

Nadene B. Stein
Waltham