EI In Education
As society continues to evolve and becomes exponentially complex, emotional and social competencies of our youth will have to keep up and adapt with the cultural change. The world’s interconnectedness will only increase into the predictable future. How children respond will indicate their chance of success growing up. Emotional intelligence development will become as necessary as learning to read, write, and perform basic arithmetic. Old school theories thought that academic achievement came at the expense of emotional and social learning or vice versa. The choice was weighted towards academics. I’m here to tell you this is no longer the case.
Emotional intelligence and success in the classroom go hand in hand. As the workforce becomes more competitive, solving the equation to find the balance of these crucial components is a major key to success. In “What We Know About Emotional Intelligence: How it Affects Learning, Work, Relationships, and our Mental Health,” Moshe Zeidner asks the following questions that give us a helpful insight at assessing EI in grade school.
“Does your child have difficulties coping with stress and assignments? Or do they have problems relating to peers at their school? The argument is that low emotional intelligence is at play. Training EI in schools may indeed offer a solution to educational problems…(EI programs are) providing meaningful change to the individual and the wider educational community (Zeidner 2012). ”
Low EI has been shown to be a factor in a variety of behaviors including stealing, cheating on tests, bullying, fighting, expulsion, suspension, and simply not doing schoolwork. As kids get older this often times transforms into alcohol and tobacco use in early adolescence. A tweak in public education and following this formula may be the answer to limiting the development of these bad habits.
Developing emotional intelligence gives the student an increased self-awareness and confidence in their own unique abilities. From there they obtain greater motivation, they better manage stress and anxiety associated with not only schoolwork but their peers, and they also construct better study habits and self-regulation including diet and exercise. This combination and succession of progress ends with increased academic achievement and unlocked potential. Zeidner concludes his claim by stating that “the trend of bringing emotional literacy into schools makes emotions and social life themselves key topics for learning and discussion, rather than treating these most compelling facets of a child’s life as irrelevant intrusions.” Being educated means more than excelling in specific subjects such as social studies, sciences, or math, it means you are also kind, caring, considerate, conscientious, trustworthy, and responsible.
In my own experience, growing up and going to school at a relatively large place, I have seen the full range of to why this idea is so important. I consider myself a child who was gifted intellectually although the emotional intelligence is something that came later on. After lots of reflection I concluded I subconsciously put myself through this model at an early age. I went from being strictly book smart to street and people smart too. It took years to find my confidence and find a solid social structure yet when I did I believe I finally started to find myself. Thinking of the people I grew up with, there are those who are naturally emotional intelligent and those who’s lives revolve around academics. There isn’t a problem with being either but I think at some point in your life there’s a time where you need to discover and develop a bit of both. You will excel in your desired field and lead a happy life where life actually happens. That is in your relationships and interactions with other individuals. It takes a lot of practice and in no way have I mastered the art, but I firmly believe that is how we can get the most out of our human experience.
Zeidner, M., Matthews, G., & Roberts, R. D. (2012). What we know about emotional intelligence: how it affects learning, work, relationships, and our mental health. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
