In the recent past, schools across America, more particularly high schools, have been faced with the challenge of addressing such cases as bullying and discrimination, not forgetting the high rates of crime and drug and substance abuse indulged in by the teenagers. This has forced the education providers with other stakeholders to seek intervention measures to ensure the teenagers' characters and personalities are informed the right way, leading to the question of social and emotional learning. It is correct to point out that the education system and providers does a great job in impacting the young generation with knowledge, skills and technical know-how that play a big role in securing their future as far as employment and future financial securities are concerned. However, there is the need to ensure that the students' emotions and quality of interaction with others are kept in check. This is done by offering such programs that are meant to impact the right social skills and attitudes to the leaners.
Despite the vital role that social and emotional learning and teaching models have to the holistic whole being of a student, the stakeholders still find it hard to maintain the measures for this model while at the same time focusing on teaching goals that are meant to uphold and reflect an institution's commitment to high educational standards and performance. It is important to point out that social and emotional learning is not only geared towards rectifying a student's bad sways or make them more mindful of others, but it also plays a critical role in embracing, supporting and building the confidence and participation of the weaker students. It is correct to point out that the students considered the marginalized or minority groups in schools generally find it hard to actively participate even in class discussions since they have low self-esteem. This includes students discriminated on the basis of gender, race, or social standing.
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It is critical to point out at this point the benefits of clearly implemented social and emotional programs alongside the economic tools of development. The programs are essential in improving the social behavior of the students. In a society heavily driven by financial stability, parents and guardians rarely have time for their children, in which case these children are left to discover the essence of morality and ethics on their own. This leads to the possibility of them engaging in drugs, immoral behaviors, and crime since they do not know how to tell right from wrong, basing their judgments heavily on peer pressure and irrational decisions made out of the spur of the moment. However, the social and emotional development models play a crucial role in educating the youngsters the impact of their decisions, the need to critically think through a decision, and the ethics of minding the feelings and emotions of other people and how they would be affected by the choices they want to make (Darling-Hammond, 2018) . Still, on social behavior, most kids who come from families that do not necessarily seem to care for their wellbeing or social life always tend to act out to get the attention of their parents or guardians. This is particularly the case with most children from affluent families whose parents are ever busy with their work to make some time to bond with the children. The youngsters opt for such vices as drugs and engaging in immoral behaviors to try filling the void left by the lack of attention from their parents and guardians. They would also participate in bullying and other violent forms of expressions to attract the attention of their parents and guardians. However, the social and emotional learning and teaching programs come in handy in pointing out to the teenagers the correct avenues and channels of communicating their emotions and insecurities to their parents and guardians.
For the benefits of the programs discussed above, it is essential that a specific environment is created by observing particular criteria for the implementation of these models. It is correct to point out that a supportive environment plays a vital role in promoting the achievement of the goals of these programs. First off, it is critical to build a feeling of trust and confidence, or what can be commonly termed as security and self-confidence on the part of the students as far as their perception of the programs is concerned. This is particularly the case with the students from humble or minority groups who may feel as if the education systems seem to be promoting the injustices committed against them. For instance, underperforming students bullied or mocked because of their poor academic performance would most likely find it difficult to trust the social and emotional programs designed by the education system to make them feel adequate and confident about themselves. This is because from the beginning it is these same educational systems that seem to be emphasizing on high-quality output from the students. It is only natural for schools across America to push the learners towards doing their best in their academics, but for the schools to come around again and convince the underperforming students to trust in its programs geared towards helping them build on their weaknesses would take tremendous efforts (Portnow, Downer, & Brown, 2018) . This being said, it is critical then that the schools, first of all, diversify its approach towards academic performance to reflect a system that emphasizes on good grades while at the same time being mindful and offering alternative teaching programs or the underperforming students. It would be easier then, for a learner who benefits from this kind of a system to ease into the social and emotional programs put up to build their self-confidence and self-esteem amidst a society that only seems to be obsessed with high academic performance.
In other words, the creation of an ample environment would also indicate positive relationships and interactions with students by teachers to foster the student engagement in these programs. It is right to point out that since teachers are mainly the personnel in charge of these programs, it is essential that they can build a stable relationship with their learners to get them to participate in these programs actively. The learners do well in environments where they feel comfortable and loved, supported even despite their shortcomings or whatever minority factors they have. Apart from supportive systems, they also need supportive and understanding personnel, which in this case are the teachers to lead the programs so that they can quickly open up. Such teachers or educators have to be kind, friendly, approachable, and above all confident. Most of the minority learners who are bullied are intimated by the possibility of their bullies finding out that they are talking to the educators about the situations since this could be considered an act of telling on them and the minority learner could only end up in more trouble (Yang, Bear, & May, 2018) . It is essential therefore that schools adopting the social and emotional teaching and learning models ensure the confidentiality and assurance of the learners about their safety and privacy. To cap it all, these programs need to have measures in place to ensure that the matters addressed through the model are dealt with amicably and that the learners benefit a great deal from the programs. There should be evidence-based practices in the model to assure the learners of the benefits of the program to win their participation and trust.
References
Darling-Hammond, L. (2018). What makes social-emotional learning so important? Retrieved from http://my.aasa.org/AASA/Resources/SAMag/2018/Sep18/Darling-Hammond.aspx
Portnow, S., Downer, J. T., & Brown, J. (2018). Reductions in aggressive behavior within the context of a universal, social emotional learning program: Classroom-and student-level mechanisms. Journal of School Psychology , 68 , 38-52.
Yang, C., Bear, G. G., & May, H. (2018). Multilevel Associations between School-Wide Social– Emotional Learning Approach and Student Engagement across Elementary, Middle, and High Schools. School Psychology Review , 47 (1), 45-61.
