Empathy is important, which is why the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) class at Rancho Cucamonga High School is taking the stage. Students in this class learn many different life skills, from maintaining relationships with friends and family to controlling emotions, balancing life, communication, and the focus of today’s empathy.
According to CalSCHLS, somewhere between 20-30% of students experience bullying. The SEL class at Rancho Cucamonga High School teaches the opposite: learning to hear others out, think about actions, and actually feel for people other than oneself.
Ms. Madison Cabral is one of the teachers who teaches the class.
“This class is really just about life skills and getting your life to the next level. It’s not for people who are bad at life, it’s just for people who want to be an even better version of themselves.”
When it comes to learning, compassion and empathy are not typically the topics taught in classes. But learning these things early on, and in one of the most impactful times of a kid’s life, is important.
Senior Emily Martinez is one of the students in Cabral’s SEL class.
“In this class, I learn to be very empathetic with my relationships and people around me and to understand everyone’s emotions and feelings,” Martinez said.
Understanding others and learning in turn how to deal with those emotions and respond is an important life skill that oftentimes high schoolers do not have. And in this class, Cabral is teaching students through lessons how to better understand themselves as well as others.
“We talk a lot about self-awareness,” Cabral said. “Are you aware of your strengths and weaknesses? And then social awareness. How do you come across to other people? We work on relationship skills, responsible decision making, and self-management.”
The SEL class helps students learn to control and understand the emotions they are feeling.
“I’ve learned a lot in this class, such as controlling my emotions and maintaining relationships,” senior Karim Darwich, who’s taking the SEL class this year, said.
Juniors or seniors can register to take the class. Throughout the different units, there are group assignments, and these assignments help the students communicate with each other and learn how to work together with others in assignments that consider others’ emotions and opinions.
Cabral said she wishes she had this class before she went to college because it teaches people skills that everyone needs. And it teaches very important lessons to the students to help them later in life.
“They learn very practical things, like how to get a proper job interview or how to talk to your teacher if you need to advocate for your grade. And then we also learn more complex things like how to understand your emotions or how to get through an argument with someone and be okay with that person,” Cabral said.
She added that the class has multiple topics they focus on, and every student has one that they really need help with. And this class is a time where they can take a moment to really focus on the goals they are looking to achieve.
One of the big concepts the class covers is empathy, which is the ability to understand a share the feelings of another.
“Empathy is something that [people are] going to need even if they’re not trying to be like some very emotional nice person its just helpful in life to be empathetic, even if it’s just to get you to the next level in your job or to have a good time living with your roommate. It just makes things easier for you.”
Darwich added that this class helps students see the wrong in their personal actions as well as the actions of others.
