JOANNE JACOBS: If you want to climb a mountain, don’t go two steps and ask, ‘How do I feel?’

In her new book, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren’t Growing Up, Shrier complains that social-emotional learning has gone far beyond teaching students how to disagree respectfully or “get a grip.” It’s become “a curricular juggernaut that devours billions in education spending each year.”

Teachers are encouraged to start the school day with an “emotions check-in.” At a conference for California teachers, counselor Natalie Sedano shared her check-in: “How are you feeling today? Are you daisy-bright, happy and friendly? Or am I a ladybug? Will I fly away if we get too close?”

Paying too much attention to feelings doesn’t help distressed children, psychologist told Shrier.

“I’d say: worry less. Ruminate less,” said Leif Kennair, an expert on the treatment of anxiety. “Try to verbalize everything you feel less. Try to self-monitor and be mindful of everything you do — less.”

The other thing we need a lot less of is education administrators who justify their existence with one worthless, non-education program after another.