Children are to learn how to be happy, Ed Balls, the government's children, schools and families' minister has pronounced today.
As the new term starts, all children in English secondary schools will learn "hard-edged" emotional and social skills - otherwise known as playing fairly, learning how to lose graciously, resolving playground fights, that kind of thing.
Teachers will introduce these elements of the social and emotional aspects of learning (Seal) programme into other lessons, so kids learn how to fend off the school bully, solve problems, talk about their emotions and recover from setbacks.
What at first sounds uncomfortably touchy-feely (particularly for those who still retain a modicum of stiff-upper-lip-Britishness) makes sense and is, for once, actually backed up by research.
According to a study by the Institute of Education, published today, cheerful children who understand and deal with their emotions will do much better at school than those who don't.
Basically, they have better relationships with teachers, parents and each other, and their behaviour improves, making them calmer, more respectful and more willing to be honest.
They also tend to have far greater self-esteem than children who aren't aware of their emotions.
The Seal programme is supposed to help teachers instil into children an awareness of rules, responsibility and respect - the idea being that schools cultivate "the right attitude" among young people, which means they then get the broader social skills they need to do well in job interviews, the workplace and life in general.
But the government appears to be hedging its bets on this one. Measures introduced today to deal with parents of renegade offspring who don't embrace the programme's tenets will be severe.
If children are excluded, parents will be forced to keep them indoors or potentially face a £1,000 fine (if they don't pay up within 42 days).
It seems children will learn to be sociable, disciplined, respectful, well-adjusted young people with good manners, or be damned.
And is emotional intelligence something that can be taught and learned? What do you think? Is it necessary? Or will it do children more harm than good to focus on all their emotions?
