What does the following phrase mean?..... "Emotions trump learning"

This phrase in my mind makes me think about how children learn. Some students aren't going to run into the classroom sit like robots and demand that u "feed" them knowledge especially if they come from a hard home. I feel that if we come to know our students, then we understand that their emotions sometimes drive how they learn. If a student comes from a particular home where dad beats m0m and spends money on drugs, that student is going to be emotionaly attached to the idea of being physically safe not multiplication or division. Our student will respond well to us as educators once we show them how much we care about them and not just curriculum standards and requirements.