Posted on 08/13/2007 5:02:18 AM PDT by Caleb1411
Once upon a time – a time you probably don’t remember if you’re younger than 30 – American schools sought to teach children self-control, personal responsibility, and respect for others, especially adults. Students were corrected when they made mistakes and reprimanded when they slacked off or talked back. Most unfathomable to the current education establishment, teachers assessed students on qualities such as “gets along well with others” – and some children actually flunked. In the eyes of schoolteachers and parents, shaping kids into productive and responsible citizens was more important than protecting their egos.
Then, sometime in the 1970s, schools began to embrace the peculiar notion that kids should never be criticized or feel self-doubt. The “self-esteem” movement was born – and ushered in a generation of kids who think they can do no wrong.
In her new book, “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – And More Miserable than Ever Before,” Dr. Jean Twenge documents the spectacular failure of the self-esteem movement, from its birth in the 1970s to the present. Despite enthusiastic predictions to the contrary, raising kids’ self-esteem does not make them more successful or productive. It does, however, train them to always feel good about themselves, even when they do bad things.
Twenge makes clear the difference between self-esteem and self-respect. Self-respect – a value taught to older generations – is achieved gradually, by behaving morally and accomplishing things. Self-esteem is an entitlement. As Twenge explains, “most [self-esteem] programs encourage children to feel good about themselves for no particular reason.”
Is that really such a bad thing? According to Twenge, who spent years researching the subject, the answer is yes. Numerous studies show basically no relationship between high self-esteem and academic achievement, strong work ethic, or harmonious relationships with others.
In fact, Twenge’s research suggests that the self-esteem movement has wreaked havoc on schools. Instead of teaching children to learn from their mistakes, “There has been a movement against ‘criticizing’ children too much…One popular method tells teachers not to correct students’ spelling or grammar, arguing that kids should be ‘independent spellers’ so they can be treated as ‘individuals.’”
Elementary school students spend hours creating “All About Me” projects and reading books titled “Everyone Is Special,” but less time learning basic skills. Unsurprisingly, Twenge notes, “American children scored very highly when asked how good they were at math. Of course, their actual math performance is merely mediocre, with other countries’ youth routinely outranking American children.”
Grade inflation is appallingly high, as schools pass out good grades in order to avoid bruised egos. As Twenge reports, “In 2004, 48 percent of American college freshmen – almost half – reported earning an A average in high school, compared to only 18 percent in 1968, even though SAT scores decreased over the same period.” Students often demand good grades for substandard work, and their parents act as reinforcements: “Teachers described parents who specified that their children were not to be corrected or ‘emotionally upset,’ who argued incessantly about grades, and even one father who…challenged a teacher to a fistfight.”
Of course, children have no motivation to work harder when their schools outlaw competition and celebrate mediocrity. Many schools now refuse to publish the honor roll, since it might hurt the self-esteem of students who didn’t make the grade. According to the touchy-feely pop psychology of the current education establishment, recognizing high achievers is unnecessary and cruel. Twenge offers an example: “11-year-old Kayla was invited to the math class pizza party, even though she managed only a barely passing 71. The pizza parties used to be only for children who made A’s, but in recent years the school has invited every child who simply passed.”
While the self-esteem movement hasn’t made children any smarter, it has made them more self-centered, manipulative, and indulgent. Cheating in schools is on the rise, with 74 percent of high school students admitting to cheating in 2002. The link to the self-esteem movement is clear: if everyone deserves to feel good regardless of how they behave, why should a student feel bad about stealing a copy of the final exam? It doesn’t mean he’s a bad person. The self-esteem movement has indeed had enormous effects on children born since the 1970s – and almost none of them are good. The California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility spent a quarter-billion dollars trying to raise Californians’ self-esteem, only to find that it had no effect on teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, or chronic welfare dependency. On the other hand, people with high self-esteem tend to be unwilling to take responsibility for their own failures and bad behavior.
There is one personality trait that is definitely linked to achievement, and that is self-control. Although “discipline” and “obedience” have become dirty words in the education establishment, people with high levels of self-control are the most likely to succeed. They earn higher grades and finish more years of education, and they’re less likely to abuse drugs or have children out of wedlock. As Twenge says, “Self-control predicts all of those things researchers had hoped self-esteem would, but hasn’t.”
This short column cannot do justice to Twenge’s meticulously researched and revealing book. However, it’s a must-read for parents and teachers who hope to unravel the myth of self-esteem.
Ashley Herzog is a junior at Ohio University, studying journalism, and lives in Avon Lake, Ohio.
That’s a good one. Will add it to my repertoire.
And when these kids head out into real life with these monstrously inflated egos, they will fail miserably as they realize their boss doesn’t recognize their specialness and demands honest, productive work from them. Ultimately, many of them will end up being hogs at the welfare trough.
It is sad. A lot of people think they should win. When one objected that she had had years of voice lessons, simon rep0lied that her coach had just taken her money.
Orthodox yes, as the statement of poster 8 by Lewis was lifted from Philipians 2:3. IN LOWLINESS OF MIND, LET EACH ESTEEM OTHER GREATER THAN HIMSELF".
I remember when pride was a vice. Today it is exalted. Self love, self acceptance, self affirmation, self ad nauseum. Someone said, "Deny self, take up the........". He was a smart guy. He seemed to have right understanding of the world. He was really smart.
"In the day that you eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, your eyes will be open and you will be as god". Yes, lets exalt self and self actualize as Abraham Maslow so ordered, and realize that we are that. Or as Carl Jung told us, we are part of that collective spirit, the collective unconsciousness and in us dwells infinite potential.
It is important to remind ourselves of what we have established today. Whether one is involved in psychotherapy, witchcraft, socery, or self-improvement techniques, the underlying philosphy is the same. The entire Ne Age movement embodies ancient occult ideas repackged in pseudoscientific language for modern consumption. It is naturalism/pantheism/ in opposition to supernaturalism/monotheism. In this schema man is a creature of the impersonal and uncreated cosmos rather than of a personal creator, and contains within himself (by virtue of his oneness with the cosmos) all wisdom, knowledge, and power. This is not ordinarily apparent because we have "forgotten" our true identities: and these limitless resources, which are now known only the the alleged "higher self", lie buried in Jung's "collective unconscious." I wonder, if we are God, how could we forget all of this repressed realized godhood?
The message, 'You are god', is a package which has been sold since Genesis 3. It has flown off of the shelf in many packages, but always the same. It is quiet simply, the lie. Self actualization, stolen by Maslow form the Hindu gurus 'self realization' continues to be sold in many guises, but always the same.
A confident post...but not an especially bright one.
“As I see it used by the education establishment, it appears to mean something different than your definition...in fact, it appears synonymous with “ego,” because that is what the local public schools are achieving.”
From what I can glean from my childrens’ papers, the message is “everyone is unique, everyone is special.”
Which is true - and not a bad message for children.
Where it goes whacky is when they think eliminating competition from the educational process is “good” for children.
There are alot of teachers who think kids shouldn’t play games where a score is being kept - or where one team loses and another team wins.
They don’t like to say a kid has “failed.” Instead they say the child has not “mastered” the material, so let’s work it again until it is “mastered.”
It’s this strange non-competitive world that insulates kids from what is waiting for them in the real world.
Some of that comes from teachers who don’t know anything except who is hiring. Mixing education with unions and politics has been a disaster.
Actually, in my generation, mastery was characteristic of 8th grade grads.
Well, doesn’t the sense of right and wrong include one’s own actions? And if you constantly feel as though you are “right,” how can you possibly criticize yourself enough to even have a conscience?
Failing that, take a look at what’s coming out of our school system as it is now, and compare it with what schools produced when they taught little things like achievement and self responsibility.
These people don't act as they do because they feel they are right. They they rationalize their behavior by telling themselves that the end justifies the means. As I said above, genuine self-esteem confers humility - and a recognition of the worth of others. That's what Islamic terrorists and criminals lack - they loathe their own existence and want to end it and take everyone else with them.
Some years ago I had a minor encounter at the mall with a young, "urban" employee who had to give me a hand-written credit.
The amount, as she wrote it, was incorrect, which I pointed out to her. She said, "No...that's just the way I make my 7s."
It not only did not look like a 7, it looked like a 5. Not ambiguous as thought it might have been either a 5 or a 7...it was clearly what most of us recognize as a 5 and would never question.
Her quick, defensive response to me made it clear that she had been frequently challenged on her idiosyncratic habit of making her 7s exactly like what the rest of the world regards as a 5.
Her self-esteem was so great that she saw no need to conform to the boring way that everybody else makes 7s.
But she conformed for me, by God.
I wouldn't mind that at all...as long as the standard was insisted on.
Nothing wrong with being gentle in telling a kid that they are not getting it done.
Thanks. I am going to use that one.
I teach Engineering. Recently I was assigned to teach a service course taken by students from several departments. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of students who actually came to see me during my office hours last semester.
However, once the course grades were posted, I was besieged by students wanting to discuss their grades with me. Almost all said that they had "worked so hard" on my course that they deserved a better grade. Some warned that they would lose their scholarships if I didn't act. Some blamed me for their poor performance on exams. Considering their hard work and their potential for future greatness—and my obvious incompetence—several students were prepared to argue that an A-minus would be more appropriate than the C or D they received.
To get anything done, I had to stay home and stop answering my telephone.
I never said they should loath self. Just a dose of reality of what they 'really are'.
Hey, lets tell the gangsters, terrorists, licentious pop stars and corrupt politicians we really appreciate the fact that their behavior reflect that goodness which we all aspire to. Yes, yes, that is it. Lets pump up their 'Self idolotry'.
Most lower tier and even middle tier colleges/universities along with “Community Colleges” have their course work set up so the student actually has to work hard at a course to get anything lower than a “B”. Graduate school (with the exception of law/med school is set up the same way.
true...I guess it depends on the age you’re talking about.
Telling a 3rd grader they have “failed” their reading course may be harsh on the kid.
Telling a 14 yr. old, or older, they have “failed” something is preparing them for the real world.
In other words, they are "right."
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