Theme 1 | Page 25

CURRICULUM GUIDE FOR S.C. TEACHER CADET COURSE | EXPERIENCING EDUCATION, TENTH EDITION

The Self-Esteem Fraud, Page 4 of 4

After years of failed experimentation, it is time to stop touting the importance of self-esteem
and start providing students with the elements real self-esteem is made of. Building self-esteem not only is a smokescreen vis-a-vis academic success; it can lead to considerable
harm. After all, as Weissbourd points out, “to develop effective coping strategies, children,
in fact, need to learn to manage a certain amount of disappointment and conflict.”
As schools turn against the self-esteem theory, they must go back to the basics of teaching,
reinstalling high standards and expectations, and holding children accountable for their actions. However, these efforts ought not replace paying attention to children’s needs and
concerns as individuals. Many educators agree on three general strategies: build the relationship between a teacher or parent and a child on respect of the child’s inborn strengths;
help the youngster set goals and then link sustained effort with success; and examine the
values being promoted because self-esteem is grounded on what a person values.
The final and probably most important remedy is reintroducing parents in the education of
their offspring. Experts unanimously agree that parental involvement in a child’s education
remains one of the most important factors in determining his or her academic success. Furthermore, parents supersede teachers at building earned self-esteem in their children
through the special caring and positive/negative reinforcement that can come only with individualized interaction at home.
©1998 Society for the Advancement of Education
©2000 Gale Group

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Theme I: Experiencing Learning
Unit 1: Awareness and Reflection

extracurricular classes or dumbing down their curriculum to increase the pupils’ self-esteem,
the schools offer a strict diet of math and reading and expect students to get the job done.
As Sister Helen Struder, principal of the mostly black Holy Angels School in Chicago, notes,
“After all, it’s by success that you build self-esteem.”