Thursday, November 13, 2008
Self-Esteem Movement Diagnosed as Unhealthy
Psychologists have finally come around to noting what I noticed for quite a while now: teens think too highly of themselves. I saw it especially in the college classes I taught. Just as bad as thinking too well of themselves, they cannot take criticism at all. And when they get to college, too many administrators and professors also let them slide by. I've been told that the rhetorical, grammatical, and literary expectations common in public elementary school children in the Renaissance is too much for college Freshmen, and is now only expected to be taught at the graduate level. Fortunately, there is a movement in certain religious schools to teach the Trivium (rhetoric, grammar, and logic) and the literary Canon that is very welcome. Unfortunately, they also typically combine it with a "literalist" Biblical science curriculum. Can't we please get some balance somewhere in this country?
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4 comments:
Maybe this has to do more with the quality of the journalism than the study itself, but I don't think the fact that more teens today think they'll make great spouses and employees is a bad thing. I've worked with teens, and I know that some of them can't take criticism, can't handle responsibility, and/or have inflated self-esteem. But asking a teen whether or not s/he thinks s/he will make a good spouse isn't the same as asking him or her if s/he expects to make over $100,000 /year. High status is to some extent a zero sum affair, but being a good person isn't. One should hope that 50% of teens wouldn't be answering that they think they'd make a bad spouse.
This is a problem we are having here in the U.S. that may not be occurring in Canada. They are being kind in their verbage in the study. We have produced a bunch of ignorant egomaniacs -- they know nothing, but feel great about what they "know." Rather than hoping they will make a great spouse, they are absolutely certain they will. But the confidence is in fact superficial -- they in fact have no self-esteem because they have no selves to esteem. This is why such an incredibly high percentage are this was in the U.S. (in my experience well over half or more of the students I taught in college were this way, and if you did what anyone would consider to be typical in critiquing their papers, they complained to the administration). Students in the U.S. graduate expecting exactly that: to make $100,000 a year and be hired right into a high management position.
I've taught middle school and high school in Maine too, although they were mostly Acadians and maybe that makes a difference. I agree with you, for the most part, especially about the problems with current *constructivist* educational practice. I just thought 1) either the study or the article didn't justify its conclusions to my satisfaction, and 2) there are still some high achieving, sensitive, and more or less realistic kids out there, despite the system. And they're usually either geniuses (I've seen one or two) or the kids who have a good home life and are involved in sports or the arts--activities where the "proof is in the pudding," so to speak.
We do have similar problems in Canada, although they're not compounded by the necessity of "teaching to the test" all the time.
There's also an ever growing tendency for administration to support parents and students while hanging their teachers out to dry. Which is related to another 2 problems--the inability of current administrators to tell a bad teacher from a good one, and the fact that a lot of teaching colleges are churning out teachers who have the same self-esteem-and-knowledge issues as their students. Devaluation of subject expertise (outside the sciences, at least) in favour of general teaching methodology, as well as devaluation of intellect and culture in general, are behind this, IMO.
You are right about all and above, though I will note that, in regards to point #2, the exceptions don't negate the rule. The problem isn't that everyone is an egomaniac, just that the educational system is turning them out at record numbers.
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