USA Today jumps on the "There's artificial self-esteem, and then there's life" bandwagon (via Wizbang):
Andrea Sobel shudders at those oh-so-positive messages aimed at boosting kids' self-esteem. She has heard her fill of "good job" or "great picture" or any of the highly exaggerated claims that parenting experts and educators spouted as the way to bring up well-adjusted children.
Sobel, the mother of 16-year-old twins in Sherman Oaks, Calif., says they could tell "what was real and what was fake," even when very young. "I was tired of going to the sports field and seeing moms say, 'Great job at going up to bat.' It hit me early on that kids could see through inane compliments."
Those often-empty phrases, however, raised a generation. Kids born in the '70s and '80s are now coming of age. The colorful ribbons and shiny trophies they earned just for participating made them feel special. But now, in college and the workplace, observers are watching them crumble a bit at the first blush of criticism.
"I often get students in graduate school doing doctorates who made straight A's all their lives, and the first time they get tough feedback, the kind you need to develop skills," says Deborah Stipek, dean of education at Stanford University. "I have a box of Kleenex in my office because they haven't dealt with it before."
And if the touchy-feely educators had their way, even graduate students wouldn't be getting that feedback now.
Self-esteem became a buzzword more than 20 years ago, fueled by parenting experts, psychologists and educators. Believers suggested that students who hold themselves in high regard are happier and will succeed. That culture was so ingrained in parents that protecting their children from failure became a credo. This feel-good movement was most evident in California, which created a task force to increase self-esteem...
Now, the tides have turned. Schools teach the basics to improve performance on standardized tests, and self-esteem programs have evolved from phony praise to deserved recognition for a job well-done...
Overall, research shows that self-esteem scores have increased with the generations, says Jean Twenge, a psychology professor at San Diego State University who compared studies on self-esteem of 66,000 college kids across the USA from 1968 through 1994...She also has noticed that the undergraduates she teaches tend to have an inflated sense of self.
"When you correct writing, they'll say, 'It's just your opinion,' which is infuriating. Bad grammar and spelling and sentences being wrong is not my opinion, it's just bad writing," she says.
What amazes me is that anyone is surprised at this outcome. I've never been able to figure out just how any educator could equate praise for a good job with praise for a bad job, in terms of the impact that it has on self-esteem and performance. Of course these kids now believe that everything is an "opinion." Removing cold hard facts of life is the only way there is to convince every child that they are doing equally well in all areas of life, and all equally-deserving of praise.
I'm also amazed that it's taken this long to see the false-praise syndrome for the child abuse that it is. An adult who needs counseling because they're receiving tough academic feedback for the first time in their lives is an adult who was severely shortchanged by the authority figures of their youth.
Posted by kswygert at February 17, 2005 10:39 AM