This post was originally published on this site.
Michael S. Yamashita via Wikimedia Commons.
Previously Recorded by Phyllis Schlafly
Everybody knows the importance of self-esteem to our psychological health, so it isn’t surprising that we try to enhance it in ourselves and our children. But it is a little kooky to think that self-esteem is the central psychological source from which we can get all kinds of positive outcomes, or when we think that low self-esteem causes all social problems. California, which is always a trend-setter, set up a state government task force on self-esteem in the 1980s based on the theory that raising self-esteem in young people would reduce crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, low school grades, and pollution. Academics began to write books asserting that most of the problems plaguing society start with low self-esteem, and they began to put self-esteem courses in elementary and secondary schools.
Unfortunately for these theories, the studies about self-esteem didn’t produce the conclusions that they expected. These psychologists started out with the assumption that boosting self-esteem would tremendously help students because it would encourage working and studying hard in school. The studies showed that isn’t true. Some studies reported that artificially boosting self-esteem in schoolchildren actually lowered their academic performance. The studies also showed that raising self-esteem doesn’t even improve their job performance later. Some psychologists started out thinking that people with low self-esteem were especially prejudiced. However, the research showed that people with high self-esteem were more prejudiced. The psychologists originally thought that people with low self-esteem would turn to alcohol or drugs or sex. The data, however, simply didn’t show any correlation. For decades, psychologists believed that low self-esteem was an important cause of aggression such as bullying. The studies shows that the bullies are the ones with high self-esteem.
The conclusion is that it’s a waste of time for the schools to spend money, time and effort teaching self-esteem. Everybody will be better off if the schools spend their energies teaching the basics.
