Alas, education

[gotardz]

The biggest, most pressing issue facing the educational world is (apparently) the lack of self esteem amongst our youth.

I would really hate being a parent these days.

Comments

[zockray]

Lack of self-esteem is just a byproduct of all the other shitty things going on. Oh well, more work for me. . .cha-ching! *

*I'm a terrible therapist. :-D

[gotardz]

Ummm... Z, what lack of self-esteem? American children feel absolutely splendid about themselves. It'll mean more work for you, in any case.

[zockray]

Perhaps for younger children, but pre-teens and adolescents often struggle with self esteem, in particular, adolescent females.

[gotardz]

I'll wager that depends greatly on how you phrase the question. If you ask them to rate their physical appearance, then they'll most likely be very critical of themselves. Ask them to rate their intellectual ability and they'll boast they're in the top bracket every time.

[zockray]

But that is not just the extent of it. There is socialbility, popularity, dress, physical appearance, leadership success, etc. Many kids who do well in school still feel like crap and think they are still "dumb". Grades dont mean a thing if the child feels alienated, unliked, or undesireable.

[gotardz]

Many kids who do well in school still feel like crap and think they are still "dumb".

In S. Korea, which routinely wipes the floor with Americans in academic performance, this type of student is common. Students think they're average (or worse), but perform extremely well. On the whole, American students think they'll perform well (at everything) but ultimately fail to deliver. Do we still have students who have low self esteem with respect to their intellectual ability? Sure, but that is not an impediment to success or even common. On the contrary, I'd say that the arrogance which runs rampant in our culture hinders actual learning and productivity. Worrying about self esteem has caused our educational system to produce the most stupid generation in a very long time.

[ybeayf]

What about students who rate their intellectual abilities as high, but don't actually believe it themselves and are just trying to save face / brag?

[gotardz]

You can really second guess these things. If they proclaim their superiority, one must accept that they really believe what they say.

[zockray]

Eh, it is sort of hard to compare the educational system of the US to S.K. We educate everyone whereas many other countries put lower performming students in vocational tracks and thus their marks are not equated in the mix. We dont push the vocational track too much in the US because kids in vocational tracks feel "bad" or "stupid" (this was part of my senior research project). Unfortunately these students are left behind, get their inflated grades, do shitty in the real world cause they dont really know anything, feel shitty, and later come to me (hahahah).

I feel that the present system (of grade inflation and what not) does not necessarily promote "self esteem". But it does promote "entitlement". I feel that is more at the crux of the issue.

Thoughts? :-*

[gotardz]

South Koreans put the majority of their students into their academic schools. Only about 1/3rd are in their vocational schools. They're simply producing better students than we are. They don't waste time worrying about whether or not their students feel good about themselves. What's more, our system causes students to become emotionally sheltered. They become hypersensitive to any kind of insult or perceived slight. In short, I come from a generation of wimps.

Now, I'll agree that our system does instill a sense of entitlement in our students. That was extremely obvious when I tutored math. People honestly believed that they deserved an A in Calculus because they exerted effort.