The public high school where I taught kept trying things to build kids’ self esteem the opposite f the right way. They’d give the kids dumbed-down things to do that they basically couldn’t fail at.
Of course, the kids aren’t stupid (just ignorant) so they knew what was happening and the only thing the exercise accomplished was to lower the kids’ estimation of the school administration.
Brief lesson for teachers and parents:
The only way to actually raise someone’s self-esteem works every time, and is not complicated: give them something to do that’s difficult but still possible for them to do. When they do it, voila! Look at their faces: that’s what self esteem looks like.
If they can’t do it, they learn another important lesson that schools often fail to teach: it’s okay to fail sometimes. And they get another difficult but possible (for them) task. Eventually, they get it right, and they get self-esteem and the importance of perseverance.
The public high school where I taught kept trying things to build kids’ self esteem the opposite f the right way. They’d give the kids dumbed-down things to do that they basically couldn’t fail at.
Of course, the kids aren’t stupid (just ignorant) so they knew what was happening and the only thing the exercise accomplished was to lower the kids’ estimation of the school administration.
Brief lesson for teachers and parents:
The only way to actually raise someone’s self-esteem works every time, and is not complicated: give them something to do that’s difficult but still possible for them to do. When they do it, voila! Look at their faces: that’s what self esteem looks like.
If they can’t do it, they learn another important lesson that schools often fail to teach: it’s okay to fail sometimes. And they get another difficult but possible (for them) task. Eventually, they get it right, and they get self-esteem and the importance of perseverance.