A particularly dim-witted pillar of wisdom highly popular with the kind of liberal that I -- as a liberal -- can't stand, took a whack in the L.A. Times yesterday. Delivering the whack was Dr. Roy F. Baumeister, a professor in the department of psychology at Florida State University.
High self-esteem in schoolchildren does not produce better grades...college students with mediocre grades who got regular self-esteem strokes from their professors ended up doing worse on final exams than students who were told to suck it up and try harder.
Self-esteem doesn't make adults perform better at their jobs either. Sure, people with high self-esteem rate their own performance better — even declaring themselves smarter and more attractive than their low self-esteem peers — but neither objective tests nor impartial raters can detect any difference in the quality of work.
Likewise, people with high self-esteem think they make better impressions, have stronger friendships and have better romantic lives than other people, but the data don't support their self-flattering views...Self-esteem doesn't predict who will make a good leader, and some work...has found humility rather than self-esteem to be a key trait of successful leaders.
It was widely believed that low self-esteem could be a cause of violence, but in reality violent individuals, groups and nations think very well of themselves. They turn violent toward others who fail to give them the inflated respect they think they deserve. Nor does high self-esteem deter people from becoming bullies, according to most of the studies that have been done; it is simply untrue that beneath the surface of every obnoxious bully is an unhappy, self-hating child in need of sympathy and praise.
The whole self esteem movement became one of the most ridiculous and counter-productive social fads ever. My kids went to a self-esteem oriented school where everyone earned the same accolades for their work no matter how well they performed; half the kids in the second grade couldn't read. They played in a self-esteem oriented baseball league where keeping score was seen saa form of oppression and everyone played the exact same number of innings. It was an almost entirely pointless enterprise; even the kids lost interest after a few games.
Self-esteem is a side effect, not a goal.
Via Kevin Drum.
I swear, scout's honor, religion IS the opiate of the masses.
Posted by: jessiemica | 01/26/2005 at 09:39 PM
I coached soccer for several years, and it irritated everyone involved that there was no official score, no one won, and at the end of the season every team received the exact same trophy. I kept ridiculous stats for the girls, and they loved it. They wanted to know who took the most shots on the goal, who stole the ball the most, who was the high scorer, etc. I should add that I coached many of the same kids in several teams starting with 6 and 7 year olds and continuing until they were 11 nad 12 years old.
People want to compete, they want to excel and be recognized for it. You're right, the self-esteem movement was one of the most conter-productive fads every undertaken. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to go away anytime soon.
Posted by: Charlie Gordon | 01/27/2005 at 09:18 PM
To quote Mr. Incredible, "If everybody's special then nobody's special".
You bunch of losers.
Posted by: Jay Loves Kitti | 02/02/2005 at 02:20 PM