Sorry to post again so quickly, but I just HAD to include this video. It's from February, so you may already have seen it or heard of it, but it was new to me:
Watched the video. Wow! There were two points that she said that made sense to me. The one that I will work with is the one where she says, "We shouldn't be telling kids they are special.We should tell them they are loved and when reward them when they good things. . . we should stop giving them a trophy just for showing up because the world doesn't work that way."
What blows my mind the most is that I am, ugh, a part of this generation, and I remember the CONSTANT self-esteem buffers of elementary school--a neverending stream of SPECIALNESS and UNIQUENESS and SPECIALNESS, learning mantras like, "I am lovable and capable!" and "I like myself, I'm worth a lot!" (True phrases that I was told to repeat.)
The irony is that this sort of bs was aimed RIGHT AT ME--I was shy and had (er, have) really low self-esteem and was not well-liked by my peers (okay, I was THE most unpopular kid in school). I was EXACTLY the kind of student who needed her esteem salvaged, and yet, AND YET, I managed to duck most of it and grew up to (I hope) have an understanding that the world doesn't turn because I say so.
Maybe it's truly the CURRENT crop, the kids who went through elementary school in the late 90s and are now in college, who got the true overload of ego-stroking. Maybe if I were just a few years younger, I'd be unbearable, too. ;-)
Acadamnation: a small community of professors interested in discussing the frustrations of teaching and the pervasive culture of mediocrity that we teach against. Grumble grumble. We need a margarita.
2 comments:
Watched the video. Wow! There were two points that she said that made sense to me. The one that I will work with is the one where she says, "We shouldn't be telling kids they are special.We should tell them they are loved and when reward them when they good things. . . we should stop giving them a trophy just for showing up because the world doesn't work that way."
Boy, does this say it all?
ABSOLUTELY. Couldn't agree more.
What blows my mind the most is that I am, ugh, a part of this generation, and I remember the CONSTANT self-esteem buffers of elementary school--a neverending stream of SPECIALNESS and UNIQUENESS and SPECIALNESS, learning mantras like, "I am lovable and capable!" and "I like myself, I'm worth a lot!" (True phrases that I was told to repeat.)
The irony is that this sort of bs was aimed RIGHT AT ME--I was shy and had (er, have) really low self-esteem and was not well-liked by my peers (okay, I was THE most unpopular kid in school). I was EXACTLY the kind of student who needed her esteem salvaged, and yet, AND YET, I managed to duck most of it and grew up to (I hope) have an understanding that the world doesn't turn because I say so.
Maybe it's truly the CURRENT crop, the kids who went through elementary school in the late 90s and are now in college, who got the true overload of ego-stroking. Maybe if I were just a few years younger, I'd be unbearable, too. ;-)
Post a Comment