Shame Solutions: How Shame Impacts School-Aged Children and What Teachers Can Do to Help

Abstract

Though many psychologists and researchers argue over the age at which humans first experience shame, all agree that by age two children have the capacity to be shamed (Lansky and Morrison 1997). School-aged children have invariably been exposed to shame at home and receive an extra dose of it in our current school system. This essay investigates shame theory and explores how societal shaming practices manifest themselves in our schools, specifically examining the negative effects of shame on human development. Alternative pedagogical strategies—those that avoid shame and shaming—are discussed and endorsed.

Acknowledgments

Ann Monroe serves as Assistant Professor of Elementary Education at the University of Mississippi. She is a former third-grade teacher and holds degrees from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and the University of Mississippi. Her research interests include affect and its impact on cognition and K–12 alternate route certification.