Enhancing Children's Self-Esteem: Illusion and Possibility

Abstract

Current efforts to enhance children's self-esteem are centered in contrived activities aimed at self-defense and rooted in a utilitarian view of self-esteem as an antecedent of academic achievement. Constructed almost entirely out of an apparently "humanistic" psychological perspective, these efforts detach self-esteem from cultural and social conditions and thus become potentially meaningless and debilitating for children. This paper proposes an alternative direction for thinking about self-esteem based upon its place as a crucial aspect of human dignity. From this perspective, enhancing self-esteem involves working toward reconstructing both the school and society insofar as it detracts from the self-worth, efficacy, and constructivist capacities of children.