One telling graphic: the only measured quality in which American teens rule the world is self-confidence.
I'll pause while you recall all the other statistics and drink in the rich, hearty irony.
Now, let's muse: should we stop fostering self-confidence in our youth? Or should we try to get our other curricula to mirror our extremely successful self-esteem curriculum?
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Yes, this caught my attention, too. I've heard it before. I have always been of the opinion that our culture's notion of self-esteem is way out of balance; and personally, I think it's overrated. Telling kids that low-quality work is good so that they won't have hurt feelings is not healthy or helpful. First of all, it's a lie that gives kids a false confidence. Second, I really do believe that the self-esteem movement has had a major hand in creating the complacent entitlement in so many of today's youth. If I'm great and everything I do is great, I don't have to do much, do I? And don't I deserve whatever I want?
I even saw one of those person-on-the-street's-opinion interviews that pass as "local news" a couple weeks ago where the woman-on-the-street said, "I think we've overdone the self-esteem thing with this generation."
No kidding.
But the blame rests on the shoulders of the adults. The kids are what we made them. The question is...what do we do now?
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