In earlier generations, teachers worried about students mastering skills rather than having high self-esteem. They knew that high self-esteem in the long run was the product of high achievement, not the other way around. But, based on spurious beliefs about what determines human performance, the emphasis of education has changed dramatically over the past two to three decades.
The unfortunate result is an epidemic of students with high self-esteem and low achievement. The culprit is an educational system, and a society that values the individual’s feelings over his performance, what he perceives over what he learns, and how well he knows himself over how well he knows math, science, or reading.
In fact, the situation has reached the point where a substantially higher percentage of students believe they are doing well than the percentage that really is doing well. For example, according to surveys, most American high school students think they excel at math. However, the reality is that American high school students rank a miserably low 28th out of 40 countries tested by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD.1
Contrast this attitude with that of students in Hong Kong. Fifty-seven percent of them agreed with the statement “I am just not good at mathematics.” Where did they actually score? In first place, 27 places ahead of the American students. And while three-quarters of U.S. students said they received good grades in math, only one-fourth of Hong Kong students said the same.
What’s going on here? Today in America, children are encouraged, praised, coddled, and congratulated for every milestone, however miniscule. The last day of preschool used to be a day for taking the toddler’s last fingerpainting home; now it’s cause for a graduation ceremony, complete with cake, balloons, and certificates suitable for framing.
Grade school brings more graduation parties as each level is transcended; bumper stickers to affix to the family minivan, glorifying “My child is an honor student”; and enormous trophies for entering ? not necessarily winning, but merely participating in ? a chess tournament or a soccer league.
Schools spend millions to bolster students’ egos on programs with names like “I like me.” Teachers inflate grades, worried that a bad report card could send a pupil on a downward spiral of self-doubt. Parents confronted with a spelling test that shows their child misspelled five of 10 words are urged by so-called experts to praise the five words that were spelled correctly.
Is all this paying off? Not according to the objective test scores compiled by the OECD, nor any other research study on the subject. As Jonathan Zimmerman of New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education, concluded in The Philadelphia Inquirer,2 “There is no solid evidence linking enhanced self-esteem to higher academic achievement. None. More than 10,000 studies have tried to prove this relationship, but they have failed. You can feel great about yourself ? and about your math abilities ? but still stink at math.”
And, the cult of self-esteem is not just limited to how teachers teach, but has been the basis for many policies of dubious value. Specifically, the fixation on self-esteem has been used to justify integrating students based on race, segregating them based on gender, and promoting them despite failure. In all of these cases, the moves appeared to be based on very good intentions ? and a very poor grasp of reality.
We’ll consider the gender issue first, since it’s driving a policy fad that still has some momentum. In schools around the country, educators are experimenting with same-sex classrooms. According to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, 149 public schools are offering “girls only” or “boys only” classes during the current school year. Eight years ago, only four schools used this approach.3
The goal in many of these programs is to make the students feel better about themselves so they will learn more and perform better. Yet, the results don’t back up this idea. Students in all-girl classes do develop more confidence ? but it does not improve their academic performance, according to a study by the American Association of University Women. The study concluded that there was no academic benefit to same-sex education, at least for girls.
Similarly, the decision to racially integrate classrooms in the 1950s was based largely on the assumption that segregation harmed black students’ self-esteem. In the Supreme Court’s ruling in 1954, the justices declared that segregating black children “generates a feeling of inferiority. . . that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone.”
Admittedly, integration was one of the ways of eliminating the disparity in funding that existed between black and white pupils at the time. However, it has done nothing to close the academic performance gap between the races. Fifty years later, researchers still haven’t found any connection between self-esteem and segregation. There’s no proof that black schoolchildren in integrated schools feel better about themselves than those in segregated schools, or that increased self-esteem leads to academic success, according to Zimmerman.
More importantly, the measurement of self-esteem and performance by race and gender goes a long way toward establishing the idea that there may be a negative correlation. Specifically, he points out that several recent studies demonstrate that the high school group with both the highest self-esteem and lowest levels of academic achievement are black males.
The other idea that doesn’t stand up to scrutiny is the belief that flunking children is bad for their development. This theory holds that the stigma from being held back a grade for poor performance will cause students to fall further behind their peers, and so wound their egos that they will never achieve their potential in their future careers.
According to the Manhattan Institute, an education think tank based in New York, that’s ridiculous. In fact, children who repeated a grade clearly benefited from being held back. The researchers compared the test records of two groups of students in the third grade in Florida. Each group consisted of roughly 50,000 students who failed the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.4
One group failed the test in the 2001-2002 school year and was promoted to fourth grade. The second group failed the test the following year, when the state changed its policy to require students to repeat the grade if they failed the test. In the following year, the students who repeated the third grade achieved a higher score than their counterparts on standardized tests that measured how much progress they made during the year, regardless of which grade they were in.
In the face of globalization, Americans will increasingly be forced to compete in the global marketplace for talent. Being 28th out of 40 countries in math skills is simply not good enough. Clearly, today’s emphasis on “self-esteem at all cost” must end. How will this happen? Here is our five-part forecast:
First, studies such as the one conducted on third-graders by the Manhattan Institute will continue to explode the fallacy that there exists a positive connection between “feeling good” and “doing well.” Well-publicized findings about the gap between self-esteem and performance will continue to gather momentum. The bias toward feelings over intellect that warps today’s educators will give way to reality when confronted with hard evidence that their approach isn’t working.
Second, as part of educational reform efforts, the federal government will require standardized testing of all students in grades three through 12, and deny promotions to the next grade level to all students who fail to pass the test. In this way, the students who have mastered a grade level will be allowed to progress to the next level, and those who need extra help ? regardless of age, gender, race, or income level ?will be kept at the same level until they have mastered it. This will bring about a renewed ideal of meritocracy in U.S. education that will benefit everyone.
Third, the pressure to pass the federally mandated standardized tests will lead many parents to invest in better educational resources for their children outside of school. As a result, expect big opportunities for firms that offer one-on-one tutoring services, for test preparation services, and for new automated systems that will help students learn at their own pace.
Fourth, by 2009 most states will fund educational voucher programs that will not be self-esteem friendly. Such programs will force public and private schools to compete for students and the funding that accompanies them. Once market forces are brought to bear, parents will be able to choose among a wide range of school offerings. In this harsh market-driven environment, we expect to see programs that emphasize self-esteem over academic achievement die a quick and merciful death.
Fifth, ultimately the no-excuses approach to education will spawn generations of American high school and college graduates who are proficient in math, science, and English ?even if takes them an extra year or two to finish their education. The implications will include better job candidates for American companies, a decrease in the U.S. dependence on foreign-born engineers and scientists to fill key positions through the H1B visa program, and a huge boost to American productivity and innovation that will bring a better standard of living to everyone in the United States.
References List : 1. To access the report “Learning for Tomorrows World: First Result from PISA 2003,” visit the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development website at: www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/60/34002216/pdf2. The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 2004, “Teach Math, Not Esteem,” by Jonathan Zimmerman. ⓒ Copyright 2004 by The Philadelphia Inquirer. All rights reserved.3. St. Paul Pioneer Press, December 12, 2004, “See Dick or Jane Learn,” by Megan Boldt. ⓒ Copyright 2004 by St. Paul Pioneer Press. All rights reserved.4. South Florida Sun-Sentinel, December 9, 2004, “Retention Eventually May Help Students, Study Determines,” by Chris Kahn. ⓒ Copyright 2004 by South Florida Sun-Sentinel. All rights reserved.
