Feel Good about Failure. The Dark Side of Self-Esteem Classes

Your Playlist:

Description

In a highly competitive society, what harm could possibly come from providing self-esteem classes at school? In this program, ABC News anchors Diane Sawyer and Sam Donaldson and correspondent John Stossel find out as they probe the downside of the self-esteem movement. In an absence of statistics confirming any salutary effects from such classes, research indicates that intensive praise can undercut students' desire to accept greater scholastic challenges. In fact, the American Psychological Association believes that artificially inflated self-esteem can actually set the stage for school violence. Are children inadvertently being taught that there is no connection between effort and excellence?