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Essay on self-confidence and self-worth
Essay on self-confidence and self-worth
Essay on self-confidence and self-worth
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Times are changing is an evident statement. Our young Americans are also changing. They seem to be more confident, tolerant, and more open-minded than ever before, but they also seem to feel very entitled. Our youth are both demanding and self-centered for the most part, expecting things to just happen because they want them to, and feel they are entitled to such. We have been told that high self-esteem is the key to children’s happiness and success, and we’ve been praising and protecting them ever since. We have been teaching our children to feel good about themselves even when they have done nothing special to feel good about. The overall belief that if we increase self-esteem among society it will increase the goodness in society is a nice thought but it lacks the evidence proving so. Low self-esteem has been the blame for many issues of today’s times. However, others believe that low self-esteem carries little or no factor in negative outcomes, but that inflated self-esteem is the actual culprit of such negative results. It is likely that this debate will continue for quite some time. The self-esteem movement has gone too far; it is crippling our children.
The self-esteem movement came about in the 1970’s. Psychologist Nathaniel Branden published a highly acclaimed paper called “The Psychology of Self-Esteem.” He argued that self-esteem was a “profound and powerful human need essential to healthy adaptiveness, that is, to optimal functioning and self-fulfillment. To the extent that the need is frustrated, we suffer and are thwarted in our development.” (Branden XV). Branden claims that all psychological problems are somehow connected to the lack of self-esteem. He claims that people can only be happy and successful if th...
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...with our children effectively. We need to listen, learn, and influence our children to accept themselves for who they are. We must teach our children how to learn from their mistakes, to be empathetic to others, we need to teach our children how to be responsible, compassionate, how to make decisions and solve problems. Children have a better chance of being successful, contributing members of society if we help them to develop realistic goals and expectations. We cannot continue to make our children believe that they are something that they are not. We cannot continue to falsely inflate our children’s beliefs and expectations. When we hand our children everything they want on a platter, we are setting them up for failure and disappointment, at the very least. Society has inadvertently created self-absorbed, self-centered children with a great sense of entitlement.
Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities or self-respect. Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston and Jefferson from A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines both struggle with establishing a positive self-esteem or a sense of self-worth. Both characters get so overwhelmed by the supremacy of someone or something around them that they doubt their own power, thus, creating a feeling of doubt for themselves and the voice that they have. In order to gain a sense of high self-esteem, a person must endure points of self-doubt.
In unit one of Interactions, the authors Ann Moseley and Jeanette Harris showed a number of readings about the idea of the self. The self-concept is an important matter because people change with age constantly and their thoughts change as well. There are many factors that can affect any individual’s thought of self-concept such as growing up, life experiences, friends and family, and meeting new people. Moreover, a number of readings in unit one by different authors showing their experiences and struggles with self-concept such as ethnicities, economy status, and self-esteem issue. I have had similar experiences with several authors, which are, “Zero” by Paul Logan, “Living in two worlds” by Marcus Mabry, and “The Jacket” by Gary Soto.
It would be a tremendous disservice to the youth of America as teachers if we were to simply accept the external causes to the self-esteem crisis since, on a grander scale it is truly o...
For as long as I can remember I’ve heard the saying, “Be the change you want to see.” While I understood what it meant I never really grasped why it was important to do so. If we don’t take the initiative to instill in our children the morals that our society lacks then the cycle will continue of disregard for others. We need to teach our children to seek who they are, and what they want out of life. Once
...ames society. Shifting the responsibility of our children's upbringing and their future for lack of parental accountability is inexcusable. We need to take responsibility for the decisions in our lives and the lives of our children. "To thine own self be true".
Feeling good about oneself is an inherently good thing; however when this is intensified so severely that it becomes the focus of everyday life, complications and consequences may occur. Jean Twenge tries to warn today’s “Generation Me” about the dangers of their obsession with the self in her piece, “An Army of One: Me.” This desire to look out for only the individual has dramatic effects on the direction of today’s society. What has also evolved out of this self adoring society is a seemingly endless need for argument, especially in the educational field, an issue addressed by Debora Tannen in her essay, “The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue.” Of course, no researchers or educational experts expected the negative results such as narcissism and argumentative culture that followed from these teaching methods. These are unintended consequences and displaced risks, just as the types addressed in Edward Tenner’s, “Another Look Back, and A Look Ahead” but applied to a different subject. In effect, one problem causes another as an excess of self-esteem more often than not leads to narcissism. That development of narcissism promotes an argumentative culture in which everyone thinks they are right because confidence in oneself is far too high. Revenge effects may include constant irritability and excessive sensitivity, a lack of obtaining a good education, or in some cases pure laziness. Through a flawed system of education and the development of Generation Me, the attitude of the United States has unintentionally drifted towards narcissism and discontent.
The most successful way to instill righteous and moral behavior and thoughts is by demonstrating our respectable interactions and honest problem solving approaches during difficult times of our lives. “As adults we should dare to be adults that we want our children to be”. They learn by watching and are quick to mimic our behavior with their peers outside of home. The author writes that “we should strive to raise children who: engage with the world from a place of worthiness, embrace their vulnerabilities and imperfections, feel a deep sense of love and compassion for themselves and others, value hard work, perseverance, and respect, and also move through our rapidly changing world with courage and a resilient spirit” (214, 218-219). All of these elements will help to transform the way we live, love, and
The book Generation Me by Jean M. Twenge talks about many strong problems we in in today’s world. It has always been taught that our thoughts and feelings are important. It's no surprise that students are now being tested on it. Even when schools, parents, and the media are not specifically targeting self-esteem, they promote the equally powerful concepts of socially sanctioned self-focus, the unquestioned importance of the individual, and an unfettered optimism about young people's prospects. It explores the consequences of individualism that go beyond self-esteem, and all the ways that we consciously and unconsciously train children to expect so much out of life. Narcissism is displayed many times throughout Generation Me but I will be focusing on narcissism portrayed through parents and children, I do believe this happens often in this day and age.
Grigsby, Channing. “A Course in Self-Esteem: 5. Sources of Low Self-Esteem.” Online Posting. 17 July 2001 <http://www.getnewvisions.com/se/05crse_sources.html>.
“We need to teach the next generation of children from day one that they are responsible for their lives. Mankind’s greatest gift, also its greatest curse, is that we have free choice. We can make our choices built from love or from fear.” -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
We were born into the world as individuals that are destined for greatness, but instead we are regenerated by society to meet certain standards. As we grow older we aspire to be doctors, teachers, and firemen because we are taught to assimilate and think within certain limitations. There are a distinct few who stray away from this pattern and dream bigger than the common careers of society. Some of which aspire to be something more eccentric like a bike courier, flavorist, or greeting card artist. Although these children are amazingly unique, they are deemed to be unsuccessful and detached from society. There are two types of people in the world that are most easiest to influence, which are children and fools. Children are innocent and docile,
Zimmerman, M. A., Copeland, L. A., Shope, J. T., & Dielman, T. E. (1997). A longitudinal study of self-esteem: Implications for adolescent development. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26, 117-141. DOI 10.1023/A:1024596313925
Self-esteem is a personality trait that describes a person’s stable overall perception of personal value or self-worth. This is essential to human growth as it affects relationships, a person’s ability to work, and nearly all parts of life. Children’s development of positive self-esteem is extremely important as it allows for character building such as giving the child the chance to improve on mistakes without fearing rejection from peers. Parents have an extensive role in developing children’s self-esteem due to the limited number of outside factors that could affect a child’s opinions and self-evaluation. Through supportive and motivational parenting a child can develop a high self-esteem that causes them to be more successful
Self-esteem, a key concept of social psychology, involves self-perception. Effected by a child’s awareness of themselves and their surroundings as well as their expectations of functionality, self-esteem development continues throughout the life span. The development of a healthy sense of self-esteem is not black and white and in early childhood, this burden falls largely on the caregiver. The caregiver is responsible for creating and maintaining an informative environment for the child to successfully grow. Subsequently, the research regarding how to do so is constantly evolving. This literature review will provide information on self-esteem, and its development and longitudinal effects, as well as analyze studies involving the relationship
An individual can be motivated in so many ways, at times it can help the person in a positive way and sometimes it can be negative. One of the most important topics of motivations comes within us and involves our self-esteem. It reflects emotions and the way people seem themselves. Self-esteem is the mirror of one’s soul, what moves people as individuals and might allow them to proceed and better themselves. Another way to help with motivation is to seek professional help, talk to others and make the necessary changes to feel accepted.