Don Allen wrote:
> I taking up the self esteem debate with your colleague you
> may want to take a look at Rich-Harris' "The Nurture Assumption"
> (Free Press, New York, 1998). On page 339 she says in part:
>
> "According to advice-givers, selfesteem is the most valuable thing a
> parent can give a child. ... These writers may be putting the cart
> before the horse - mistaking an effect for a cause. ... Feeling VERY
> good about yourself may, in fact, be couterproductive."
I wonder exactly how true it is that "advice-givers" promote self-esteem so
strongly. I'm not saying I disbelieve the claim (it's hard to miss...), but
when I'm around psychologists discussing self-esteem, the tone has always
been one of skepticism about the notion that self-esteem should come first.
I wind up assuming that it must be those clinical types who are gung-ho
about self-esteem, but that may be a bad inference. Many of the accusations
of a culture of self-esteem seem to come from the religious right, who have
a habit of lying about psychologists to garner support.
Does anyone on TIPS believe that "self-esteem is the most valuable thing a
parent can give a child"?
Paul Smith
Alverno College
Milwaukee
