Warning over narcissistic pupils (BBC)

[eppur_se_muova]

By Katherine Sellgren
BBC News, at the ASCL conference

The growing expectation placed on schools and parents to boost pupils' self-esteem is breeding a generation of narcissists, an expert has warned.

Dr Carol Craig said children were being over-praised and were developing an "all about me" mentality.

She said teachers increasingly faced complaints from parents if their child failed a spelling test or did not get a good part in the school pantomime.

Schools needed to reclaim their role as educators, not psychologists, she said.

Dr Craig, who is chief executive of the centre for confidence and well-being in Scotland, was speaking at the Association of School and College Leaders conference in Birmingham.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7943906.stm




Self-esteem is not something that can be slapped on like a coat of paint. Real self-esteem comes from accomplishment.

Note that this problem is identified as an import from the US. I blame the Reagan/Gingrich free-market attitude that an education is a product that you purchase (rather than a process in which you must make a commitment to active participation) for much of the problem. Gingrich and his know-nothing cohort were very big on the idea of schools being run like businesses, which has been the worst thing to happen to education in this country EVER.

Minor case of the giggles over use of the word 'pantomime'.

[Hello_Kitty]

1. Not just narcissistic, but utterly incompetent

A pair of authors in Canada found it necessary to write a book about life skills (including how to wipe your ass) for young adults.

Moms write survival guide for coddled young adults

WINDSOR, Ont. -A son with scurvy because he thought he could survive on chicken wings and beer got two moms thinking they should write a book.

By CanWest News Service September 3, 2008

WINDSOR, Ont. -A son with scurvy because he thought he could survive on chicken wings and beer got two moms thinking they should write a book.

A guide to adulthood. A how-to book with things as simple as how to boil water and how to wipe your bum, and trickier tasks like tying a Windsor knot and managing your finances.

Kim Zarzour, a Windsor-born journalist, and author Sharon E. McKay packed all their tips into the 514-page book Good To Go: A Practical Guide to Adulthood.

It was one of McKay's sons who got scurvy but Zarzour said her own teenage son's attempts at cooking show the book is needed.

``We'll start easy. Here's a box of chicken nuggets, go for it,'' Zarzour said recalling a classic case of confused cooking. ``And of course he's yelling out: `What's a cookie sheet?' I mean, how did I not remember to teach him what a cookie sheet was?''

more

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

3. want to kill some brain cells? bring them in for job interviews!

I swear half the recent university graduates I interview have brain damage.

This is one of my favorite Bill Maher bits:
http://www.hbo.com/billmaher/new_rules/20060505.html

You know, I have never understood how Americans can talk so much about dreams, how great it is to have a dream, but make absolutely no judgments about what the dream is! Does it matter that your kids all want to be rockers and rappers and ballers and divas? Watch MTV for a day. You'll see. Your kid's dream is to be on "Cribs," living in a 50-room mansion with a shark tank and a Whitney Houston "crack nook." It's a dream about being able to spend your life pigging out on ego and money and attention in the way only this wonderful business of our allows.

[grasswire]

2. I call it the "tyranny of the mediocre"

You see it everywhere in the culture of youth. I know a teenager who was told in her growing years that she was a fabulous writer, a fashion expert, an accomplished dancer, clairvoyant and more. In actuality, she was none of these things -- she might have shown a small talent for something. The outcome was that she would never take any classes or training because she thought she already had arrived!

And today, she gets no parts in high school productions because she would not take voice training -- but the other kids did! She won't participate in sports because everyone else is much better. Yada, yada, yada.

[Hello_Kitty]

4. Stuff White People Like on gifted children

I got so flamed for posting this on a link about merit pay yesterday but I think it's funny as hell and strikes a little too close to the truth for some people.


#16 "Gifted Children"

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/01/22/17-gifted-children/

[undergroundpanther]

5. Being "gifted"

When you really ARE.. it hurts,because if you really are gifted, it is almost impossible to admit it YOURSELF,to see yourself as 'gifted' because of how others are so hostile to the gifted. Mediocre people get threatened and so shame the things you are interested in .Mediocre people around you will humiliate you,the mediocre will eat you alive because you aren't enough like them to make their egos feel in control.They hate you for being the real thing.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x3903

Many times because of the abuse at school I wished I was mediocre too,but I quickly bored with the stuff they were into.I'd rather be reading philosophy or about black holes and consciousness studies. Being gifted for real while among people who think they are gifted but are not gifted,hurts.They'll hate you for what you are,what you know and love,it hurts to be the truly gifted in this world that rewards those who are incompetent and narcissistic.

Here is an example of the hostility:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1641211

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1611321&mesg_id=1611907

[Hello_Kitty]

6. The link I posted isn't about gifted children. It's not even about children.

It's about certain people having assumptions of privilege and superiority that they extend to their children. There is a problem in schools with some parents who refuse to accept that their child could be *horror of horrors!* average. Just as highly intelligent children face difficulty in mainstream school situations, children of average ability who are forced into higher level classes to flatter their parents' egos suffer greatly too. Sometimes it takes some sharp satire to make that point.

[undergroundpanther]

8. I agree with you this whole country is more narcissistic

than it used to be.

[Bucky]

7. I've started teaching 20 years ago. I haven't noticed kids getting MORE narcissistic

Maybe the real trend is British kids becoming more Americanized. Elitists often get worried when the teaming masses start worrying more about what they can get for themselves rather than how well they can serve the upper class interests.

[bluestateguy]

9. The whole self-esteem thing was a misguided 1980's-90's fad

and regrettably many people on our side propagated the importance of self-esteem in education.

[sally jo]

10. I think it starts with the parents' egos

Too many parents, who are over-achievers, pass that disease on to their kids. And anything that isn't at the head of the pack is considered a failure. It really damages kids and makes them full of anxiety, not to mention sadness that they are not loved for themselves but their accomplishments.