Feel GOOD About Yourself

Don't you just hate that phrase? During the Seventies, as social action gave way to personal growth, there was a boom in books, tapes, workshops, etc aimed at helping people "feel good about themselves." Indeed, many educators saw that as the fundamental goal of schooling. The idea, in a nutshell, was that some force outside of your control (it was never your responsibility) had damaged your self image, and that was what was causing you to screw up in Life. Maybe it was your parents, or maybe it was The System, but no matter, the damage was done.

The solution? Well, that depended upon whom you asked. For shrinks, it meant therapy, and the 70s saw a boom in everything from orthodox psychiatry to loonie cults and treatments, such as EST and "re-birthing" (being born, the ultimate trauma!) In education, it often took the form of dumbing things down to the point where no kid could possibly flunk, and thereby suffer another horrible injury to his/her self-esteem. Or it could consist of the teacher giving out awards for just about everything, including "being yourself." (Thanks, Mrs. Jones! You certainly made Johnny proud.) There was also a push to get rid of anything that implied ranking of kids, or competition. Of course, most children saw through this fiasco, but it certainly made some educational theorists wealthy.

In 1979 I worked for a while tutoring kids in a reading clinic that used this model. We had a good budget, a pleasant room, dedicated teachers and the latest materials. Still, few of the kids ever improved in terms of their reading skills. No matter, the director advised me; they were there to learn to... You guessed it. The odd thing was, most of the kids had damn good self images! They were, for the most part, self-confident, relaxed and eager. True, their schools were like scenes from "Blackboard Jungle" and their family lives often a mess, but they didn't need awards for being themselves.