The Educational Importance of Self‐Esteem

Abstract

Some philosophers of education have recently argued that educators can more or less ignore children's global self-esteem without failing them educationally in any important way. This paper draws on an attachment theoretic account of self-esteem to argue that this view is mistaken. I argue that understanding self-esteem's origins in attachment supports two controversial claims. First, self-esteem is a crucial element of the confidence and motivation children need in order to engage in and achieve educational pursuits, especially in certain domains of instruction such as physical education. Second, self-esteem can be facilitated socially, through an appropriate arrangement of school institutions, thus without hindering the pursuit of other high priority aims such as a challenging academic curriculum. Consequently I maintain that educators who ignore self-esteem overlook something educationally important.

Full text

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ApaperforsubmissiontothePhilosophyofEducationSocietyofGreatBritain
Conference2008:
Title:TheEducationalImportanceofSelfEsteem
Author:
MattFerkany
VisitingAssistantProfessor
DepartmentofPhilosophy
506S.KedzieHall
MichiganStateUniversity
EastLansing,MI48824
Email:ferkany@msu.edu
Wordcount:5821
1.
Should school teachers and administrators worry themselves much about the esteem
children have for themselves as persons, i.e. their 'global' selfesteem (henceforth, just
'selfesteem')? In recent work on the subject, two authors have advanced an array of
argumentsmaintainingthattheyneednotatall(Kristjánsson,2007)ornotmuch(Smith,
2002,2006).Someareconsequentialist—effortstofosterselfesteemintheclassroom,it
is argued, conflict with the pursuit of other more important educational aims, such as
academic achievement or character education (Smith, 2002). Others are more
deontological—itisclaimedthatlowselfesteempersonsarenotall'headcases'afterall,
inneedofbeingcured;rather,theycanbelovableandperfectlysuccessful(Smith,2006).
Anotherargumentisconceptual:Selfesteemissupposedlynotconnectedconceptuallyto
the con fidence , and thus the motivation, ch ildren n eed in order to  be good learne rs or
behave well (Kristjánsso n,2007 ).A related ,emp irical argument claims that selfestee m
is not connec ted to it causall y either (ibid). Were these arguments pe rsuasive, it wou ld

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seem educators could largely igno rechildren's selfesteem without failing them in any
educationallyimportantway.
Idonotthinkthisisso.Whilethereis acommonaccountofselfesteemandits
educational significance that is somewhat vulnerable to the arguments of Kristjánsson
and Smith, I will argue that their arguments are unsound or do not apply to an
appropriat ely sophisticated acco unt, which I call th e attachment account. Accordin g to
that account, selfesteem is importantly connected to the confidence and motivation
childrenneedinordertoengageinandachieveeducationalgoalsandcan andshouldbe
fosteredsocially,i.e.notjust,orevenprimarily,throughtheinteractionsbetweenteacher
and student,butbetweenstudent andthesocialenvironmentofthe schoolitself.This is
especially the case, I will argue, in certain domains of instruction such as physical
education and the arts. Consequ ently, school educators shou ld concern themse lvesw ith
theselfesteemofchildren,especiallyinthesedomainsofinstruction.
The argu ment proceeds as  follo ws. Section  2 outlines a simp le account of sel f
esteem and its educational significance and discusses its vulnerability to Smith and
Kristjánsson's arguments. Section 3 introduces the attach ment account and responds to
Kristjánsson's conceptual and empirical arguments. Section 4 then elaborates the
significanceofselfesteemforeducationinlightoftheattachmentaccountandresponds
to Smith’s consequentialist argument. Section 5 responds to Smith's deontological
argumentandconcludes.
2.
The current literature features various accounts of selfesteem and its educational

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significance,e.g.RuthCigman's 'situatedselfesteem'(2004) or Kristjánsson's'justified'
conception(2007).HereIoutlinea standardaccount ofwhichsomeoftheseotherscan
be seen as variations. I use this account in what follows for two reasons. One, while
Smith and Kristjánsson do not explicitly treat it as the target of their critiques, it
illustrateswelltheforceoftheirarguments.Second,itisalsoaverycommon accountin
bothprofessionalliteratureandordinarytalkaboutselfesteem.
According to the standard account, selfesteem is how a person feels about
herself,goodorbad,andasmanifested inavarietyofways,e.g.inprideorshame,but
especial lyin  selfconfidence (U.S. Dep t. of Health and Hu man Services  (U.S. DHHS),
n.d.). Bec ause people c anfee l more or less well about the mselves and be more or les s
selfconfident, the standard account asserts that selfesteem can be high, low, and
somewhere in between. However, high selfesteem is claimed to have a variety of
behavioral benefits. These include independence, responsibility taking, toleration of
frustration, resistancetopeerpressure, willingness toattemptnewtasksandchallenges,
ability to  handle positive and negative e motions, and  willingness to o ffer assi stance to
others(ibid).
Obviously,thesebehaviorsareverydesirableeducationally.Peopleabletohandle
frustration, take risks, and work independently make good learners. Were high self
esteem also rel ated to responsibility taking, imp erviousness to peer pressure ,e motional
stability, and altruism, it would appear to be crucial to good moral character as well.
Scholars of education and public policy makers have not overlooked these supposed
benefits. The California Task Force to Promote SelfEsteem and Personal and Social
Responsibilityendorsesvirtuallyallofthem(Mecca,1990).Morerecently,RuthCigman

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maintains that selfesteem is a crucial component of the confidence, and so the
motivat ion,th at children need in orde rto su cceed academically and  as persons (2004).
Callthisthemotivationalclaim.
While decidedly controversial, the reasoning behind the motivational claim is
both intuitive and supported by introspection. Relative to achieving a difficult or
challengingtask,apersonwhoispreoccupiedwithselfdoubtcannotjustgetonwithitor
focus on it to the degree that doing it well demands. Moreover, nervous selfdoubt
impairs the  functioning of th e faculties ne eded to execute e ffective ly, for in stance, the
ability to think clearly and critically. It is also intuitive and seemingly confirmed by
introspection that the confidence manifesting high selfesteem is important to good
character. On the one hand, people who doubt their worth or competence can be
maddeningly difficult to deal with, shuttered to the bright side and susceptible to envy
and jealousy.Ontheotherhand, aperson who isconfidentofherworth can respond to
threats without anxious concern to defend herself or simply shrug them off as they
deserve.
Thestandard accountofselfesteem and itseducationalsignificanceis,however,
vulnerable to Smith and Kristjánsson's arguments to some extent. Consider the
consequentialist argument. It says, contra the motivational claim, that efforts to foster
selfesteem in the classroom hinder the pursuit of o ther high priority aims, including
those forwhichthestandardaccountclaimsselfesteemisanecessaryprecondition,e.g.
a high  degree of acade mic accomplishment . The argument  gets traction in  light of the
supposed pedagogical requirements of fostering selfesteem. The authors of 'Building
SelfEsteem in Children', for instance, instruct parents to “be generous with praise”,

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“teach po sitive selfstatements ,” and “avoid criticism tha t takes the form o f ridicu le or
shame” (U.S. DHHS). Presumably, teachers should follow suit, and apparently many
have. Smith cites the Cantors who instruct teachers to swap talk of punishment for
misbehavior with talk of 'consequences' (2002, p. 93). But academic and behavioral
instructioninherentlyrequirecriticismwhichisliabletoengendernegativefeelingsabout
theself,which, onthestandard account,isjustwhat low selfesteemcomesto.Thus,it
appears that teachers cannot both instruct children academically and behaviorally and
fostertheirselfesteematthesametime.
Theapparentconflictbetweenfosteringselfesteemandacademicandbehavioral
instruction  is a central p roblem for those who  favor mak ing selfeste em an educational
priority.Yetevenwereitresolvable,SmithandKristjánsson’sotherargumentsconstitute
theirowncase againstworryingmuchaboutschoolchildren'sselfesteem.Theempirical
argument,forinstance,maintains thatexperimentalsupportforthemotivationalclaimis
too weak. As Kristjánsson has noted, many studies find only what most psychologists
consider a weak correlation, about .20, between low selfesteem and undesirable
educational outcomes such as academic underperformance (2007). Furthermore, many
studiesfindasmuchevidencethatachievementcausesselfesteemastheopposite.Ifthe
empirical argument is cogent, whether the consequentialist one is sound is beside the
point—evenifteacherscouldbothfosterselfesteemandappropriatelycritiquechildren's
workandpunishtheirbadbehavioratthesametime,thepayoffwouldbeinsignificant.
Empiric ale vidence aside, K ristjánsso no bjects that the standard accoun t of self
esteem anditssignificanceismistakentoconnectselfesteem andselfconfidenceinthe
waythatthemotivationalclaimrequires.Themotivationalclaimconnectsselfesteemto

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achievement by connecting it to selfconfidence, wh ich has fairly ob vious educational
advantage s. But, as Kristján sson argues, selfest eem and selfconfid ence seem to be  in
some sense distinct, neither being sufficient for the other. For example, consider a
“student(...movingcountries)whose schoolbasedselfesteem inherhomecountrywas
low,butwhorelishesthechance ofmovingtoanewplacewhereshethinksshewillbe
abletodobetter”(2007,p.260).Hereconfidenceappears tobeunaffectedbylowself
esteem.Butthen,ifitisconfidencethatiscrucialtomotivation,educatorsoughttofocus
notonselfesteembutselfconfidence.AccordingtoKristjánsson,thisviewissupported
byempirical research finding a“muchstrongerlinkbetweenselfconfidenceandschool
performancethanbetweenselfesteemandschoolperformance”(ibid).
Finally,Smithmaintainsthatthereisaseriousquestionconcerningthecoherence
ofourbeliefs aboutlowselfesteem'sstatusasacharacterdefect.Thestandardaccount
seems toassume thatourbeliefshere areunifiedand whollynegative—lowselfesteem
isadefectandshouldbe“managed”or“cured”throughthetechniquesofselfhelp,Circe
Time,assertivenesstraining,or'personalizedlearning'(inwhicheverytaskistailoredto
the capacities of the child) (Smith, 2006, p. 56). But when we investigate our beliefs
carefully, Smith claims, we also find admiration and love for diffidence and low self
esteem. Citing examples of diffident sorts, such as Fanny in Austen's Mansfield Park,
Smith argues against Hume's claim that we love the diffident person because of her
capacitytodevelopintothemodestoneandmaintainsthat,“Welovethediffidentperson
because o f her very diffidence and not because , by being 'improved', she will become
otherwise”(ibid,p.54).Smithconcludesthatthereisthus“somethingchilling”aboutthe
deploymentofinstructionaltechniquesinthe service ofraising selfesteem,asifpeople

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likeFanny“wouldbeimprovedbybeingcuredof”theirdiffidence(ibid,p.56).
On the basis of arguments like these, Kristjánsson and Smith conclude that
educators ought not worry themselves at all (Kristjánsson) or much (Smith) about
children 's selfest eem. Though the arguments are differen t and their final  positions not
quite the same, the shared upshot is that educators would not fail children in any
importantwayiftheyputconcernforselfesteemlargelyaside.
3.
The argumen tso f Kristján sson and Smith fail, I will argue , to show that educato rs can
safely put aside concern for children's selfesteem. Some of the arguments on critical
scrutiny are simply not very strong. On the other hand, thinking about selfesteem’s
educational significance in terms of the attachment account reveals responses to the
others.
Tobegin with the attachmentaccount,itisbestintroducedbycontrasttowhatI
willcall a cognitiveJamesian account ,bec ause of its origins in the though tof William
James(1950).Jamesmaintained thattheesteemapersonhasforherselfisafunctionof
the ratio o f her a spirations to  acknowledged succes ses. Th ati s, the more that a perso n
believessheissuccessfulaccordingtoherownstandards,themoreesteemshewillhave
for hersel f. The cognitiveJam esian account is thus 'cogn itive' because it main tains that
selfesteemisstructuredbyourbeliefs.
TheroleassignedtobeliefinthecognitiveJamesianaccountisattheheartofthe
difference between it and the attachment account. Like the standard account, which
identifies selfesteem with feelings, the attachment account denies that selfesteem is

8
structuredatitsfoundationbybeliefs.However,unlikethestandardaccount,itmaintains
that the most fundamental determinant of selfesteem is not any feeling itself, but a
relativel y stable dispo sition to be liefs and feelin gs expressing pos itive or negative self
regard,e.g.prideorshameorconfidenceor selfdoubt.Onthisview,thesedispositions
tend to precede and determine which beliefs about our merits we will accept. The
attachmentaccountthusviewsselfesteemasarelativelystablecharactertraitconstituted
byanarrayofcognitiveandaffectivedispositions,namelyallthoseexpressingapositive,
negative,orotherattitudetowardtheself.
The attachment account is ‘attachment theoretic’ because it maintains that
whetherwearedisposedtolargelypositive,negative,ormoreneutralbeliefsandfeelings
is primarily a function of the quality of our childhood  attachment to our parents.
1 All
children expect that their parents will be readily available to pay attention to them,
especial lyin times o f distress. But repeate d frustration of this expec tation is though tto
ramify into a habit of selfdoub t for the child about he r worthiness of that atten tion, or
indeedoftheattentionofanyoneatall.Inotherwords,intolowselfesteem.
As a general theory of selfesteem, the attachment account has significant
advantages over the cognitiveJamesian account. As a matter of introspection, the
experience of selfesteem seems more affectively charged than a mere belief in one’s
success,worthiness,orlackthereof.Furthermore,thecognitiveJamesianaccountmakes
socialacceptanceorapprovala matterofselfesteemonlyinsofarasweaspiretoit, but
this seems mistaken. Probably the majority of people, including selfprofessed rugged
individualists, desire social acceptance and are weighed down by its absence. For
another,itisoddtothinkofhighselfesteemasabelief,asifhighselfesteempeoplego

9
aroundconstantlythinkingtothemselves,“I’mgreat”andlowselfesteemone'sthinking,
“I'maloser.”Ontheotherhand,itiscomparativelynaturaltothinkofitasadisposition
to assent to some such belief when prompted. However, even this disposition is
insufficient to explain selfesteem, since many persons have it, yet we would not be
willing to say that they are high selfesteem persons. What is missing is a basic
disposition to experience the self as somehow good or bad unmediated by accepted
beliefs. Imagine an academic who is high achieving, beloved by her intimates and
associates, and knows it. She has and acknowledges every reason to believe in her
success andworthinessofthe love,respect,andesteemofothers.Imaginehoweverthat,
well into tenure, she anxiously doubts and interrogates herself in the face o f ordinary
tasks, such as writing or presenting a new paper, asking an associate for a relatively
minorfavor,orconfronting atroublestudent.Onsuchoccasions,she encountersherself
asaproblemthatmustbeovercomebeforeanythingelsecanhappen.AmIgoodenough
to work on this prob lem? Do I really belon g in academia? And when ever things do go
wrong,shethinks,“I'manidiot,howcouldIbesostupid?”Iseenoreasontothinksuch
peopledonotexist,yettheylacktheconfidentsenseofcompetenceandworthinessthat
belongstonormalhighselfesteem.
Sotherearemanyreasonsforunderstandingselfesteemattachmenttheoretically.
NotehoweverthattheattachmentaccountrejectsKristjánsson'sconceptualargument,for
it maintains that some threshold level of dispositional selfconfidence is necessary for
high selfesteem. But in light of its advantages, this seems correct. Moreover, it is
perfectlycompatiblewith Kristjánsson'sclaim.Ofcoursenoteveryoccasiononwhicha
person judges herself to be inadequate must she lack selfconfidence about her

10
possibilities of future success. Perhaps there's something different about the imagined
future that, to her mind, justifies the optimism. But ongoing patterns of anxious self
doubt stillmanifestlow selfesteem.Therelevant questioninthecase ofKristjánsson's
schoolgirl is, what happens when she begins to confront genuine challenges to her
abilitiesinhernewcircumstances?
In reconnecting selfesteem to qualities in turn connected to a person's
motivationalcapacities,theattachmentaccount alsothusrejectsKristjánsson'sempirical
argument. It is noteworthy that this argument's strength is in any case not obviously
overwhelming, for it is (or should be) controversial how weak the socalled weak
correlationsKristjánssoncitesare.Whilea.20correlationiscommonlyregardedasweak
in psycho logical science, in med ical science, a correlation of this magnitude be tween,
say,smokingandcancer,wouldseemtobeamplereasontoquitsmoking,foritsuggests
that 1 /5 of smokers will develop a  commonly fatal disease. Th is is significan t inde ed.
Similarly, if 1/5 of low selfesteem students do much worse than others, this would
appeartobeamplereasonforconcern.
But suppose I am wrong about that. Nevertheless, as just argued, habits of
nervous selfdoubt and selfrecrimination are conceptually tied to lower selfesteem,
habitsofbasicselfconfidencetohigherselfesteem.Nowmanystudies,as Kristjánsson
notes, connect selfconfidence to achievement more strongly than to selfesteem. So
educators shouldfosterselfconfidence. But in lightoftheattachment account,thiswill
oftennotbepossiblewithoutalsoaddressingtheirselfesteem,sinceforlowselfesteem
persons,therootcauseofhabitsofselfdoubtisadeeplyingrainedsenseofunworthiness
stemming from experiences of rejection. Furthermore, some newly emerging research

11
finds th ats ecure parental attachme nt is positively associ ated with a cademic motivation
(DuchesneandLarose,2007) andperformance(Cotterell,1992).Otherresearch,though
moregeneralinscope,hasobviouseducationalimplications.SueGerhardt,forinstance,
reviews in detail research connecting poor infantp arent attachment to low selfesteem
and unde rdevelopment of parts  of the brain respo nsible for regul ating emotions (2004 ,
PartI).Inturn,sheconnectsbothtoeducationallydamagingbehavioraltendencies,such
as an inability to inhibit inappropriate behaviors or seek relief from intense emotions
throughstrategiesofselfdistractionorinthe supportofothers(ibid,PartII).Butwhile
thedamageGerhardtoutlinesisnotnecessarilypermanent, because attachment andself
esteemaretiedtogether,aprimaryavenuetoitsrepairrunsthoughselfesteem(ibid,Part
III, Ch. 9). Hence, in the educational domain, addressing selfesteem may be a
requirement of resolving confidence or attachment problems that affect academic
motivationandperformance.
I conclude that the empirical record is at worst ambiguous on the educational
significance of selfesteem and possibly very supportive. From this claim, it does not
follow that fosteringselfesteemshould jumpto the top of the list of educationalgoals.
However,itdoesmeanthatinthinkingabout selfesteem'seducational significance,we
must, for no w, fall ba ckon  reason more than  Kristjánsson h as. As I will argue belo w,
there are many good reasons for believing that low selfesteem is an important
impedimenttoachievement or the willtobehavewell,especiallyincertaindomainsof
instruction.
4.

12
Understandingselfesteem attachmenttheoretically,Iwillargue,shows that selfesteem
is important to the confidence that children need in order to engage and succeed in
educationalpursuits,especially in certaindomainsofinstruction,butalsothatitcanbe
fosteredwithouthindering the pursuitofotherimportant educationalaims.Thedefense
ofthisclaimwilltaketheremainderofthissection.Butinlightofit,Imaintainthat(a)
fostering selfesteem, at least indirectly, is generally an important educational priority
and that (b) relative tocertaindomainsofinstruction,especiallyphysicaleducationand
the arts, school educators should make concern for selfesteem among their highest
priorities.
To begin with an obvious objection, there is a definite sense in which
understand ing selfesteem attachme nt theoretically makes  it vulnerable to the prob lems
raisedbytheconsequentialistargument.Becausechildrenaredependentmostheavilyon
theirparents fortheirselfesteem,teacherscanhaverelativelylittledirectimpact.Their
relationship to their students is simply not that important. In fact, some theorists have
suggested that children's relationship to their peers is more important (Harter, 1999).
Consequently,teacherscertainlyshouldnotattempttotakeonsucharole.Anyeffortsto
foster selfesteem reaching this level must indeed interfere with the pursuit of higher
priority educational aims, since it must quite literally take  the place of care giving or
friendship.
However,itdoesnotfollowthattherearenotveryimportantthingseducatorscan
and ought to do th atw ill foster se lfesteem  without hindering the pursuit of oth erh igh
priorityaims,e.g.achallengingcurriculum.Toshowwhy,Ineedtotakeafairlylengthy
detour through political philosophy via a corollary of the attachment account of self

13
esteem.
ThecorollaryIhaveinmindclaimsthatselfesteemisinawaysocialinnature.
Because the fundamental element of selfesteem is the extent to which a person takes
herself to be worthy of the love, respect, or esteem of others, the attachment account
implies thatexperiencing the self as sociallyexcluded or rejectedisespecially liableto
trigger feelings of shame or humiliation, and therefore, reinforce habits of self
recriminationortendenciestobeliefsandfeelingsofunworthiness.Sopeoplearetosome
extentdependentupontheacceptanceofothersfortheirselfesteem.
To elaborate this, imagine that your social world is like this. You have some
associatesthatyougetalongwith,butyoudonotgenerallyfeelthatyoufitinverywell
withanyofthem.Infact,itseemstoyouthatyoualwayshavetomakequiteaneffortto
fit in. Thus, you try at first to do things that they clearly value and for which they will
thereforerespectyou.Buttoyourshameyoufindthatyouarenotverygoodatthemand
beingbadatthemseemstomakemattersworse.Whereasbeforeitwasmerelysuspected
thatyouwereincompetent,youhavenowremovedalldoubt.Asaconsequence,youstop
trying these things unless you are forced to or else find yourself in that rare situation
wheresuccessisguaranteed.Thoughthisleavesyousomethingofanoutsider,atleastas
invisible youarenotsovulnerabletoshameorhumiliation.Ontheotherhand,thereare
somethingsthatyoudoratherwell,butyouhavenotfoundmanyforumsfortheirpursuit
and it has been  your expe rience that you r talents are not very highl y valued by others .
Indeed many others find your excellences comical or ridiculous  and have on occasion
tauntedyouforthem.Someofthemhaveeventhreatenedyouphysically.
The situation in thisstoryisafamiliarworry in politicalphilosophy.Thereitis

14
widelybelieved thatthesocialnatureofselfesteemgroundsadutyofjustice toarrange
social ins titutions in ways conducive  to people acquiring and maintaining selfesteem.
There is disagreement about precisely which arrangements of institutions satisfy this
duty, but wide agreement on the general criteria. Just arrangements do not shame or
humili ate anyone, at least not undese rvingly, and they make it possible for eve ryone to
find and participateinanassociationwheretheyandtheirtalents and accomplishments
canbeesteemedbylikemindedothers (calltheseesteemgroups).BorrowingfromJohn
Rawls (1971),callfreedom from undeservedshameandhumiliationandesteemgroups
thesocialbasesofselfesteem.Forthepersoninthestoryabove,thesocialbasesofself
esteemaresorelylacking.
Not eve ry theorist agrees to precisely the se criteria for the  social bases o f self
esteem,someadvancingstrongerrequirements.
2 Itisalsocontroversialhowstringentthe
requireme nt to supply the  social bases o f selfes teem is  or how central  it is to justi ce.
However,itispowerfullyintuitivethatthereissomesuchrequirementandthatitcarries
significant weight. Imagine that, by virtue of the design of social institutions, specific
segments of society (women, say) are disproportionately vulnerable to the shame and
outsiderstatus justdescribed.Thevulnerabilityisa significantburden and disadvantage
and,insofarasitisowingtothedesignofchangeablesocialinstitutions,thearrangement
isprimafacieunjust.
Nowschools aresocialworldswiththeirownbasicsocialstructure,onethatcan
bemoreorlesssupportiveofselfesteem.Assuming that thesocialbasesofselfesteem
for school children are the same as those for adults, schools support and foster self
esteem just when they do not shame or humiliate children undeservedly and make it

15
possibleforallto enjoy anappropriateesteemgroup.Unfortunately,itseemsthatmany
school en vironments, like the soc ial world described  above, are not very s upportive of
selfesteem.Insomeways,thisseemsobvious.Childrenthemselves tendtomakethings
difficult by forming esteem groups that are incredibly exclusive and hostile toward
outsiders. Fo rch ildren who find themselves on  the outside , the experience c an be very
painful. Insofar as this is the case, however, it points to two important general ways
educatorscanseektofosterselfesteem.
First, they can make efforts to ameliorate the 'popularity contest' between
children. This presumably is what advocates of strategies like Circle Time have been
trying to do d irectly. I think they are  right to, though it is no teworthy that, on the one
hand,notalldirectstrategiesneed tohavethischaracter,andsuchstrategiesmaynotbe
the best anyway. Take the first claim first. It seems to me, for instance, that normal
practices of punishing children who behave cruelly to others are at least as important,
though thismayseem tothreatentheselfesteemoftheculprit.However,asIwillargue
below, the threat to selfesteem of punishment is exaggerated. Second, because the
problem of fostering selfesteem socially is a systematic one, one deriving from the
design of social institutions, it needs a systematic solution. Consequently, the best
strategies may well be indirect ones setting up a school and classroom environment
minimiz ing occasion s for shame/humiliation and motivating  children to work together
collegially. This is more easily said than done, but that does not imply that teachers
should not try. Nordo esi tnecess arily imply, for example, that allc ompetition between
children must be avoided, for whether a loss is humiliating, say, depends on the
collegialityofthesocialenvironment.Hence,ifcollegialityistaught,aneffortismadeto

16
fosterselfesteeminawaythatneednotconflictwithinstructionrequiringcompetition.
Second, the organization of welladvertised and funded extracurricular clubs,
beyond traditionaloneslikedebateclub, isanindependentwaytoworktowardaschool
environmentsupplyingthesocialbasesofselfesteem.Suchclubswouldprovideforums
in whichchildrenofdiversetalentscould findthemselves and theiraspirations affirmed
by those whose op inion rea lly matters, namel y those who sh are their interests. Wh at is
importantfromthestandpointofsupplyingthesocialbasesofselfesteem isthatthereis
adiversitysuchassociations,fromcomputerclubforthecomputernerdstoGayStraight
Alliancesforhomosexualchildren.
The social nature of selfesteem, however, I believe has even more specific
implicationsfor certaindomainsofinstruction.Takephysicaleducation.Becauseof the
publicnature ofperformancein thisdomain,achild'sdegreeofexcellence init,orlack
thereof, is t ypically widel y availab le publicl y, not l east, to her pee rs. Consequently, in
thisdomainmanychildren—especiallytheunathletic—arehighlyvulnerabletoshameor
humiliation, for it is precisely public exposure as inadequate or powerless that trigger
those feelings. Furthermore, the vulnerability here is particularly acute given the value
commonly placed on athletic excellence among both adults and children. As a
consequence,manychildrenareliabletowithdrawfromathleticparticipationfirstchance
theyget.
Isubmitthatthismove,thoughinonewayprotectiveforthechild,canbedeeply
damaging educ ationally. For one thing, the child ha sno wlo stth e will top articipate in
athletics, which is a, if not the, primary avenue to lifelong fitness and health. Since
inculcatinginchildrenalifelongrelationshiptofitnessispresumablyaveryhighpriority

17
educationalaim,especiallygiventheemergingepidemicofobesity,schoolenvironments
havingthiseffectarefailuresonanimportantlevel.Second,itiswidelyagreedthatthere
areimportantreciprocal selfesteembenefitsfromsportparticipationthatbear againon
thechild'srelationshiptofitnessandgeneralselfconfidence.Thegeneralselfesteemand
confidence of those who participate benefits, while those receiving the benefits are
further motivated to participate. Children who withdraw thus cut themselves out of a
crucial avenueto fitness andahigherdegreeofwellbeing.Third,because sport figures
so large  in children's social s tatus, those who do not participate  are liable to withd raw
more generally from social life, particularly if they also do not excel in other socially
valued ways. But children in this situation are vulnerable, as the motivational claim
maintains, to lose the sort of basic confidence needed to take risks and confront
challengessmoothly.Thisisadisadvantageforthemaslearnersandasmoralpersons.
In many American schools, this situation seems needlessly exacerbated by the
institution of school sponsored intermural sport. Despite some progress, boy's sports
appear to remaindisproportionatly favored in the social worldof schools to both girl's
sports and no nathletic activities such as the arts.
3 But as a symbolic expression of the
relativelygreaterimportanceofmaleathleticism,thisisitselfanaffronttotheselfworth
ofgirlsandtheunathletic.Atthesametime,itservestoreproducetheculturalobsession
with male sport, which as I have just argued, is problematic with regard to children's
physicaleducationand,throughitsselfesteemrelatedeffects,potentiallytheireducation
generally.
Now the consequentialist argument maintains that efforts to foster selfesteem
impede the pursuitofotherhighpriorityaims,such as ahighlychallengingcurriculum.

18
However, relative to domains of instruction like physical education and the arts,
instruction that inculcates a lifelong desire for involvement is more important than
instructionsecuringahighdegreeofachievement.Thus,theconsiderationsthatdrivethe
consequentialistargumentarenotoperativehere.Moreover,inthesedomainsthereisan
important co incidence between ins truction that wi lli nculcate a life of involvemen t and
that fostering selfesteem. Physical education instructors, for instance, will likely best
achieve  the aim of inculc ating a lifelong desi re for in volvement by pursuin g strategies
that minimize sh ame and humiliation and maximize inclusiveness , in other words, that
willfoster selfesteem.Furthermore, insofar as schoolinstitutions surroundingsportare
problematic in the way I have described, some aspects of the institution could be
modified to better support selfesteem with relative ease. No doubt performance in
physicaleducationwill always bepublic,thus rendering childrenparticularlyvulnerable
to shame/humiliation. Yet participation and hoopla surrounding sport could be made
more equal between boy's sports, girl's sports, and other nonacademic domains of
instructionsuchasthearts.Sportsandartsparticipation(where‘art’includesvisualarts,
music,theater,dance,creativewriting,etc)couldalsobemademandatoryforallstudents
andexclusivelyintramural.Suchchangeswouldpotentiallyhavetheeffectofunraveling
thebias toward sportin theschoolpopularitycontestandsoraising the probabilitythat
all chi ldren will st ay engaged in both athletics and the a rts. In turn , it is reason able to
thinkthatthiswouldensurethatmorechildrenstayengagedsocially,findanappropriate
esteemgroup,andsocontinuetoadjustsocially.
Hence, in at least some domains of instruction, selfesteem is motivationally
important and susceptible to instruction without undue cost to the pursuit of other

19
importantaims.However,Iwould also like toargue that, in light ofthe social basesof
selfesteem, the requirements of instruction in academics and behavior also need not
radicallyconflictwithimportanteffortstofosterselfesteem.
Firstconsideracademics.Thesocialbasesofselfesteeminclude esteem groups.
Relative to the classroomcontext, this implies that teachersarefosteringselfesteem so
long astheymakeeffortstoensurethatallchildrenfeelwelcome,safe,andcanfind an
esteem group. Again, this aim may be achieved directly through activities like Circle
Time,butasdiscussedabovesuchstrategiesarenotintrinsicallynecessary.Whatmatters
isthattheteachersfindways togetchildrentocooperatewithone anotherandengender
anenvironmentmakingcompetition safe. Second, critiquingstudents' workneednot be
particularly shame or humiliation producing. While criticism is often frustrating or
disappointing,onlyparticularlytactlessorimpolitecriticismcouldbeexpectedtohurtso
much as sh ame or humiliation. Mo reover, sha mean d humiliation tend to be rou sed by
publicexposure asinadequateorpowerless.Butacademicevaluationstendtobelargely
private, marks on a piece of paper easily concealed from others. Moreover, unlike
athletics,childrentendnottoevaluateoneanothersomuchongroundsofacademics,so
even exposure as inadequate here is not so much of a threat. Hence, contra the
consequentialist argument, instructing students academically and fostering selfesteem
neednotradicallyconflict.
Second, consider behavioral instruction. It is true, of course, that punishment
renders childrenhighly vulnerabletopublicexposure asinadequate andconsequentlyto
shameorhumiliation.Ofnecessity,punishmentstendtobepublicaffairs. However,and
first, as a matter of ordinary decency, teachers can and should avoid carrying out

20
punishmen ts that children are li kely to experience as humili ating. But where this is not
possible,deservedpunishmentscausingshameorhumiliationtendtobedeservedshames
orhumiliations.Sincethereisnosocialresponsibilityto avoidthese,teachersinflicting
them cannot be charged with failing to foster selfesteem. Second, while systematic,
arbitrary experiences of shame or humiliation can lower selfesteem, presumably
punishments will not amount to systematic, arbitrary public shames/humiliations, but
deserved and temporary retributions for wrongs. Hence, the threat to selfesteem of
ordinarypracticesofpunishmentisexaggerated.
5.
Ihavearguedthatselfesteemisimportanttothemotivationchildrenneedinordertobe
successful in school, especially in certain domains of instruction such as physical
education,andthateducators canseektoprovideits socialbaseswithouthinderingthe
pursuit of other high priority aims such as academic achievement. If so, facilitating
children’sselfesteeminschoolsmayafterallbeaveryimportanteducationalaim.This
is not to su ggest that se lfesteem is a unifying aim of education or the highest prio rity
aim. Othe r aims play crucial roles and some, such as achievement, are presumably of
higher priorityinatleastsomecontexts,forinstance, theacademicone.Neitherisitto
imply that selfesteem facilitating education is a complete moral education, for good
charactercallsformanyqualities,someofwhichmayevencompetewithselfesteem.On
someaccounts,selfrespectforinstance,isanimportantbutdistinctcharactertraitcalling
foradegreeofmodestyoraccuracyofselfregard.
4 Nevertheless,facilitatingselfesteem
isanimportanteducationalpriority,andthisistosaythatomittingitisagenuinewayof

21
failingchildreneducationally.
There is a last objection that I have not addressed, namely Smith’s character
argument.Thisargumentclaimsthat we find low selfesteem personsperfectlylovable,
thus, we cannot coherently think that low selfesteem is something to be cured. I
wholeheartedlyagree.Nevertheless,itdoesnotfollowthatconcernforselfesteemisnot
an important educationalvalue.First, much hangsonwhetherourresponseto low self
esteempersonsismereloveorsomething morerobustlikeadmirationoresteem.Tosay
thatwelovethembecauseoftheirdiffidenceisnottosaywefindthemvirtuousbecause
ofit,butonlythatbecausetheyareendearing,wefindtheirfaultsforgivable.Butifthat
isso,educatingforselfesteemisaperfectlylegitimateaimofmoraleducation.Second,
iflowselfesteemisindeed animpedimenttoachievement,as Ihaveargued,itcertainly
issomethingtobeovercomeifnotcured.Ifso,Iseenoreasonwhyeducatorsshouldnot
do what they can to help low selfesteem children through the process. If I am right,
doing this in anycase primarily requiresthatwedosomethingweought todoanyway,
namelystrivetocreateaschoolenvironmentinwhichthesocialbasesofselfesteemare
readilyavailabletoallchildren.
NOTES
1 For more extensive elaboration of attachment and its role in the development of self
esteem, see Sue Gerhardt's
Why Love Matters: How affection shapes a baby's brain
(2004,
Part 2).
2 See, for example, James Tully's particularly strong requirements for social esteem in
Strange multiplicity: constitutionalism in an age of diversity
(1995, pp. 189191).
3 That male athletes have traditionally been favored in the school popularity contest is old
news investigated at length by James S. Coleman
et al
in
The adolescent society: The
social life of the teenager and its impact on education
(1961).
4 See, for example, Kristjánsson (2007, p. 13) and chapter 2 of my dissertation
The
Nature and Importance of SelfRespect
(2006).

22
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