There are a lot of news stories that focus on self-esteem. Self-esteem is the ability to think highly of one’s self and to cope with everyday situations. People always view this ability as a necessity for life, but is it really? According to most psychologists, self-esteem is absolutely necessary to cope with the world. I don’t personally disagree with that; I disagree with them saying it. Imagine you’re in the doctor’s office and the doctor, or more realistically, Nathaniel Branden, PhD, tells you, “As the world becomes more complex, competitive, challenging, self-esteem is more important than ever.” But where is this self-esteem coming from? Did you just go home and decide, “I’m going to have high self-esteem?” Our predisposition toward thinking that high self-esteem alone is a necessity is leading to our downfall. Where is the skill, the attribute that provided you with that self-esteem? Rather than saying how important self-esteem is, they should be saying how important it is to have skills that make you feel good about yourself.
Schools are teaching self-esteem, like a subject. We are more concerned with people feeling good about themselves than people having skills that lead to self-esteem through work. As I stated, I don’t disagree with having high self-esteem. I disagree with our nature to take the easy route; don’t worry about math, just feel good about who you are. Who the hell are you? Another useless human being who contributes nothing to society and still claims you are the most important person in the world. There was a study done in the 90s that proves this point. The layout of the study was to ask a question to assess a skill and then to ask a question about how well the user thought they did.
Example:
-What does 2+5 equal?
-How good are you at math?
It turns out the Koreans ranked the best in math skills and worst in regards to how good they thought they were. US students were among the worst in math skills, yet they ranked the very best in how good they thought they were. No matter how bad at something we are, we still think we are the greatest. It makes “Stupid Arrogant American” a truth.
For those with truly low self-esteem problems, I say, “Get a skill.” Find something that makes you useful and happy. Find a reason to feel good about yourself, not just the inert ability to do so for no reason.