While great attention is paid to researching and implementing self-esteem in students, there is a gap in both of them. As stated by Kohn (1994), from the practical point, self-esteem improvement can be useful, but it meets various barriers, such as poor socio-economic status of families, domestic violence, and bullying from peers. In all of the mentioned cases, a student would likely be focused on resolving the problems, instead of having benefits from self-esteem increase efforts. Accordingly, researchers who study this topic tend to overlook political and economic factors, and this gap makes students unable to successfully address issues in their adulthood (Kohn, 1994). Speaking about practice, it is also possible to note the ambiguous nature of schools that promote self-esteeming by constantly saying to children that they can do anything, while teachers manipulate them by means of rewards and the necessity to follow the rules at the school. Such an approach disempowers students in spite of the efforts that are made by schools and educators.
The role of self-esteem in one’s personal and professional life cannot be underestimated, but it seems to be especially valued in education. Kohn (1994) states that self-esteem is more linked to psychological well-being rather than academic success. Likewise the above scholar, Martin (2007) states that a high self-esteem should not be proclaimed as an educational goal as it does not contribute to social betterment. Instead, it is argued that a child who is educated to be confident in isolated school settings would not be successful in social and cultural contexts that set different challenges and opportunities (Martin, 2007). The authenticity cannot be developed without a focus on specific history, culture, and society, which makes educational efforts useless. It would be better if schools could prepare students for the active practice of their citizenship, including economic, political, moral, and legal structures of society.
In turn, Baumeister et al. (1996) claim that high self-esteem may be an essential reason for violence, as opposed to the traditional view that people with low self-esteem are likely to be aggressive. Based on the review of crime, violence, and aggression, the above authors assume that a person with favorable self-appraisals is likely to become aggressive while receiving a feedback that contradicts his or her viewpoint. In other words, it refers to people who consider themselves being superior compared to others and facing threats to their egoism. It is important, however, to mention that Baumeister et al. (1996) do not claim that egoism is the only cause of violence as it also depends on the extent of accuracy and inflation. If a person has clearly identified self-appraisals, his or her egoism is likely to be affected significantly by the opposing feedback.
Violence between parents and children, inside the family, rape, murder, and assault are studied by Baumeister et al. (1996), who conclude that interpersonal frameworks are useful to understand the cause of aggression. In many cases, aggressive impulses occur as a result of the unflattering evaluation of disrupted appraisals. A person who dominates in relationships usually has a high self-esteem, and any attempts to oppose it or even an unconscious failure to support it lead to aggression. This discussion shows that the threatened egotism of a person is the main source of various types of violence, which contradicts the traditional belief that people with low self-esteem are aggressive.
References
Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M. (1996). Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem. Psychological Review, 103(1), 5-33.
Kohn, A. (1994). The truth about self-esteem. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(4), 272-283.
Martin, J. (2007). A case against heightened self-esteem as an educational aim. Journal of Thought, 42(3-4), 55-70.