The Feel-Good Curriculum: The Dumbing-Down of America's Kids in the Name of Self-Esteem

The so-called self-esteem movement-a progressive, child-centered, discovery model of schooling-has transformed schools into therapeutic clinics and teachers into counselors, creating a generation of entitled, righteous, underachieving children. An insider's account of the pernicious aspects of this seemingly well-meaning movement, The Feel-Good Curriculum provides devastating evidence that our belief in the power and importance of self-esteem in education is misplaced and without basis.Avoiding political posturing and political correctness, The Feel-Good Curriculum identifies the four specific effects of self-esteem's stranglehold on our schools-narcissism, emotivism, separatism, and cynicism. It prescribes antidotes to them-empathy, rationality and morality, connectedness, and skepticism-and offers a hopeful view of educational philosophy for the next millennium. Professor Stout urges us to replace our coddling, indulgent approach to building self-esteem in children with a sense of authentic self-confidence developed from intellectual, physical, and moral effort and achievement.

Author: Maureen Stout
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Published: 01/11/2001
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.89lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.83d
ISBN: 9780738204352

About the Author
Maureen Stout is an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the California State University, Northridge. She lives in Los Angeles.