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The charity thread made me think about the topic of self-esteem as a whole, especially some of cr0m's comments.
According to this study http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118855650/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0 (Baumeister, 2003): "We have not found evidence that boosting self-esteem (by therapeutic interventions or school programs) causes benefits"
Other studies have shown that self-efficacy (defined by Bandura, of Bobo doll fame in the field, as one's capability to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect his or her life) is more important to success than self-esteem (the opinion one has of one's value as a person).
Anecdotally, I don't like the "everybody's a winner" programs that don't allow children to keep score. I think it's more valuable to ephasize each child's particular strengths rather than homogenize them. After all, we can't all be Miss America or an astronaut, but we can all learn what strengths we do have and capitalize on them.
Thoughts?
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