Essay - Learning and Self-esteem the Main Purpose of Alfie Kohn's Article...

Learning and Self-Esteem

The main purpose of Alfie Kohn's article "The Truth about Self Esteem" is to provide a critique of existing literature and prevailing beliefs about the importance of self-esteem on children's learning. The author points out key problems with the debate between pro-self esteem educators ***** ***** more traditional, "old school" view that self-esteem is irrelevant. Kohn asserts that neither position is totally satisfactory and *****fers some ideas for ***** constructive approaches to the subject. The literature re*****, which is arranged and presented more like an essay th***** a proper literature review, deals with the limitations of scientific research, ***** the problem of focusing on self-esteem as opposed to selflessness, ***** with the problems ***** Old School education as well. After presenting a review of the literature concurrent with h***** personal stance on t*****e issues, Kohn concludes that more fruitful research should be conduc*****d if the goal is to improve children's ***** abilities and general **********.

The author organizes h***** literature review into t*****ree main sections, plus an introduction and conclusion. The introduction presents ***** problem to be discussed in broad terms ***** sets the tone for the rema*****der of ***** article. Part One, called ***** Facts: What the Research Says (and Doesn't Say) is sub-divided to denote several major categories of related research, including The Measurement of *****-Esteem; Self-Esteem and Social Behavior; ***** and Academic Achievement; Self Esteem Programs; and the Meaning of Disappointing Data. This section ***** the article contains the bulk of the literature ***** *****; the remainder of ***** article ***** more personal commentary. Part Two, called The Values: Why the Emphasis on *****-Esteem is Troubling challenges the desirability of studying ***** in the first place. In particular, ***** ***** asserts that too much emphasis on self-esteem encourages unhealthy self-absorption. Part Three is called ***** Critics: Missing the Point. This ***** balances *****'s delineation of the drawbacks of lauding self-esteem with a criticism of Old School educ*****tors who feel ***** schools ***** ***** all ab***** rote learning and standardized testing. Fin*****y, in a conclusion to ***** article, Kohn summarizes his main points and concludes that ***** pro-***** nor anti-self-esteem approaches are helpful to offering solutions to a troubled *****al system.

As a traditional literature review, *****'s article falls short because the author inserts too much personal bias. Moreover, the author offers few hard examples from the immense body of ***** he refers to in ***** critique. However, the literature review is *****teresting to read as a philosophic*****l essay so as a literature ***** would rate about seven on a scale of *****e to ten ***** of the dearth ***** proper source citations from ***** *****.

For Kohn to ***** his literature review, he should actually cite directly from scientific literature instead of vaguely alluding ***** studies. Furthermore, he should resist *****fering so much subjective analysis and instead demonstrate a more objective, impartial approach toward the subject matter. Finally, Kohn does not offer any concrete solutions to settling the debate ***** self-esteem. He suggests that