GAY GEISER-SANDOVAL -- Educationally speaking

I went to a talk recently on how the educational system has been

compromised by society’s concern that kids have high self-esteem.

My kids went through that pendulum swing, when the elementary schools

even had Project Self-Esteem. The main focus was to learn how to

compliment yourself and others. Then, the school started giving out a lot

more awards. The idea was to ensure that every student got an award by

the end of the school year.

Once the students figured that out, the awards lost their meaning.

Personally, I don’t think additional awards given to everyone do much to

improve self-esteem. Insincere compliments from a teacher have the same

effect. So, if we tailor the educational system in an effort to raise

self-esteem, we fitted the students with the wrong suit.

I think we should recognize and praise students for accomplishments that

are benchmarks of achievement and perseverance. At my children’s school,

the students who have a 4.0 grade-point average for two semesters in a

row have their pictures displayed on the Honor Wall. The Honor Wall

signifies each student’s year’s worth of time and effort to reach this

pinnacle.

In my opinion, schools should work to provide tutors and programs to help

kids get on the Honor Wall. This will work better than pushing them

through the educational conveyor belt, without ensuring that they

understand each subject before they face a more advanced one.

Kids need to be convinced that if they work hard in school, the reward

will be waiting for them at the end of 12th grade. If each student puts

in the time and effort, a college or technical education is his or hers

for the asking.

Some students get derailed; they think they must be stupid because they

flunk their tests. We have to convince them the problem isn’t with their

brain -- it is with their effort.

Erin Gruwell, a product of Newport-Mesa schools, was the inspiration that

convinced 150 “at-risk” kids they were smart and they could succeed.

Kids from families that never had a member graduate from high school are

now entrenched in colleges throughout the nation. These same students

wrote a book that you need to read: “The Freedom Writers Diary,” by the

Freedom Writers with Gruwell.

Gruwell started her career at Long Beach Wilson High School, teaching

at-risk kids freshman English. She taught English to the same students

for the next four years.

Once she found out how disenfranchised the kids felt, she threw out the

standard lessons and the class began reading books by teenagers who had

struggled. Each student kept a journal during that four-year period, and

“The Freedom Writers Diary” is a compilation of excerpts from those

journals.

I hope that Gruwell and the Freedom Writers will come to talk to the kids

in our district. I hope they can convince our kids to express frustration

with a pen rather than a gun. I dream that our students will see they can

be successful by virtue of their own hard work.

When I was a kid, I read all of the Horatio Alger stories, until I was

convinced that it was possible for me to be successful. The Freedom

Writers are the Horatio Alger of today.

True self-esteem comes from believing in yourself. Once you believe, no

one can take it away. If you don’t believe in yourself, no one can give

it to you. There is no magic self-esteem award.