Self-Esteem In America Today

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Self-esteem is one of the most controversial issues in America today. Self-esteem is how we value ourselves, it is how we perceive our value to the world and how valuable we think we are to others. Self-esteem affects our trust in others, our relationships, our work nearly every part of our lives. Positive self-esteem gives us the strength and flexibility to take charge of our lives and grow from our mistakes without the fear of rejection. Some people have a higher self-esteem than others do and this could influence the way they think about themselves. Self-esteem could be linked to a person’s response to success, failure changes in fortune, social interactions and other personal experiences. Therefore, a child’s self-esteem starts with their …show more content…
Furthermore, childhood is an influential period where the child actually looks at his or herself. Moreover, a child's self-esteem starts with their parents, in her article “Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior,” by Amy Chua an American writer claims about how Chinese parents are not concerned about their kids’ self-esteem unlike western parents who care so much about it. However, according Chua that children raised by Chinese mothers are more successful in their live than children that are raised by Western mothers, “Chinese parents raise such stereotypically successful kids”( Par 1). However, western parents believe that it is important for their kids to have high self-esteem and self-confidence in order for them to achieve their goals and to have a successful …show more content…
In the article, “A short history of self-esteem”. Shows the history of self-esteem and how it tracked throughout time, Emler a professor and psychologist at the LSE in England, claims that people with high self-esteem tend to more likely to hurt other people unlike those with low self-esteem they usually hurt themselves more than others, “low self-esteem was involved in some problems such as suicide, teenage pregnancy and eating disorders”(Par. 13). Moreover, William James who is generally seen as the father of modern psychology, gives a simple definition about self-esteem and how a person wouldn’t be successful without having pretension, more like it’s a portion sucess to pretension according to William, “the more success we have and the lower our expectations or pretensions then the higher our self-esteem”(Par. 3). Therefore, in order to raise the self-esteem and to have a successful life, people should know the two options that William mentioned in the article, “we have two options: lower our expectations of ourselves or increase our achievements”(Par.