Assignment 16- Ally Tripure

Ally Tripure

AP Language and Composition

Mr. Logsdon

13 December 2017

Self-Esteem

         I want you to think to yourself your scale of agreement to the following questions:

1.      I feel that I have a number of good qualities

2.      I feel that I do not have much to be proud of

3.      I feel that I am a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others

4.      On the whole, I am satisfied with myself

These four statements are derived from a psychiatric test formulated by sociologist, Morris Rosenburg, called the Rosenburg Self-Esteem Scale.

If your answers reflect self-respect, then in basic terms, you have high self-esteem. If your answers are opposite of that…well, you may be suffering from low self-esteem. However, these labels are not so basic and don’t always correlate with the expected outcome.

Low self-esteem, no confidence, self-uncertainty are all traits that generate negative connotations but when employed in the real, working world, these traits turn out to be not so damaging.

Think about it this way: have you ever come across another student or a co-worker who is overly confident in everything they do? Have you ever seen them fail? No, probably not. But this is because they will never admit to failing. A study on self-esteem from Prager University claims “[you] can only improve if you first acknowledge what you’re not good at.” This takes humility, especially in someone with high self-esteem because of a maintained sense of narcissism. Now, this isn’t to say that every person with respect for themselves is a narcissistic, self-centered person, having high self-regard in what you do and who you are is healthy, to an extent. Many people become successful because of their high self-esteem which brings them confidence to put themselves out there. But many have failed by assuming success would just fall into their laps because they are “just that great.” And this is because of what we have all been taught from an early age—praise without actual accomplishment or achievement. We got stickers on our poorly finished assignments, we got cheers and applause for jumping down from the bottom step of the playset, and the never-ceasing, “you all played great!” coming from your coach after the most unimpressive game. These fallacious actions cause for an inflation of self-regard and unearned confidence in children and young adults who now assume that they can find legitimate success without working hard.

         When someone with low self-esteem wants to get somewhere and find success they are going to work hard at it. These people find themselves unsuccessful at something and strive to fix it. Maybe they won’t believe that that success with be found but they are going to work harder than anyone to get there and find it. Cautious in their actions and treading lightly, they try not to mess up causing their esteem for themselves to run lower than it already is. Treading lightly and watching out for what could go wrong is extremely important and beneficial. This is proven many times over and can even be seen within our own country’s history.

         If countries were personified with their own levels of self-esteem, which would have the highest? The United States of America. How has this helped us? How has it hurt? It has helped within the Revolutionary War when the meager colonists went up against the mighty British military and found success because they had the high self-esteem to get them there. But what about the Vietnam War? America’s tendency to be overconfident and arrogant when dealing in foreign affairs has not always resulted in positive outcomes. Ken Burns illustrates the history of the Vietnam War and America’s attempt to stop the spread of communism in his documentary series, The Vietnam War. The documentary displays how “Kennedy’s intellectual arrogance and Johnson’s cowboy bravado” led to the loss of thousands of American lives and billions of American dollars due to an overconfidence and mighty self-regard in their use of resources and abilities.

         Low self-esteem is not bad. Low self-esteem is not a part of unsuccessful people. And low self-esteem should not define you.

         So, if your answers to the beginning four questions reflected little self-regard, don’t fret, work hard, and be the successful person your self-esteem is leading you towards.

Works Cited

Grogan, Jessica. “Praising Kids for Unimpressive Accomplishments.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 19 Mar. 2015, www.psychologytoday.com/blog/encountering-america/201503/praising-kids-unimpressive-accomplishments.

“The Importance of Self-Esteem and Self-Worth.” More-Selfesteem.com, www.more-selfesteem.com/importance.htm.

“A Powerful New Documentary Series on the Vietnam War.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 15 Sept. 2017, www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21728879-ken-burns-and-lynn-novick-unearth-painful-memories-just-american-politics-have-become.

PragerUniversity. “PragerU.” YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/channel/UCZWlSUNDvCCS1hBiXV0zKcA.

Rosenberg, M. “Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.” PsycTESTS Dataset, 1965, doi:10.1037/t01038-000.

Slater, Lauren. “The Trouble with Self-Esteem.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 2 Feb. 2002, www.nytimes.com/2002/02/03/magazine/the-trouble-with-self-esteem.html.

“Vietnam War.” HistoryNet, www.historynet.com/vietnam-war.

Warner, Jennifer. “High Self-Esteem Isn't Always Healthy.” WebMD, WebMD, 28 Apr. 2008, www.webmd.com/balance/news/20080428/high-self-esteem-isnt-always-healthy.