[BrianHV]

It sounds like this was a good speech. I expect few people here will disagree.

I'd like to remark, though, on the fact that the author called this "controversial advice," while going on to describe not a controversy, but instead "overwhelmingly positive" reaction.

Recently I've been trying to think about stories like these. Stories where someone speaks the truth that society doesn't want to hear, and people rally around the truth teller. I try to ask myself who's in this willfully deaf society if everyone I see supports the truth.

And in this case, I suspect we're still seeing some inertia from the self-esteem movement to which the speaker alludes. But is there a deep controversy? Is David McCullough a brave whistleblower speaking against a near-unanimous wrong? Or is the New York Daily News making a big deal out of someone saying what we all already know?

[protomyth]

I think it is very prevalent in the k-12 school system. The everyone-gets-a-medal culture has an odd symbiotic relationship with the zero-tolerence mantra practiced at that level.

[akandiah]

The speech is available on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lfxYhtf8o4

[sneak]

Watch this video of Žižek talking about the "unknown knowns" of ideology to understand why this is such a big deal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0eyNkNpL0

[planetguy]

Self-esteem culture is like nuclear armament. Everybody complains about it but nobody wants to do anything about it individually; why would you want to be the one to break the little kids' hearts by denying 'em a medal even though they tried really hard and just happen to suck.

Alternatively, self-esteem culture is like "morons who can't drive". Everybody complains about it, but the people who actually cause the problem lack the self-awareness to see that they are the problem even when they're complaining about it.

Probably a little bit of both.

[cafard]

Well and good, but let's not pretend it's new or the fault of the boomers. (Yes, like me.)

I find in a letter of Evelyn Waugh's dated 12 April 1949,

"My daughter Teresa (age 11) has come back from school with a glowing report by her French mistress 2nd in class with 82% marks. I asked her to name in French any six objects in the dining-room. After distressed thought she got five, four of them with wrong genders. I know of another girl who came back from another school with a special medal for swimming--a thing like the Garter with a great sash. Her parents put her in the pool and she sank like a stone."

[s_baby]

Cliche boomer, blaming the generation before them. /joking

[pbhjpbhj]

Just because it was a problem then doesnt mean you[r generation] didnt cause he current problem ;0)

Seriously though, these sorts of societal characteristics seem to be somewhat cyclical as generations respond to the actions of their parents. Like clothing fashions, maybe?

[JumpCrisscross]

Actually, the morons who can't drive problem is easily rectified by raising the bar on getting a driver's licence. In Deutschland, where getting licences is a rigorous process, the problem is largely absent. Similar to awards and A's, driving has come to be seen as a right and not a privilege.

[rsanchez1]

Drivers also appreciate driving more in Deutschland. They drive for driving's sake, while in the US, driving is just another waste of time, and people eat, apply makeup, make phone calls or text, etc. while they are driving.

Even if the US has the world's largest network of highways, you won't see anything like the Autobahn in a nation full of distracted drivers.

[jimminy]

I think this is just a problem with larger metro areas.

Normally, at least once a week, I spend several hours on the road, because I enjoy driving. Sure I'm often going somewhere, but while I'm driving I'm sucking in the beautiful countryside, and will often take scenic routes because I enjoy taking it in. The first thing you have to do is get away from society and get off the highways.

[BrianHV]

You may be right... but might it also be the case that the people who are doing something about it just aren't making a big deal about it?

I suspect many people in their 20s and early 30s can think of a time when they were rewarded just for showing up. One year of little league was like that for me. Some of my non-core (or non-STEM, in modern parlance) classes felt like that, though I tended to participate actively in those. Put a lot of stories like that together and it's easy to say that the self-esteem culture affects everyone, and a small step from there to say it affects everything.

But that doesn't take into account my other four years of little league. Or my many music auditions. Or the difficult years when I decided I didn't want to do homework. (I assure you my grades suffered those years.) No one involved in those things was making a political statement; they were simply allowing the natural consequences of my actions to work.

Obviously everyone has different experiences. But I suspect a lot of people would be able to recall fewer cases in their lives where mere participation was rewarded than those where natural consequences were quietly present.

[s_baby]

There's a difference between making a kid feel capable as anyone else and making them feel they're special. The latter leads to narcissism.

[pbhjpbhj]

Making a kid feel as capable as everyone else is forcing them to lie to themselves. How is that a good thing?

[s_baby]

So is instilling self-limiting beliefs.

[pbhjpbhj]

It sounds like you're trying to make a point but I can't tell from your comment what it is?