Refreshing honesty - 'Reach for stars posters mislead pupils': Teaching expert attacks

[Igel]

4. No, the alternative is fact and evidence-based.

"Here. You've worked hard on this. As a result, you've achieved this success. If you continue to work hard, you'll achieve other successes."

"You need to work on your math. But you write really convincingly."

"Look, John, I know want to be a doctor and if you work at it maybe you can make a career with it. But you're great at physics and math, so maybe becoming an engineer and helping design medical equipment is a better choice."

What we get now is, "You're great. You're special. You're a star!" Why? "Because you breathe." Or at least don't drool too much.

And not just are you "great," but you're great at music, math, science, languages, English, sports, history. Every kid makes da Vinci look like a loser, so prolix is the praise heaped upon them. But they're not stupid.

Most kids figure out that "you're special" is meaningless. Over-the-top, unmerited praise only works on the feeble-minded and narcissistic, and they're the ones who it applies to only in a kind of sardonic way (there's sort of a huge uptick in narcissism going on ... Thanks, public education establishment). Limited, realistic praise that's based on evidence is much more convincing.

"You're great" is pointless. No guidance. And ultimately most kids come away from it with bloated egos or seeing through the lie.