“Self-esteem and self-confidence are necessary to success, do you agree? ” Self-esteem is the means by which an individual has confidence in themselves or a good opinion about themselves and self- confidence is the means by which an individual trusts their own abilities, quality and judgement. A balanced self-esteem and self-confidence are both important and relevant for every human being in their lives, it helps one gain inner confidence and a good opinion of themselves.
If you have low self-esteem and self-confidence, you often believe negative about a situation or yourself and you may focus on what you feel are your weaknesses, and mistakes that you have made, you also do not trust yourself as much as you should. Having high self-esteem and self-confidence can sometimes lead to an increase in self-obsession and thinking you are capable of anything. It is important for students to have self-esteem and self-confidence as it helps students take responsibility over things they are capable of doing, as it means the students will approach situations in a positive way.
In this essay I will discuss and argue if I believe self-esteem and self-confidence is necessary to success or not. The article “Punishment, not praise” by Chris Woodhead -Sunday Times, 5th April 2007 – has many arguments for self-esteem and self-confidence, the article is aimed at parents to praise their children for what they do even if they are badly behaved, the purpose of the article is to advise parents to punish their children and not to praise them for undesirable behaviour.
Chris Woodhead uses the device of Rhetorical question to get the reader thinking or to engage the parents to read on, Chris Woodhead questions the parents asking “How many times have you praised your out-of-control little monster today? ” His argued point is that parents should stop praising badly behaved “little monsters” and the rhetorical question has been used to get the parents thinking or considering punishing their children for their actions more, he is also implying with the question to make the parents think about how many times they have praised their children.
Chris Woodhead carries onto giving statistics as “Five to one is the ratio of praise to punishment” he uses this to back up his argument to parents praising their children rather than punishing.
Chris Woodhead is implying that if children are not disciplined and home or punished, they will also find it hard at school because “the first thing they will tell you is that they had to deal with pupils who would not accept the convections of normal schooling” this suggests that parents need to constantly check on their response to their children’s behaviour as even schools do not accept it and the government also advice parents on this because this could affect their future because if they don’t get the grades in school due to their behaviour then it’s difficult for them to find jobs and this is Chris Woodheads view are that children should be disciplined not praised and praising can raise a child’s self-esteem for which he thinks causes badly behaved children.
Chris Woodhead believes that self-esteem and self-confidence is not necessary to succeed as he thinks “children need boundaries” and they should be disciplined by their parents because he believes if they are not disciplined at home they will find it hard at school as students to succeed, but being disciplined is not about being successful I believe, you only need high self-esteem and self-confidence to be successful as it makes you have a good opinion about yourself and trust yourself, this raises responsibility for students, rather than punishing it’s better to praise as it increases high self-esteem which is needed and also self-confidence, if a child is being punished and disciplined by their parents it should be rarely and more praising should be done and also the parents should trust their child more so that they trust themselves.
The article mentions government issues over badly behaved children, this article was published in 2007, government laws have changed and this issue could be seen in a different way now, as discipline is not needed and high self-esteem and self-confidence is more necessary than discipline and punishing students to do well. In my opinion, I think self-esteem and self-confidence is necessary for succeeding, especially for high school students, as a balanced self-esteem and self-confidence raises responsibility and if students are responsible they will approach new situations in a positive way. My position is sensible one and I agree with the statement “self-esteem and self-confidence is necessary to succeed” because research suggests that more and more American university students think they are something special and the outcome of this is they achieve one of the highest grades, high self-esteem is generally regarded as a good thing.
Usain Bolt is the fastest sprinter in human history. He set three world records at the Beijing Olympics last year, and he followed up this year by breaking world records in the 100-meter and 200-meter races while winning his first gold medals at a world championship, this was all due to his high self-esteem, he had a very good opinion about himself and believed he could become successful, that’s why now he holds his title. From my own experience I do not know anyone who is not after high self-esteem, everyone wants to be successful and think good about themselves and I am definitely sure everyone wants to be confident and have trust in themselves.
Having high self-esteem raises your own values. Overall, I agree that self-esteem and self-confidence is necessary to succeed as one needs to think well about themselves and trust themselves to believe they can become successful and every human being needs to have a balanced or high self-esteem and self-confidence, not only for the future or school students, having low self-esteem and self-confidence can effect anyone in any way, this is my position into this issue. Having self-esteem and self-confidence can help in the future because if students have a positive attitude towards a situation they’ll also have a better approach to positive thinking to future decisions and developments.
