Conditions for children in today's schools are quite different from those of students of even two generations ago. A very high percentage of children presently live in urban environments and attend urban schools, resulting in many factors associated with urban living that contribute to self-esteem difficulties for today's young children. Often the ecology of the child's life is not necessarily positive. The home or school may be situated in an unattractive, noisy environment, making it difficult for a child to relax and feel at ease (Rutter, 1981, p. 614).
Other conditions affecting an urban child's esteem level may include addiction disorders within the family and environment, personal overcrowded conditions, breakdown of community ties, fragmented extended families and social relationships, information overload, crime and alienation, dual career families, and the increased incidence of single-parent families (Rutter, 1981, p. 622). All of these influences make the experience of the young child quite a challenge as he or she attempts to cope with a complex personal life in the setting of school.
Schools have, historically, been rather slanted towards the values of the upper middle class, and children coming from families that have conflicting values may experience difficulties in determining what is best for them to do in the school situation. If their parents hold values that do not nurture intellectual or creative activities, individual thinking and self-expression, or the language that is used in the school, esteem becomes a problem for such children (Morgan, 1979, p. 158). Sometimes being a good student requires that the student conform, and such conformance can cause the child to experience inner conflict if he or she has not been taught in the home to value respect for teachers, self-directed behavior, self-motivation, and intellectual curiosity. Furthermore, the alienation of schools from the families which they...