High Self-esteem Helps Learning :  Consider Ajay, a student of Class 2. He is constantly told by his irritated father, "How stupid you are! You don't even understand this! Even your sister understands it." How do you think Ajay feels? And, if his sister hears this, how would she feel?

Children, like all of us, learn best when they think well of themselves. A child who has poor self-esteem is likely to be constantly worried about her inability to please the teacher, and consequent rejection. The importance a teacher gives to children's feelings and her attitude towards children greatly influences the way children learn. Beginning with what children can do, providing feedback to them in terms of how and why they are 'wrong' or 'right', and allowing them to seek clarifications and ask questions, enables them to develop high self-esteem. The most important thing is that the teacher needs to have faith in her learners. And she should show them that she has faith in their ability to learn.

Children who are constantly anxious about being reprimanded and being compared unfavourably with other 'brighter' ones are likely to develop withdrawal tendencies. They avoid answering questions and actively participating in classroom discussions for fear of making mistakes. This decreases their self confidence and their capacity to think and learn independently. Most children within the present competitive system of education have this problem. Such children continue to learn mechanically and depend on algorithms rather than develop mathematical thinking. They even become obsessed with the 'one correct answer' approach, and the desire to learn and create gets permanently stifled.

Do you agree with what we've said in this sub-section? The following exercise may help you to decide.

E1) Give instances from your childhood, of you or your friends disliking a subject because of the reasons mentioned in this sub-section. How would you correct the situation, if you had been in the teacher's place?

There is an important social attitude that we have hinted at when talking of Ajay's sister in the example above. It shows up in remarks like "How come, being a girl, you know maths so well?" Why do people believe that girls can't learn mathematics? In fact, gender differences in students' attitudes towards mathematics arise from what society expects boys and girls to do. For example, it has often actively encouraged boys to pursue studies in mathematics and discouraged girls from doing so. Attributing failure in mathematics to gender has led to a decrease in the self-esteem of the girl child, and a consequent mental block against mathematics at a very early age.

So far we have taken a brief look at the factors that need to be considered while examining the way a child learns. Let us now look at the intellectual growth of a child.