Academic Performance Betterment - Essay Example

Critically evaluate the idea that increasing self-esteem is associated with better academic performance ID Lecturer Date University Abstract Academic performance depends a great deal on the motivational levels that students have at the campus as well as their individual study regimes. An effort has been made to acknowledge the fact that academic performance comes about with the supplementation of knowledge plus the positive experiences that the students have of the overall study realms. The increasing self-esteem aspects indicate that educational issues can be tackled in an adequate way by upping the encouragement domains so that the students have a better understanding and comprehension of what they are doing at such a young age. However the same holds true for adults who are under the aegis of an educational institution. The paper has taken a deep and incisive look at the psychological aspects which have both benefited and hampered the academic performance ranks of the students. Self-esteem and self-awareness are important tenets of an individual who is willing to gain an insight as per his actions, behaviors and manifestations. Academic performance is the sole domain of a student who wants to achieve success within his educational curriculum so that his future life could be secured. This, he does in order to have an educational pattern which is filled with success right from the outset of his acquiring the same. Therefore it is pretty important to suggest that academic performance depends a great deal on the way the students perceive their own lives and see this within the contexts of their perceptional abilities and self-esteem issues. However these could easily be marred by the consistent self-denial representations of the wrongs that hamper any student at a given time or even the misquoted ideals that have sprung up with the passage of time. All of these topics are deemed as significant when one tries to measure the righteousness of a student’s academic abilities and skills in the long run. Low self-esteem is indeed an epidemic, more so because it asks of the student to display a sense of negativity related with his own educational journey (Baumeister et al, 2003). When the same is measured from an academic performance yardstick, there are serious shortfalls which could easily be highlighted. These include the exact patterns as to how the student fell from a position of significance within the educational realms to one of an area of inferiority. Also the exact rationale for his jealousy with regards to other students is ascertained and the logical conclusions are drawn up in the light of the same. There are other avenues where global and domain-specific self-esteem patterns are understood. This takes into consideration the heterogeneous nature of the people involved. What seems like an afterthought within the related areas lies in the fact that the difficulties with such self-esteem facets can be overcome if aggregating behaviors are bundled by the researchers. These in essence mean that the wholesome basis of studying the exact subjects (the students themselves) is deemed as necessary right from the outset of one such finding phenomenon (Baumeister et al, 2003). Then there is the wrong notion attached with students that they are worthless, essentially known by the term ‘floccinaucinihilipilification’. Gentile et al, 2009 are of the view that self-esteem issues could also result in the wake of gender specific patterns, thereby bringing into perspective a totally new and unique insight. Men and women tend to react differently whenever they undergo physical and mental strain related with their academic regimes and hence their self-esteem tenets also work in pretty much the same way. The two notions have a huge impact on one another and thus endeavor to shift the related course of things in each other. This point of view is a clear testimony that the athletic regimes within the educational curricula are governed by the fittest students and hence these tend to have higher self-esteems than the ones who are physically unfit and thus are unable to cope up with their academic matters (Gentile et al, 2009). These students are accepted very well in a social context and hence this tends to up their self-esteem by a fair bit. Sometimes they are even over-confident within the tasks they do and the demeanor which they put up in front of other students and even their family members. At times, this eventually results in their downfall after a considerable time period has passed by. What is most necessary here is to understand that self-esteem comes from within one’s own self and hence it would be correct to state that a self-assessing monitor resides within the mind of the person who is on a route to find out the exact reasons behind his success or the lack thereof (Leary et al, 1995). However, speaking from a truly academic performance point of view, this could mean that the student is thinking a lot and not actually putting pen down on the paper, as he should be doing within the educational facility. He should be concentrating more on the books and lectures rather than measuring his own self over a consistent amount of time. But then again as discussed by Leary et al, 1995, this can turn out to be a good practice in the long run as well. The fundamental need to maintain self-esteem is inherent within one’s personality and no one can deny this very fact in essence. All the same, having feelings for one’s own self are bound to come up since this individual is a part of a society that is free-flowing and interactive with so many people around to communicate and get in touch with. All these feelings are thus nothing but natural. Bolstering self-esteem is quintessential, as found out by Forsyth et al, 2007 in their findings. The participants they took up for conducting the study on measuring the academic performance of struggling college students by increasing self-esteem backfired. The reasons for this failure were credited on the differing personalities of the students and the changing mannerisms that came about due to the performance charts of these students over a period of time. The students were performing badly within their study regimes and thus it was found that the reasons were aplenty. It would not be wise to touch upon the exact reasons however what was found from such a study was that these students lacked the feelings to have a sense of responsibility within their own selves as far as achieving good grades within the exams was concerned. Kernis, 2003 suggests that optimal self-esteem could only be achieved when the students know the exact reasons behind their very achievements. If they desire to reach the top, then only would they be ready and willing to give in their best on a consistent basis. However the negativities that plague the students in the form of outside hindrances, youthful measures like music, movies and partying distractions are some of the real reasons why these students would get away from their intended goals, if and only if they know exactly what they are trying to achieve in the long run. One should not forget that self-esteem could only be upped when the students are ready to give in their best so that their lives could have a meaningful purpose, not only for them but also for the people with whom they share their good and bad times. These students must know what it actually means to have high self-esteem and how the same could be replicated within their study regimes, so that they could extract the best possible mileage out of the two notions which are indeed realities if seen within proper contexts (Markus & Wurf 1987). Therefore high self-esteem has a very predominant role within the understanding of academic performance as it comes about due to the very same within different contexts of studies that have been done to date. This has been proven by (Kernis, 2003) as indicated by the study conducted in the above-mentioned lines. In the end, this discussion could be summarized by suggesting that academic performance remains on a secondary level if the self-esteem measures are not touched deep upon by the researchers when it comes to finding out the peculiar traits of the students within the educational quarters. This is not only applicable for the sake of the students but also encompasses the entire humanity perspective, as it touches upon some of the most important facets which pave the way for success or the lack thereof in the long run. Therefore it is deemed as important to have improved self-esteem measures in order to raise the bar of academic performance by the students on a general as well as more localized level. This will set the tone for the eventual success parameters in the coming times as well as solve the anomalies which come about every now and then within the educational realms. All said and done, academic performance depends a great deal on the motivational and support systems that the students have within their folds and they are always ready to get one for their own betterment. References Baumeister, R., Campbell, J., Krueger, J & Vohs, K. (2003). Does High Self-Esteem cause better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles? Psychological Science in the Public Interest, Vol. 4, No. 1, May Forsyth, D., Lawrence, N., Burnette, J. & Baumeister, R. (2007). Attempting to Improve the Academic Performance of Struggling College Students by Bolstering their Self-Esteem: An Intervention that Backfired. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 447-459 Gentile, B., Dolan-Pascoe, B., Grabe, S. & Wells, B. (2009). Gender Differences in Domain-Specific Self-Esteem: A Meta-Analysis. Review of General Psychology, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 34-45 Kernis, M. (2003). Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem. Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 1-26 Leary, M., Terdal, S., Tambor, E. & Downs, D. (1995). Self-Esteem as an Interpersonal Monitor: The Sociometer Hypothesis. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, Vol. 68, No. 3, pp. 518-530 Markus, H. & Wurf, E. (1987). The Dynamic Self-Concept: A Social Psychological Perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51, pp. 858-866 Word Count: 1,502 Read More