Helping children to have high self-esteem has been a goal in American education for the past twenty-five years. Recently, however, the concept of self-esteem training has become a topic of public controversy. Its advocates point to results in students' higher academic achievements and other contributions to the community. Some, however, say that this training can encourage children to feel good about themselves irresponsibly—without corresponding achievement—and that this egotism, when threatened, can lead them into trouble, even into violent behavior. ^{The Boston Sunday Globe, March 31, 1996 .} Robert Reasoner, president of the International Council for Self Esteem in Port Ludlow, Washington, says, "I think there's a great deal of confusion about self-esteem." He contends that it's not about giving children unwarranted praise, but about giving them respect and holding them accountable for their actions—for what they do. ^{The Christian Science Monitor, April 4, 1996 .}

Surely everyone can agree that self-esteem should result in right doing. Perhaps, then, the emphasis in education, both at home and in school, should be on nurturing in young people the kind of self-esteem that naturally leads to right doing and grows with right doing. What is this self-esteem? It's the self-esteem that comes from knowing God, our creator, and knowing the intrinsic worth of ourselves and others as His children.

The Bible teaches that God is infinite Spirit, the source of all intelligence and goodness, and that man is His spiritual image and likeness. By this we know that each one of us—every man, woman, and child—possesses unlimited intelligence and goodness. It's hard to think of anything that has greater potential for inspiring an individual toward noble effort and achievement than an inner sense of true worth. And such self-esteem comes with waking up to the fact of one's God-given identity, nature, and abilities as God's reflection. "As for me," said the Psalmist, "I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness" (Ps. 17:15). Genuine satisfaction comes not only in knowing we have goodness and ability from God; it comes in following through on that knowledge and actually doing God's will. As a verse from Mary Baker Eddy's poem "Satisfied" indicates: "Who doth His will—His likeness still—/ Is satisfied" (Poems, p. 79). And the more we do God's will, the more we grow in spiritually based self-esteem.

Any activity at home or at school that awakens a young person's sense of God-given worth and abilities is constructive education. That's because it inspires a desire to use these abilities in ways that bless others and glorify God, good. It's constructive for the individual, and it's constructive for society.

I read a story recently about a twelve-year-old girl who loves mathematics and science. She noticed that the girls in her classrooms weren't feeling confident enough in their abilities to try to solve challenging math problems. She used her talents to invent a game that gives girls the opportunity to "gain confidence in science and math and know that they can win with their knowledge." It's called, "Boys Scoot Over. Girls Advance to the Top." It won first place in the Invent America! contest. ^{Ibid., March 29, 1996 .} This example of using one's God-given talents to help others discover their own shows the connection between self-esteem and right doing.

Self-esteem that develops from knowing one's relation to God naturally fosters unselfish endeavors. And we also discover that the more unselfish good we accomplish, the more we build the right kind of self-esteem. This spiritually grounded self-esteem is really an element of Christian character. It never rests in a sense of self-satisfaction. It glorifies good in right doing, never simply because of it. It makes human experience a progressive journey out of a limited, mortal sense of self—expressed either in self-satisfaction or self-depreciation—into the full expression of one's spiritual identity in God's likeness. As Mrs. Eddy says, "All men shall be satisfied when they 'awake in His likeness,' and they never should be until then" (Miscellaneous Writings, p. 358).

An individual who holds his or her Godlikeness in high esteem, and strives to live in accord with it, greets each worthy achievement with humility, with gratitude for the glory it gives to our creator, and with the resolve to continue in right doing. This attitude fosters genuine progress. It enables us to respect ourselves even if others misjudge us or fail to appreciate our efforts. For it is true, as Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mrs. Eddy observes, "Consciousness of right-doing brings its own reward; but not amid the smoke of battle is merit seen and appreciated by lookers-on" (p. 37). No one understood this better than Christ Jesus; knowing his own worth as the Son of God, he was the most conscientious right doer of all time—even in the face of misunderstanding and opposition. He knew the great satisfaction inherent in striving continually to do God's will. He said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6).

Self-esteem and right doing are really inseparable. We are God's sons and daughters. We were created to be Godlike. Therefore, no real satisfaction can come except in learning that we reflect His nature and then engaging in the right doing of being Godlike—unselfishly expressing the qualities and abilities that come from Him. Education that respects the individual as a child of God develops the self-esteem that naturally results in right doing. And this brings real satisfaction not only to children, their parents, and their teachers, but to the whole community.

Barbara M. Vining

GALATIANS

Because ye are sons, God bath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Galatians 4:6, 7