Granted, some girls aren't as talented as others, but they're having a good time out there. I think it's good for them, especially at this age, when girls are so self-conscious about everything. It's good for their self-esteem. I'd like to think that this program duplicates life, but it's the positive side of life. It is not, he insists, a time to face the ruthlessness of tryouts and auditions.
Most educators accept the idea that children who feel good about themselves do better academically.
But not everyone embraces the concept, and programs that attempt to boost students' self-esteem have increasingly come under fire in recent years. If the emphasis on self-esteem is under fire in the education world, Mr. Goldsberry seems not to have heard the news. But you can get more accomplished with kids if they want to be here than if they don't. And self-esteem is part of that. The district's combined junior-senior high school, which served students in grades 7 through 12, was crowded, and many felt that it wasn't appropriate to have 7th and 8th graders in the same building with older students.