Frankly, I dont believe anything is new about it save 2 elements. One is cyberbullying and the second is the attitude change. It was formerly seen as a right of passage and only a problem for the 2 families involved.

I am not about to dump all over the hypothesis that modern bullying epidemic and its causes, is due to the emphasis on fostering kids’ self-esteem.

Using search terms - “Self-esteem in the public K to 12 education system”  12,300,000 hits

The majority from the education field and its branches where the K to 12 schools and its school boards, its teachers’ faculties and the education researchers have lots to say about self-esteem.

On the 12th page -  a blog created by a parent
“Jeff Lindsay is a parent of four boys in Appleton, Wisconsin, and the husband of Kendra Lindsay, a primary founder of the Classical School in Appleton. Not that it matters, but Jeff has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from BYU….”
http://www.jefflindsay.com/Education.shtml

In the introductory - “In many elementary and secondary schools, education seems more focused on fostering attitudes (“affective education”) than on teaching. Self-esteem is sometimes treated as the ultimate goal, while many parents are clamoring for a return to academics…...Sadly, many schools focus on popular “reforms” and new programs that detract from academics. Goals 2000, workforce education, block scheduling, affective education, whole language, and the emphasis on “developmentally appropriate” education…..”

Jeff’s blog is a must read.

From a teacher’s site - “Affective education is concerned with the beliefs, feelings and attitudes of students. Proponents of affective education believe that academic teaching should go hand in hand with personal and social education.”
http://www.teach-nology.com/litined/affective_education/

And to which self esteem is part of the goals in affective education outcomes. ” There are many ways by which affective education can be done in a school. One might understand it in the light of three levels—individual, group and institution…..At the Individual level, educators must direct their focus on the individual development of students…..... Some turn into bullies and others get bullied. Hence, at this level, a teacher seeks to promote emotional literacy and self-esteem…..”

A paper - Affective Education and Experiential Learning by: Susan Gano-Phillips, Ph.D.
Fulbright Scholar in General Education
City University of Hong Kong.
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/oge/gesymposium/presentation/Susan_Affective.pdf

Affective education theories. with the added in teachers’ faculties for search parameters - 75,800,000 hits.

Affective education is not going anywhere too soon, judging from the many many papers within the K to 12 education field. Jeff is correct, academics has taken a backseat, to the goals of affective education of the 21st century.

And we wonder why, the bullying programs, rather expensive ones are not working? One of the messages that I received from the school and board officials, that I was hurting my child’s self-esteem, by stressing the academics. Apparently, I was asking too much, when I requested the school for one to one instruction, following along the regular grade 4 math curriculum.

The SE math class was all about making the students feel good about themselves. One would call the SE math class - affective education and had nothing to do remediation of math, and the loftier goal of having students integrated back into the regular math curriculum at grade level.

In the 2010 SQE post - ”  Perhaps the campaign to boost kids’ self-esteem has created an unusually-high percentage of little emperors who are prone to anger and aggression.
The last word goes to Dr. Baumeister. “After all these years, my recommendation is this: Forget about self-esteem and concentrate more on self-control and self-discipline. Recent work suggests this would be good for the individual and good for society - and might even be able to fill some of those promises that self-esteem once made but could not keep.”

Out of the 12 children, including my child in the SE math class - six students became drop-outs. The other 5 students, have either graduated with a certificate or in school still. My child was the exception, and when the school discovered that I was tutoring my child at home, they once again raised the issue of her self-esteem. I was hurting her self-esteem. The outcomes of the 11 children is a testament of the negative outcomes of having the emphasis on self-esteem and other affective education policies.

Little emperors is an apt term, and could described my child in the SE math class. She became the math whiz of the class, and was so proud of her title, and yet she was frustrated, prone to meltdowns at home, and depressed because she knew deep down that she should not be in the SE math class.  I undertook her tutoring at home, because it was obvious the school and school board has no intentions in moving her out of the SE math or one to one instruction. Along the way, my child developed self-control and self-discipline and in the end developed a healthy form of self-esteem.