Low self-esteem is often caused by negative and traumatic experiences from childhood. The long-term effect of these experiences on a person can have devastating effects on the person's academic and career development. A child with low self-esteem rarely seeks out opportunities for achievement and advancement, because he or she assumes failure is the ultimate outcome, rather than a challenge to surmount. Resilience is limited after any type of criticism, constructive or not.

As an Adult Educator, I have work closely with adults who were abused, neglected, and/or abandoned as children. Many of my students had their doubts about their abilities and potential reinforced in an educational environment. Children who suffer abuse or neglect may act out negatively at school. They may have limited respect and heightened fear of adult authority figures. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot of grace offered to children in difficult circumstances.

When an adult who struggled in school as a child or youth decides to return to school and come to an Adult Education Program, they are coming with a tremendous amount of low self-esteem, self-doubt, desperation, and a very small sliver of hope that he will be able to reach his goal. Adults who had unstable childhoods often think that the challenges and failures they had in school were the result of his low ability or intelligence. Every adult with low self-esteem needs a support person-a family member, a teacher, a supervisor, and/or faith partner who will never give up on her, who will challenge her negative beliefs, and who will support her without judgment.

One important mandate for an adult educator teaching adult basic and adult secondary students is to dispel worn-out negative beliefs with opportunities for small successes that add up to long term academic advancement. Starting a student a little below his placement level and then allowing him to transition smoothly into review material builds confidence. The student is then reassessed as he transitions to a new skill by using pre- and post-testing.

Every student who expresses doubt in her ability is reminded that as a child she may have had stressful circumstances, illness, absences, or many moves to different schools that affected her understanding in the classroom. I explain that a stressed brain has trouble concentrating and remembering. I explain that a child who changes schools often is rarely transitioned smoothly into the curriculum of the new school.

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