Every calling is great when greatly pursued. Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. Every person should receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of one’s own and other countries, by which one may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance. There is also great advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and others works, both of a religious and moral nature. I desire to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more than at present, and shall be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy era. The dependent variable of interest has been global self-esteem. However, specific self-concept components may be still more strongly affected by social identity context. One of these is academic self-concept of the school pupil. #RandolphHarris 1 of 7

 Although the data are not abundant, they suggest that racial dissonance may be somewhat more damaging to academic self-concept than to global self-esteem, despite the fact that several studies show that youngsters in desegregated settings perform better academically than those in segregated settings. Although underrepresented children in predominantly privileged schools obtained somewhat higher scores on standardized tests than those in substandard schools, nevertheless, for each group as the proportion in privileged school increases, the [minority] child’s [academic] self-concept decreases. Five studies showed the effect of contextual dissonance on academic self-esteem to be negative and only one study suggested it was beneficial; in two studies, no clear difference appeared. The chief reason, of course, is that dissonant racial context provides a damaging comparison reference group for minority children. Studies generally show that students who are a minority in a privileged school, tend to have marks that compare unfavorably, on average, with those of the majority group attending the same schools. It is thus understandable that their academic self-concept should suffer more than their global self-esteem under these circumstances. #RandolphHarris 2 of 7

Another self-concept dimension is stability. Although the data suggest that the effect of dissonance on stability is not a powerful one, some evidence indicates that those in dissonant contexts have more unstable, shifting, and uncertain self-concepts. In a study of an urban school system, disprivileged children in dissonant racial contexts were conspicuously more likely to have unstable self-concepts than disprivileged children in consonant contexts; this proved to be true even when self-esteem was controlled. The New York State study also examined the relationship of religious dissonance and self-concept instability controlling on self-esteem. Although contextual dissonance did not show an association to self-concept stability (independent of self-esteem) among Jewish adolescents, some association between these variables appeared among Protestant, and definite association appeared among Catholics. Why contextual dissonance should foster self-concept instability is not certain, but one possibility is that the dissonant context may fail to provide interpersonal confirmation for the individual’s self-hypothesis. Many self-attitudes require confirmation. Among the various types of evidence confirming or disconfirming a self-hypothesis, probably the most important is interpersonal: others must legitimate the individual’s role identity if one is to maintain a stable self-concept. #RandolphHarris 3 of 7

Thus, with regard to the racial context, the greater self-image instability of minority children in dissonant context may be attributed to the fact that privileged children and teachers in these settings do not provide sufficient confirmation for the minority child’s self-concept. While one may see oneself as physically attractive, mild in disposition, and honest, at least some proportion of the prejudiced privileged children may not appreciate one’s good looks and may act as if one is threatening, aggressive, or dishonest. Such behavior may be fueled by jealousy and competition, and could well introduce doubts and uncertainty in the child’s mind about who or what an individual is. And that is why it is important to teach your child that the only thing that truly matters is their relationship with God and being a good person. While it is nice to have friends and material objects, being good, and doing good is actually what matter. It is also important to have a support group, and the church is a great place to go to talk to someone who is actually concerned with your salvation and concerned about you as a God loving human being. It is great to keep a record, as God has done many miracles. #RandolphHarris 4 of 7

However, any kind of prejudice—prejudgment—including the excessively optimistic may cause individual to feel uncertain and doubt their ability, it could rob them of their kilter for determining their own value. Especially when people excessively and continuously try to target them as a problem, out of malice, when they know that child is a good person, and it could even lead to health problems like headaches, upset stomach, fatigue, and loss of pleasure in life. The liberal professor who publicly asserts how smart and cute and otherwise wonderful the minority child is, whether or not the child actually is like this at all, may generate equal uncertainty and insecurity in the child, thereby fostering an unstable self-concept. No country can sustain, in idleness, more tan a small percentage of its numbers. The great majority must labor at something productive. A capacity, and taste, for reading, gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others. It is the key, or one of the keys, to the already solved problems. And not only so. It gives a relish, and facility, for successfully pursuing the [yet] unsolved ones. #RandolphHarris 5 of 7

Social identity dissonance has also been shown to have a bearing on the salience of social identity elements. For example, at any given point, which of various social identity elements—race, religion, age, gender, occupation, and so forth—is at the forefront of attention? One answer to this question is that salience is likely to be governed by the distinctiveness postulate. The distinctiveness postulate implies that what is salient in a person’s spontaneous self-concept is the person’s peculiarities, the ways in which one differs from other people in one’s customary social environment. For example, a minority of a particular group of women is more likely to be conscious of her race; but if she is among men of her own race, she is more likely to be conscious of her gender. It has also been found that girls in classes in which boys were in the majority, and boys in classes in which girls were the majority, were more likely spontaneously to mention gender when describing themselves. Ethnic salience also tended to be higher in dissonant contexts. Similarly, study of American adolescents visiting Israel found that these youngsters were much more likely to be aware of themselves as American when in Israel than when in America. Because of the distinctiveness postulate, social identity components tend to be more salient in dissonant than in consonant contexts. #RandolphHarris 6 of 7

These data thus suggest that dissonant social identity contexts may have an effect—though not usually a very powerful one—on global self-esteem, academic self-concept, self-concept stability, and salience of identity components. Dissonant context may also have some advantageous consequences, but these are not generally related directly to the self-concept. Identity experiences are events or involvements that test, define, or challenge one’s sense of identity of self-hood, so that it is no longer taken for granted. The forces of the soul can regenerate the outer World. Where we awaken every morning provides the most immediate opportunity for awakening soul to the outer World. It does not matter if you live in an apartment or condominium rather than a house; the image of the house evokes archetypal, permanent aspects of Earth connected with the desire to feel at home in the World. The house is more than a box within which to live; it is a soul activity to be retrieved from the numbness of the World of modern life. God’s grace is given wonderfully, but not wastefully, we must entrust his care to everything we own. #RandolphHarris 7 of 7