Ultimately, the political crisis we see today is the long term effect of an education system that teaches students to develop their self-esteem entirely around the idea of success and failure according to grades. Neither side knows how to see themselves without belittling and dehumanizing the other side.

On one side are the ones who got good grades and were taught to believe they were smarter than everyone else. On the other side are the ones who did not get the good grades and were forced to find other ways to prop up their self-esteem… usually racism, sexism, and jingoism.

The history of life and evolution is full of species who were more advanced than others in one trait, but still could not survive. If they were like humans, they probably focused so entirely on that one trait they didn’t see how drastically they were failing at the other necessary traits.

There is a reason why people fighting together for survival learn to look past their differences. It is because the effort to survive together teaches them to measure self-esteem in healthier terms.