re: Telling kids that systemic racism exists, is child abuse

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Basically people tend to perform to expectations as in the Pygmalion effect where you take a random kid and tell them they are gifted and super smart. The kid tends to perform higher. The opposite is true as well. If you tell a kid that he is dumb or that there is an invisible force that will hold him back (systemic racism), they will tend to self defeat.

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Well, there is some danger there. The idea of telling kids they're smart (when they aren't) is all about the self-esteem movement. It doesn't work when the kid finds out he's stupid.

A good coach doesn't need to tell an athlete what he's good at. He knows it. The coach needs to tell the athlete what he is doing wrong so that improvement can occur.

In the classroom I have had teachers that praised everyone for everything. I knew it was bullshite so praise meant nothing. OTOH, I had teachers who praised no one. And on the rare occasion I heard 'Zach, that's really pretty good' it made my day.