Dumbass Sayings: “Give Yourself a Pat on the Back”

In a lot of schools you’ll see teachers telling their students to “Give yourself a pat on the back!” when they answer a question correctly or participate in class. Why do we teach kids to do this? A pat on the back doesn’t mean much even when it’s coming from someone else and it means even less if you’re doing it to yourself. I don’t see how this can be a positive reinforcement method. No one does things so they can have the privilege of patting themselves on the back. Why not just tell the kids to give themselves a high five? Oh wait, no THAT would look insane, right? A self pat on the back, though... totally fine! Also, children will never be able to use this in the future. You don’t see adults patting themselves on the back after doing a good job at their place of work. If they do they’re either doing it in a joking way making light of how ridiculous it is, or they’re doing it in earnest and are emotionally deranged. Patting yourself on the back is like masturbating, it’s not productive at all. Either you do something that warrants someone else patting you on the back, or whatever you did wasn’t worth a pat on the back. It’s really that simple. If you’re that desperate for a pat on the back that you do it yourself, something is wrong. Patting yourself on the back is motivational masturbation and it should not be taught in schools to students under any circumstance.

Even another person patting you on the back is unnecessary. Especially if you're operating on someone and not expecting it.