Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, represents a generation of American kids (1)_____ in the 1980s on the philosophy that any achievement, however slight, (2)_____ a ribbon. (3)_____ replaced punishment; criticism became a dirty word. In Texas, teachers were advised to (4)_____ using red ink, the colour of (5)_____. In California, a task force was set up to (6)_____ the concept of self worth into the education system. Swathing youngsters in a (7)_____ shield of self-esteem, went the philosophy, would protect them from the nasty things in life, such as bad school grades, underage sex, drug abuse, dead-end jobs and criminality. (8)_____ that the ninth-place ribbons are in danger of strangling the (9)_____ children they were Supposed to help. America"s (10)_____ with self-esteem—like all developments in psychology, it gradually (11)_____ its way to Britain—has turned children who were (12)_____ with (13)_____ into adults who (14)_____ at even the mildest brickbats. Many believe that the feel-good culture has risen at the (15)_____ of traditional education, an opinion espoused in a new book, Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can"t Read, Write, or Add, by the conservative commentator Charles Sykes. Not only that, but the foundations (16)_____ which the self-esteem industry is built are being (17)_____ as decidedly shaky. Roy Baumeister, professor of psychology at Florida State University and once a self-esteem enthusiast, is now (18)_____ a revision of the populist orthodoxy. "After all these years, I"m sorry to say, my recommendation is this: forget about self-esteem and (19)_____ more on self-control and self-discipline," he wrote recently. "Recent work suggests this would be good for the individual and good for society—and might even be able to (20)_____ some of those promises that self-esteem once made but could not keep."

A. deciding
B. forcing
C. pioneering
D. imposing