Active Listening and Humanistic Psychology in Education: Reflections and Questions, Study notes of School management&administration

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Spring 2007 SKEP on Active Listening and the Humanistic Psychology Final Wonderments Jack Adwell

1. “The teachers’ role is more like that of a therapist, or counselor, in consort with a resourceful consultant.” (SKEP pg.1) I wonder what the school board would say if I set- up a couch in the back of my classroom so I would have a place to practice being a therapist? I know that as a teacher I am concerned for the growth and development of all my students, but someone needs to make up their minds about my role. Am I a therapist, a counselor, a resource consultant, am I still responsible for content delivery, for modeling skills, and for standards achievement.
2. “ The main goal of the teacher is to help the student gain contact with his/her “real self” by listening and empowering them to ask good questions, engage reasonable actions and pursue worthy goals.” (SKEP pg. 1) “Helping a student gain contact with their ‘real self” is an interesting goal. I will admit that I remember adolescence being a difficult time in my life but I think I always knew who I was. I wonder what pedagogy promotes getting into contact with your real self? I guess I can see journaling and you could throw in some art with ink blots but how do you teach a student to write a mathematical expression in a way that helps them express themselves?
3. “He (Maslow) was pushed hard for academic success by his parents and had a lonely, book-filled childhood.” I wonder what the motivation in Maslow’s life was. Did he study hard to please his parents or because he was interested in the subject? When he wrote his Hierarchy of Needs, I wonder how much of it was based on these facts and that he was the eldest of seven children from a Jewish background.
4. If we are the product of our environment, then I wonder what part this played in Carl Rogers view of psychology and education. Being born in a Midwest farm community with “pioneering attitudes towards independence” it would seem that these attitudes of self-preservation would have been a driving force in his theories of self-actualization. The person as an independent spirit can solve his own problems if he is freed to do so.
5. The SKEP material states several principles that Roger’s proposed. One of them was “we cannot teach another person directly; we can only facilitate his or her learning.” I wonder if this principle refers to adults or if younger children were also included. It would seem to me that this is an age-related principle.
6. “Rogers considered learning as a freedom…Rogers saw ‘self-directed learning’ as the ultimate goal in education.” I wonder what the outcome would be if students were given the “freedom” of an education or if we told them they could choose what they needed to study. It is sad that most students today do not grasp the true value and freedom of an education.
7. “He (Clark Moustakas) stresses the importance of the adult in the classroom seeing the child as a human being and the importance of the mutuality and relationship between teacher and student.” Sometimes I wonder if the “No Child Left Behind” program hasn’t done more to make the child an object than a human being. With the added emphasis of grading standards (ISATs) teacher’s are pressured to push, pull or carry their students over that acceptable bar of performance. What have we gained if we meet the goals and I can’t remember, you know, what’s her name?
8. I have read some about Montessori schools and understand that most of them are private, but there are a few that are public (The one here in Decatur is public.). I wonder how the “open classroom” concept fits into the “No Child Left Behind” mandates? If they are private, are they still required to follow the guidelines for learning standards? I wonder how this idea of student-centered, student-directed education meets those standards?

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9. “According to Rogerian theory since all persons are unique, it is impossible for one person to make appropriate decisions for another. People experience situation in different way based on prior experience and their unique goals, expectations and attitudes.” Again, I wonder if these principles are not age-related. Certainly they are not meant for younger elementary ages. I can’t imagine a first grade class where the teacher cannot make an appropriate decision for the child. Can you imagine the teacher telling Johnny that it is time to put the crayons and paper away because it is story time, and Johnny says, “You can’t tell me what to do!” And the teacher walks away?
10. “Neil believed that “ the function of the child is to live his own life-not the life that his anxious parents think he should live, nor a life according to the purpose of the educator who thinks he knows best. ” I believe that active learning and student empowerment are important elements in education. However, I wonder if the Summerhill School isn’t taking this to the extreme. First, I think we are stepping into dangerous ground when our perspective of parents is that they are a bunch of anxious people trying to project their ideas and dreams onto their children. When do we give students the right to divorce their parents and when did parenting become a problem for education to deal with. I can’t help but believe that taking the children away from their parents at such a young age and depriving them of that important emotion in their lives is damaging. And secondly, if the educator is viewed as a dictator pressuring his purpose on a student because he thinks he knows best, then where does the student receive counsel and direction? What happens to the parent and teacher rights in this program? Sorry, I cannot buy into this as a legitimate form of education.
11. I wonder if there really is such a place as a student having all their needs met, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. For that matter, I wonder if there is such a place as a teacher having all their needs met?
12. “ She (Dawn McBride) staes, ‘I welcome the process of getting acquainted with their dreams, hopes, feelings and thoughts. The long lasting benefit of taking this time to get to know them, particularly early in the term, is that they are often forthcoming in sharing their thoughts and feelings about their culture, religion and lifestyle’ .” I wonder how our classes would change if the first two weeks of the year were filled with activities that encouraged getting to know your student.
13. “According to Maslow, the ideal university has no formal credits or required courses or degrees, and is an educational retreat where students explore various subjects according to their own interests and identities.” In an ideal world that sounds great, but how does that work when your student applies for a job with other candidates that do have degrees, especially if that vocation is academics? Good luck! Our educational system is based on assessments and standards. Throw them out and how do you determine the quality of education a student receives, or do we even care. If there are no grades, not credits, no requirements then how do we define value?
14. “ He(Dr. W. R. Coulson) argues that Maslow’s hierarchy was never meant to be used with children, and critiques cooperative learning with a caveat that the strongest students in this setting may have the greatest influence on teaching values in the classroom.” I have always questioned the use of Maslow’s hierarchy in meeting the needs of children. Even Maslow stated in the Preface of one of his last books that his theories were never meant for children. I also use cooperative learning at the college level. It is a strong teaching technique, but the one thing that I am careful to monitor is the strong students that try to dominate the process. I can easily see how this could be a bad experience for children.
15. In my last wonderment I want to go back to the concept of self-actualization taught by Maslow and then Rogers. Maslow interpreted ‘self-actualization’ as “the idea that our purpose in life is to go on a process of development that starts early in life, but is often

Spring 2007 blocked later.” Rogers goes on to advocate that if “freed” a person can solve their own problems. The idea was then moved into education with concepts like student empowerment and student freedom. The result is to remove those blocks in this journey of development and of education. Consequently we have started throwing out the standards, the guidelines, the ethics, the morals. Every quality that has made this nation strong is now viewed as a barrier to someone’s full development. I wonder when we will realize that we are bleeding ourselves to death. By eliminating the boundaries and structure, we are dooming ourselves. I had a class of middle-school children that I worked with. Each class they were complaining about all the work the other teachers made them do and how their parents wouldn’t let them do anything. The complaining went on day after day. They just couldn’t understand why they couldn’t do what they wanted to do. One day I announced a class project and field day. We were going to learn how to build kites. Well, they thought is was pretty stupid, but they went along with it. I showed them several designs and they started getting excited about whose kite would go the highest. It took time and then they were given the task of decorating their kite. Give your kite its own personality. They all had fun adding their own special touches. Finally the day came and we took them to the field beside the school. It was a perfect, windy spring day. As they each attached their string, I gave them all a pair of scissors and told them to keep them in their pockets. The kites quickly went into the air. The kids were having a great time and the kites were soaring wildly in the wind. “Look,” I said, “your kites want to go higher but the string is stopping them. Can’t you see how much your kites want to be free to soar, but the dumb string is holding them back. Take the scissors and set your kites free. Cut the strings!” Everyone began cutting the strings that had held their kites back and one by one the kites came crashing to the ground. Some of the students were very angry with me. They had put a lot of time and effort into their creation. When we got back to the class we talked about what had happened. What was the purpose of the string? Even though the kites were fighting against it, the string kept the kites from crashing. Then I explained, the rules your parents have set for you are not made to stop you from having a good time. They are there to stop you from crashing and being hurt.