The Humanistic Movement in Education
... A humanistic teaching approach is based on the premise that students have a need to become adults who are self-actualized, a term used by Maslow (1954). Self-actualized adults are self-directed, confident, mature, realistic about their goals, and flexible. They are able to accept themselves, their feelings, and others around them. In order to become self-actualized adults, students need a classroom that gives them the freedom to be creative. Many humanistic teachers believe there should be no lesson plans or standard curricula and that grades should be de-emphasized or abolished completely. In practice, humanistic teaching methods combine individual and small-group instruction methods. Unlike traditional teachers, humanistic educators are on equal footing with their students, who have the right to choose what they will study. The role of humanistic teachers is to organize their classrooms so that students will "wish to learn, want to grow, seek to find out, hope to master, [and] desire to create" (Rogers,1959). The open classrooms popular in the 1970s were based on the principles of humanistic education. Summary: The basic objectives of humanistic education are to encourage students to: · Be self-directed and independent. · Take responsibility for their learning. · Be creative and interested in the arts. · Be curious about the world around them A humanistic teaching approach is based on the premise that students have a need to become adults who are self-actualized, a term used by Maslow (1954). Self-actualized adults are self-directed, confident, mature, realistic about their goals, and flexible. They are able to accept themselves, their feelings, and others around them. In order to become self-actualized adults, students need a classroom that gives them the freedom to be creative. Many humanistic teachers believe there should be no lesson plans or standard curricula and that grades should be de-emphasized or abolished completely. In practice, humanistic teaching methods combine individual and small-group instruction methods. Unlike traditional teachers, humanistic educators are on equal footing with their students, who have the right to choose what they will study. The role of humanistic teachers is to organize their classrooms so that students will "wish to learn, want to grow, seek to find out, hope to master, [and] desire to create" (Rogers,1959). The open classrooms popular in the 1970s were based on the principles of humanistic education. Summary: The basic objectives of humanistic education are to encourage students to: · Be self-directed and independent. · Take responsibility for their learning. · Be creative and interested in the arts. · Be curious about the world around them ...