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CARL R.

ROGERS

Significant Learning:
In Therapy and in Education
This paper describes the kind of education we would have if we
drew our educational principles from the field of psychotherapy.
It also, in a general way, describes the approach which its author
has found useful in teaching.

PRESENTED HERE is a thesis, feeling is substantiated by research. In


a point of view, regarding the implica client-centered therapy, the orientation
tions which psychotherapy has for edu with which I am most familiar, and in
cation. It is a stand which I take ten which the most research has been done,
tatively, and with some hesitation. I we know that exposure to such therapy
have many unanswered questions about produces learnings, or changes, of these
this thesis. But it has, I think, some clar sorts:
ity in it, and hence it may provide a The person comes to see himself differ
starting point from which clear differ ently.
ences can emerge. He accepts himself arid his feelings more
fully.
Significant Learning in He become more self-confident and self-
I Psychotherapy directing.
He becomes more the person he wni)ld
Let me begin by saying that my long
like to be.
experience as a therapist convinces me He becomes more flexible, less rigid, in
that significant learning is facilitated in his perceptions.
psychotherapy, and occurs in that rela He adopts more realistic goals for him
tionship. By significant learning I mean self.
learning which is more than an accumu He behaves in a more mature fashion.
lation of facts. It is learning which He changes his maladjustive behaviors,
makes a difference in the individual's even such a long-established one as chronic
behavior, in the course of action he alcoholism.
chooses in the future, in his attitudes He becomes more acceptant of others.
and in his personality. It is a pervasive He becomes more open to the evidence,
both to what is going on outside of him
learning which is not just an accretion
self, and to what is going on inside of
of knowledge, but which interpene himself.
trates with every portion of his exist He changes in his basic personality
ence. characteristics, in constructive wavs. 1
Now it is not only my subjective feel 1 For evidence supporting these stateini'iils
ing that such learning takes place. This SIT references (fi ) and (8).

232 Educational Leadership


I think perhaps this is sufficient to ing which occurs in therapy. I would
indicate that these are learnings which like to spell out, as clearly as I can,
are significant, which do make a differ the conditions which seem to be pres
ence. ent when this phenomenon occurs.
Facing a Problem
Significant Learning in Education
The client is, first of all, up against
I believe I am accurate in saying that
a situation which he perceives as a se
educators too are interested in learn
rious and meaningful problem. It may
ings which make a difference. Simple
be that he finds himself behaving in
knowledge of facts has its value. To
ways which he cannot control, or he
know who won the battle of Poltava, or
is overwhelmed by confusions and con
when the umpteenth opus of Mo/art was
flicts, or his marriage is going on the
first performed, may win $64,000 or
rocks, or he finds himself unhappy in
some other sum for the possessor of this
his work. He is, in short, faced with a
information, but I believe educators in
problem with which he has tried to
general arc1 a little embarrassed by the
cope, and found himself unsuccessful.
assumption that the' acquisition of such
He is therefore eager to learn, even
knowledge constitutes education. Speak
though at the same time he is frightened
ing of this reminds me- of a forceful
that what he discovers in himself may
statement made by a professor of agron
be disturbing. Thus one of the condi
omy in my freshman year in college.
tions nearly always present is an uncer
Whatever knowledge I gained in his
tain and ambivalent desire to learn or
course has departed completely, but I
to change, growing out of a perceived
remember how, with World War 1 as his
difficulty in meeting life.
background, he was comparing factual
What are the conditions which this
knowledge with ammunition. He wound
individual meets when he comes to a
up his little discourse with the exhorta
therapist? I have recently formulated a
tion, "Don't be a damned ammunition
theoretical picture of the necessary and
wagon; be a rifle! I believe most edu
sufficient conditions which the therapist
cators would share this sentiment that
provides, if constructive change or sig
knowledge exists primarily for use.
nificant learning is to occur (7i). This
To the extent then that educators are
theory is currently being tested in sev
interested in learnings which are func
eral of its aspects by empirical research,
tional, which make a difference, which
but it must still be regarded as theory
pervade the person and his actions, then
based upon clinical experience rather
they might well look to the field of psv-
than proven fact. Let me describe briefly
chotherapy for leads or ideas. Some
the conditions which it seems essential
adaptation for education of the learning
that the therapist should provide.
process which takes place in psycho
therapy seems like a promising possi CARL R. ROGERS is a professor in the
bility. departments of psychology and psychi
atry. The University of Wisconsin.
The Conditions of Learning Madison. This article is based on an ad
dress given during the workshop on
in Psychotherapy "The Implications of Psychotherapy for
Let us then see what is involved, es Education." held Fehruary 7-9. 1958. at
(ioddard College. Plainfield. I'efniont.
sentially, in making possible the learn

January 1959 233


Congruence Next month Educational Leadership
will publish an article by Samuel
If therapy is to occur, it seems neces Tenenbaum that i closely related to
sary that the therapist be, in the rela this paper by Dr. Rogers. Dr. Tenen
tionship, a unified, or integrated, or con baum will describe the personal reac
tions of individuals irho have actually
gruent person. \\Tiat I mean is that engaged in an educational experience
within the relationship he is exactly of the sort depicted in this paper.
what he i* not a faqade, or a role, or a
pretense. I have used the term congru such a person we tend to be cautious .
ence to refer to this accurate matching and wary. It is not the kind of relation
of experience with awareness. It is when ship in which defenses can be dropped
the therapist is fullv and accurately or in which significant learning and
aware of what he is experiencing at change can occur.
this moment in the relationship, that he Thus this second condition for ther
is fully congruent. Unless this congru apy is that the therapist is character
ence is present to a considerable de ized by a considerable degree of con
gree it is unlikely that significant learn gruence in the relationship. He is freely,
ing can occur. deeply, and acceptantly himself, witli
Though this concept of congruence is his actual experience of his feelings and
actually a complex one, I believe all of reactions matched by an accurate aware
us recognize it in an intuitive and com ness of these feelings and reactions as
mon-sense way in individuals with they occur and as they change.
whom we deal. With one individual we Unconditional Positive Regard
recognize that he not only means ex
A third condition is that the thera
actly what he says, but that his deep
pist experiences a warm caring for the
est feelings also match what he is ex
client a caring which is not possessive,
pressing. Thus whether he is angry or
which demands no personal gratifica
affectionate or ashamed or enthusiastic,
tion. It is an atmosphere which simply
we sense that he is the same at all levels
demonstrates "I care"; not "I care for
in what he is experiencing at an or-
VQU if you behave thus and so." Standal
ganismic level, in his awareness at the
(10) has termed this attitude "uncondi
conscious level, and in his words and tional positive regard," since it has no
communications. We furthermore recog conditions of worth attached to it. I
nize that he is acceptant of his imme have often used the term acceptance to
diate feelings. We say of such a person describe this aspect of the therapeutic
that we know "exactly where he stands." climate. It involves as much feeling of
We tend to feel comfortable and secure acceptance for the client's expression of
in such a relationship. With another per negative, "bad," painful, fearful, and
son we recognize that what he is saying abnormal feelings, as for his expression
is almost certainly a front or a facade. of "good," positive, mature, confident
We wonder what he really feels, wh-.it and social feelings. It involves an ac
he is really experiencing, behind this ceptance of and a caring for the client
fa?ade. We may also wonder if h e knows as a separate person, with permission for
what he really feels, recognizing that him to have his own feelings and ex
lie may be quite unaware of the feel periences, and to find his own mean
ings he is actually experiencing. With ings in them. To the degree that the

234 Educational Leadership


therapist can provide this sa therapist's congruence, acceptance, and
ing climate of unconditional positive empathy. It is not enough that these
gard, significant learning is conditions exist in the therapist. They
take place. must, to some degree, have been suc
cessfully communicated to the client.
An Empathic Understanding
The Process of Learning in
The fourth condition for therapy is
Therapy
that the therapist is experiencing an ac
curate, empathic understanding of the It has been our experience that when
client's world as seen from the inside. these five conditions exist, a process of
To sense the client's private world change inevitably occurs. The client's
as if it were your own, hut with rigid perceptions of himself and of oth
out ever losing the "as if" quality ers loosen and become open to reality.
this is empathy, and this seems es The rigid ways in which he has con
sential to therapy. To sense the client's strued the meaning of his experience
anger, fear, or confusion as if it were are looked at, and he finds himself ques
your own, yet without your own anger, tioning many of the "facts" of his life,
fear, or confusion getting hound up in discovering that they are only "facts"
it, is the condition we are endeavoring because he has regarded them so. He
to describe. When the client's world is discovers feelings of which he has been
this clear to the therapist, and he moves unaware, and experiences them, often
about in it freely, then he can both vividly, in the therapeutic relationship.
communicate his understanding of what Thus he learns to be more open to all
is clearly known to the client and can of his experience the evidence within
also voice meanings in the clients ex himself as well as the evidence without.
perience of which the client is scarcely He learns to be more of his experience
aware. That such penetrating empathy to be the feelings of which he has
is important for therapy is indicated by been frightened as well as the feelings
Fiedler's research in which items such he has regarded as more acceptable. He
as the following placed high in the de becomes a more fluid, changing, learn
scription of relationships created by ex ing person.
perienced therapists: The Mainspring of Change
The therapist is well able to understand
In this process it is not necessary for
the patient's feelings.
the therapist to "motivate" the client or
The therapist is never in any doubt about
what the patient means.
to supply the energy which brings
The therapist's remarks fit in just right about the change. Nor, in some sense,
with the patient's mood and content. is the motivation supplied by the client,
The therapist's tone of voice conveys at least in any conscious way. Let us
the complete ability to share the patient's say rather that the motivation for learn
feelings. (2a) ing and change springs from the self-
actualizing tendency of life itself, the
Fifth Condition
tendency for the organism to flow into
A fifth condition for significant learn all the differentiated channels of poten
ing in therapy is that the client should tial development, insofar as these are
experience or perceive something of the experienced as enhancing.

January 1959 235


I could go on at very considerable shops or extension courses are those
length on this, but it is not my purpose who are in contact with problems which
to focus on the process of therapy and they recognize as problems. The stu
the learnings which take place, nor on dent in the regular university course,
the motivation for these learnings, but and particularly in the required course,
rather on the conditions which make is apt to view the course as an experi
them possible. So I will simply conclude ence in which he expects to remain pas
this description of therapy by saying sive or resentful or both, an experience
that it is a type of significant learning which he certainly does not often see
which takes place when five conditions as relevant to his own problems.
are met: Yet it lias also been my experience
When the client perceives himself as that when a regular university class
faced by a serious and meaningful prob does perceive the course as an experi
lem; ence they can use to resolve problems
When the therapist is a congruent person which a re o f concern to them, the sense
in the relationship, able to be the person he of release, and the thrust of forward
is; movement is astonishing. And this is
When the therapist feels an unconditional true of courses as diverse as Mathema
positive regard for the client;
tics and Personality.
When the therapist experiences an accu
I believe the current situation in Rus
rate empathic understanding of the client's
private world, and communicates this; sian education also supplies evidence on
When the client to some degree experi this point. When a whole nation per
ences the therapist's congruence, accept ceives itself as being faced with the ur
ance, and empathy. gent problem of being behind in ag
riculture, in industrial production, in sci
Implications for Education entific development, in weapons devel
What do these conditions mean if ap opment then an astonishing amount of
plied to education? Undoubtedly the significant learning takes place, of which
reader will be able to give a better an the Sputniks are but one observable ex
swer than I out of his own experience, ample.
but I will at least suggest some of the So the first implication for education
implications. might well be that we permit the stu
dent, at any level, to be in real contact
Contact with Problems with the relevant problems of his exist
In the first place it means that signi ence, so that he perceives problems and
ficant learning occurs more readily in issues which he wishes to resolve. I am
relation to situations perceived as prob quite aware that this implication, like
lems. I believe I have observed evi the others I shall mention, runs sharply
dence to support this. In my own vary contrary to the current trends in our cul
ing attempts to conduct courses and ture, but I shall comment on that later.
groups in ways consistent with my ther I believe it would be quite clear from
apeutic experience, I have found such my description of therapy that an over
an approach more effective, I believe, in all implication for education would be
workshops than in regular courses, in that the task of the teacher is to create
extension courses than in campus a facilitating classroom climate in which
courses. Individuals who come to work significant learning can take place. This

236 Educational Leadership


general implication can he broken down feelings of fear, anticipation, and dis
into several subjections. couragement which are involved in meet
ing new material, will have done a great
The Teacher's Real-ness
deal toward setting the conditions for
Learning will be facilitated, it would learning. Clark Moustakas, in his book,
seem, if the teacher is congruent. This The Teacher and the Child ( 5), has
involves the teacher's being the person given many excellent examples of indi
that he is, and being openly aware of vidual and group situations from kind
the attitudes he holds. It means that he ergarten to high school, in which the
feels acceptant toward his own real feel teacher has worked toward just this
ings. Thus he becomes a real person in type of goal. It will perhaps disturb
the relationship with his students. He some that when the teacher holds such
can be enthusiastic about subjects he attitudes, when he is willing to be ac
likes, and bored by topics he does not ceptant of feelings, it is not only atti
like. He can be angry, but he can also tudes toward school work itself which
lie sensitive or sympathetic. Because he are expressed, but feelings about par
accepts his feeling as h is feelings, he has ents, feelings of hatred for brother or
no need to impose them on his students, sister, feelings of concern about self
or to insist that they feel the same way. the whole gamut of attitudes. Do such
He is a person, not a faceless embodi feelings have a right to exist openly in
ment of a funicular requirement, or a a school setting? It is my thesis that
sterile pipe through which knowledge is they do. They are related to the per
passed from one generation to the next. son's becoming, to his effective learn
I can suggest only one bit of evidence ing and effective functioning, and to
which might support this view. As I deal understandingly and acceptantly
think back over a number of teachers with such feelings has a definite rela
who have facilitated my own learning, tionship to the learning of long division
it seems to me each one has this quality or the geography of Pakistan.
of being a real person. I wonder if your
Provision of Resources
memory is the same. If so, perhaps it is
less important that a teacher cover the This brings me to another implica
allotted amount of the curriculum, or tion which therapy holds for education.
use the most approved audio-visual de In therapy the resources for learning
vices, than that he be congruent, real, in one's self lie within. There is very little
his relation to his students. data which the therapist can supply
which will be of help since the data
Acceptance a nd Understanding
to be dealt with exist within the per
Another implication for the teacher is son. In-education this is not true.: There
that significant learning may take place are many resources of knowledge, of
if the teacher can accept the student as techniques, of theory, which constitute
he is, and can understand the feelings raw material for use. It seems to me that
he possesses. Taking the third and fourth what I have said about therapy suggests
conditions of therapy as specified above, that these materials, these resources, be
the teacher who can warmly accept, who made available to the students, not
can provide an unconditional positive re forced upon them. Here a wide range
gard, and who can empathize with the of ingenuity and sensitivity is an asset.

January 1959 237


I do not need to list the usual re an opportunity for observation of an in
sources which come to mind books, dustrial process, a lecture based on his
maps, workbooks, materials, recordings, own study, a picture, graph or map, his
work-space, tools, and the like. Let me own emotional reactions he would feel
focus for a moment on the way the that these were, and would hope they
teacher uses himself and his knowledge would be perceived as, offerings to be
and experience as a resource. If the used if they were useful to the student.
teacher holds the point of view I have He would not feel them to be guides,
been expressing then he would probably or expectations, or commands, or im
want to make himself available to his positions or requirements. He would of
class in at least the following ways: fer himself, and all the other resources
He would want to let them know of he could discover, for use.
special experience and knowledge he has
The Basic Motive
in the field, and to let them know they
could call on this knowledge. Yet he would It should be clear from this that his
not want them to feel that they must use basic reliance would be upon the self-
him in this way. actualizing tendency in his students.
He would want them to know that his The hypothesis upon which he would
own way of thinking about the field, and build is that students who are in real
of organizing it, was available to them, even
contact with life problems wish to learn,
in lecture form, if thev wished. Yet again
want to grow, seek to find out, hope to
he would want this to be perceived as an
offer, which could as readily be refused as master, desire to create. He would see
accepted. his function as that of developing such
He would want -to make himself known a personal relationship with his stu
as a resource-finder. Whatever might be dents, and such a climate in his class
seriously wanted by an individual or by room, that these natural tendencies
the whole group to promote their learning, could come to their fruition.
he would be very willing to consider the
Some Omissions
possibilities of obtaining such a resource.
He would want the quality of his re These I see as some of the things
lationship to the group to be such that his which are implied by a therapeutic view
feelings could be freely available to them, point for the educational process. To
without being imposed on them or becom make them a bit sharper, let me point
ing a restrictive influence on them. He thus out some of the things which are not
could share the excitements and enthusi implied.
asms of his own learnings, without insisting
I have not included lectures, talks, or
that the students follow in his footsteps;
expositions of subject matter which are
the feelings of disinterest, satisfaction,
bafflement, or pleasure which he feels to imposed on the students. All of these
ward individual or group activities, without procedures might be a part of the ex
this becoming either a carrot or a stick for perience if they were desired, explic
the student. His hope would be that he itly or implicitly, by the students. Yet
could say, simply for himself, "I don't like even here, a teacher whose work was
that," and that the student with equal free following through a hypothesis based
dom could say, "But I do." on therapy would be quick to sense a
Thus whatever the resource he sup shift in that desire. He might have been
plies a book, space to work, a new tool, requested to lecture to the group (and

238 Educational Leadership


to give a requested l ecture is very d iffer to meet these tests. There would be
ent from the usual classroom experi other in-school evaluations of similar
ence), hut if he detected a growing dis sort. The student might well he faced
interest and horedom, he would respond with the fact that he cannot join the
to that, trying to understand the feeling Math Club until he makes a certain
which had arisen in the group, since his score on a standardized mathematics
response to their feelings and attitudes test; that he cannot develop his camera
would take precedence over his interest film until he has shown an adequate
in expounding material. knowledge of chemistry and lab tech
I have not included any program of niques; that he cannot join the special
evaluation of the student's learnings in literature section until he has shown
terms of external criteria. I have not, in evidence of both wide reading and cre
other words, included examinations. I ative writing. The natural place of eval
helieve that the testing of the student's uation in life is as a ticket of entrance,
achievements in order to see if he meets not as a club over the recalcitrant. Our
some criterion held hy the teacher, is di experience in therapy would suggest
rectly contrary to the implications of that it should be the same way in the
therapy for significant learning. In ther school. It would leave the student as a
apy, the examinations are set hy life. self-respecting, self-motivated person,
The client meets them, sometimes pass free to choose whether he wished to put
ing, sometimes failing. He finds that he forth the effort to gain these tickets of
can use the resources of the therapeutic entrance. It would thus refrain from
relationship and his experience in it to forcing him into conformity, from sacri
organize himself so that he can meet ficing his creativity, and from causing
life's tests more satisfyingly next time. him to live his life in terms of the stand
I see this as the paradigm for education ards of others.
also. Let me try to spell 'out a fantasy I am quite aware that the two ele
of what it would mean. ments of which I have just been speak
In such an education, the require ing the lectures and expositions, im
ments for many life situations would he posed by the teacher on the group, and
a part of the resources the teacher pro the evaluation of the individual by the
vides. The student would have available teacher, constitute the two major in
the knowledge that he cannot enter en gredients of current education. So when
gineering school without so much math; I say that experience in psychotherapy
that he cannot get a job in X corpora would suggest that they both be omitted,
tion unless lie has a college diploma; it should he quite clear that the impli
that lie cannrtt become a psychologist cations of psychotherapy for education
without doing an independent doctoral are startling indeed.
research; that he cannot be a doctor
without knowledge of chemistry; that he Probable Outcomes
cannot even drive a car without passing If we are to consider such drastic
an examination on rules of the road. changes as I have outlined, what would
These are requirements set, not by the he the results which would justify them?
teacher, hut by life. The teacher is there There have been some research investi
to provide the resources which the stu gations of the outcomes of a student-
dent can use to learn so as to he able centered type of teaching (1, 2. 3).

January 1959 239


though these studies are far from ade have been borrowed from Europe, then
quate. For one thing, the situations stud we may wish to give a trial to ways of
ied vary greatly in the extent to which facilitating learning which give more
they meet the conditions I have de promise of freeing the mind. If we value
scribed. Most of them have extended independence, if we are disturbed by
only over a period of a few months, the growing conformity of knowledge, of
though one recent study with lower values, of attitudes, which our present
class children extended over a full year system induces, then we may wish to
(3). Some involve the use of adequate set up conditions of learning which
controls, some do not. make for uniqueness, for self-direction,
I think we may say that these stud and for self-initiated learning.
ies indicate that in classroom situations
which at least attempt to approximate Some Concluding Issues
the climate I have described, the find I have tried to sketch the kind of edu
ings are as follows: Factual and curric- cation which would be implied by what
ular learning is roughly equal to the we have learned in the field of psycho
learning in conventional classes. Some therapy. I have endeavored to suggest
studies report slightly more, some slightly very briefly what it would mean jf the
less. The student-centered group shows central focus of the teacher's effort were
gains significantly greater than the con to develop a relationship, an atmosphere,
ventional class in personal adjustment, which was conducive to self-motivated,
in self-initiated extra-curricular learning, self-actualizing, significant learning. But
in creativity, in self-responsibilitv. this is a direction which leads sharply
I have come to realize, as I have con away from current educational practices
sidered these studies, and puzzled over and educational trends. Let me mention
the design of better studies which should a few of the very diverse issues and ques
be more informative and conclusive, tions which need to be faced if we are
that findings from such research will to think constructively about such an
never answer our questions. For all such approach.
findings must be evaluated in terms of In the first place, how do we conceive
the goals we have for education. If we the goals of education? The approach I
value primarily the learning of knowl have outlined has, I believe, advantages
edge, then we may discard the condi for achieving certain goals, but not for
tions I have described as useless, since achieving others. We need to be clear
there is no evidence that they lead to as to the way we see the purposes of
u greater rate or amount of factual education.
knowledge. We may then favor such What are the actual outcomes of the
measures as the one which I understand kind of education I have described? We
is advocated by a number of members need a great deal more of rigorous, hard-
of Congress the setting up of a train headed research to know the actual re
ing school for scientists, modelled upon sults of this kind of education as com
the military academies. But if we value pared with conventional education. Then
creativity, if we deplore the fact that we- can choose on the basis of the facts.
all of our germinal ideas in atomic phys Even if we were to try such an ap
ics, in psychology, and in other sciences proach to the facilitation of learning.

240 Educational Leadership


there are many difficult issues. Could vanced mightily in science without it,
we possibly permit students to come in and implies that we should learn from
contact witli real issues? Our whole cul them.
ture through custom, through the law, Still another issue is whether we
through the efforts of labor unions and would wish to oppose the strong cur
management, through the attitudes of rent trend toward education as drill in
parents and teachers is deeply com factual knowledge. All must learn the
mitted to keeping young people away same facts in the same way. Admiral
from any touch with real problems. They Rickover states it as his belief that "in
are not to work, they should not carry some fashion we must devise a way to
responsibility, thev^have no business in introduce uniform standards into Amer
civic or political priblems, they have no ican education. . . . For the first time, par
place in international concerns, they ents would have a real yardstick to mea
simply should be guarded from any d ; - sure their schools. If the local school
rect contact with the real problems of continued to teach such pleasant sub
individual and group living. They are jects as 'life adjustment' . . . instead of
not expected to help about the home, French and physics, its diploma would
to earn a living, to contribute to science, be, for all the world to see, inferior." : ;
to deal with moral issues. This is a deep This is a statement of a very prevalent
seated trend which has lasted for more view. Even such a friend of forward-look
than a generation. Could it possibly be ing views in education as Max Lernei
reversed? says at one point, "All that a school can
Another issue is whether we could ever hope to do is to equip the student
permit knowledge to be organi/ed in with tools which he can later use to be
and by the individual, or whether it is come an educated man" (4, p. 741). It is
to be organized for the individual. Hen- quite clear that he despairs of jsign ; fi-
teachers and educators line up with par cant learning taking place in our schorl
ents and national leaders to insist tint system, and feels that it must take place
the1 pupil must be guided. He must be outside. All the school can do is to pound
inducted into knowledge we have or- in the tools.
gani/.ed for him. He cannot be trusted One of the most painless ways of in
to organize knowledge in functional culcating such factual tool knowledge is
terms for himself. As Herbert Hoover the "teaching machine" being devised by
says of high school students, "You sim B. F. Skinner and his associates (9).
ply cannot expect kids of those ages to This group is demonstrating that the
determine the sort of education they teacher is an outmoded and ineffective
need unless they have some guidance." '-' instrument for teaching arithmetic, trig
This seems so obvious to most people onometry. French, literary appreciation,
that even to question it is to seem some geography, or other factual subjects.
what unbalanced. Even a chancellor of There is simply no doubt in my mind
a university questions whether freedom that these teaching machines, providing
is really necessary in education, saying immediate rewards for "right" answers,
that perhaps we have overestimated its will be further developed, and will come
value. He says the Russians have ad- into wide use. Here is a new con'tribu-
2 Time, December 2, 1957. 3 Ibid.

January 1959 241


tion from the field of the behavioral 4. LEHNER, MAX. A merica as a Civiliza
sciences with which we must come to tion. N ew York: Simon & Schuster, 1957.
terms. Does it take the place of the ap 5. MOUSTAKAS, CLAHK. The Teacher and
proach I have described, or is it supple the Child. New York: McCraw-Hill Book
mental to it? Here is one of the problems Company, 1956.
we must consider as we face toward the 6. ROCEHS, C. R. C lient-centered Ther
future. apy. New York: Houghton MifHin Com
I hope that by posing these issues, I pany, 1951.
have made it clear that the double- 7. ROGERS, C. R. "The Necessary and
barrelled cjuestion of what constitutes Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Per
significant learning, and how it is to be sonality Change." Journal of Consulting
achieved, poses deep and serious prob Psychology 2 1: 95-103, 1957.
lems for all of us. It is not a time when 8. ROGERS, C. R., and R. DYMONU, edi
timid answers will suffice. I have tried tors. Psychotherapy and Personality Change.
to give a definition of significant learn Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954.
ing as it appears in psychotherapy, and 9. SKINNER, B. F. "The Science of Learn
a description of the conditions which ing and the Art of Teaching." Harvard Edu
facilitate such learning. I have tried to cational Review 2 4: 86-97, 1954.
indicate some implications of these con 10. STANDAL, STANLEY. "The Need for
ditions for education. I have, in other Positive Regard: A Contribution to Client-
words, proposed one answer to these centered Theory." Unpublished Ph.15.
questions. Perhaps we can use what I thesis. University of Chicago, 1954.
have said, against the twin backdrops
of current public opinion and current Moving Forward
knowledge in the behavioral sciences, as
(Continued from page 231)
a start for discovering some fresh an
swers of our own. cision making process is accompanied
by contempt for theory?
References To be a successful teacher is to un
derstand basic principles underlying
1. FAW, VOLNEY. "A Psychotherapeutic
Method of Teaching Psychology." A meri knowledge, those who are to acquire
can Psychologist 4: 1 04-09, 1949! knowledge, and the processes through
which knowledge is acquired. To be a
2. FAW, VOLNEY. "Evaluation of Student-
Centered Teaching." Unpublished manu
successful teacher is to exercise skill in
script, 1954. organizing knowledge and in guiding
the pursuit of wisdom. To be a success
2a. FIEDLER, F. E. "A Comparison of
ful teacher is to value self and others.
Therapeutic Relationships in Psychoana
To be a successful teacher is to respect
lytic, Non-directive and Adlerian Therapy."
Journal of Consulting Psychology 1 4: 436- the knowledge, skills and values upon
45, 1950. which one's special competence de
pends. To know, to do, and to value in
3. JACKSON, JOHN H. "The Relationship
Between Psychological Climate and the
these ways is to be a professional. The
Quality of Learning Outcomes among preparation of professionals in sufficient
Lower-status Pupils." Unpublished Ph.D. quantities is the continuing goal of
thesis. University of Chicago, 1957. teacher education.

242 Educational Leadership


Copyright 1959 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. All rights reserved.

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