Page 2. (in new window)   STOP PRESS Vol.18 No.1

san diego . london . mexico city . nairobi

USIU

J455 Pomerado Road * San Diego, CA 92131 SCHOOL OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR

EXTRACTS FROM LETTER DR.W.R.COULSON, PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY & EDUCATION

Our interest here in correcting the record includes the fact that USIU offered the country's first doctorate in humanistic psychology.  Carl Rogers and I also co-edited a series of 15 volumes in humanistic experiential education in the late '60s and early '70s.  So we had reason to stay alert to the research outcomes.  They have not been favorable to the "affective" movement.  Children have suffered under the influence of quasi-therapeutic classroom groups.  The most striking evidence lies in the area of drug education.  Rather than prevent drug experimentation, the behavioral outcome is that, inadvertently, the groups promote it.  It's a finding consistent over a 15-year span.  My paper for the National Institute on Drug Abuse presents some of that evidence.

A good source for school personnel to consult on the subject of affective education is the new biography of Abraham H.Maslow; with Rogers, Maslow was co-founder of the humanistic movement in psychology and education.  The book is titled The Right to be Human (Tarcher - St.Martins, 1968).  The biographer, Dr.Edward Hoffman, writes of Maslow late in life having become "drained by some of the contradictions he saw in his own theory of self-actualization,' (p.298).  These contradictions included the fact that the theory was being applied to children, who were harmed by it; he believed they deserved to be protected....

"But he was so thoroughly disenchanted with the Esalen Institute's stress on experientialism and self-absorption that he felt it desirable to be ruthlessly honest in his assessment" (p.328).  "Experientialism," of course, is a synonym for affective education: the whole movement my students and I refer to as "Questianity." And self-absorption is just the effect that many parents fear.  It is, quite literally, suicidal.

I should mention a recent "Report to Congress and the White House" submitted under a federal research grant and written by Dr.Michael Klitzner of the Center for Advanced Health Studies of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation.  The report speaks of -

Programs Aimed at Improving "Life Skills.  Programs that seek to remedy problems such as low self-esteem, poor decision-making or poor communication skills have continued to enjoy wide popularity since their introduction in the 1970s.  Remediation of these problems is commonly combined with remediation of knowledge deficits, although some "life skills" programs deemphasize drug- and alcohol-specific content.  Moskowitz reviews several studies of such programs.  .. [seven studies are cited].  In general, the results of these studies are not encouraging.  What effects were found, tended to be small or of short duration, and some of the programs may have stimulated rather than reduced substance use.

Also worth mentioning is the four-part Building Drug-Free Schools curriculum published by the independent, authoritative American Council for Drug Education.  It too is critical of the typical experiential approach to "problems such as low self-esteem, poor decision-making or poor communication skills."

What About Self-Concept? In addition to learning a specific task, the process of mastering that task [the ACDE authors write] also produces desirable affective states, such as "selfesteem," "positive self-image," etc.  This relationship between learning/mastery and selfesteem is often confused in educational writing and as a result has created numerous problems for classroom teachers.

(Continued inside back cover.)