The focus of education today is on producing graduates who can function competently in the real life work situation, thus challenging teachers to produce students who are self-directed and self-motivated lifelong learners. The clinical contract is an effective learning strategy in aiding students to become more self-directed and confident. In…

Students are infrequently given an opportunity to share their views about themselves and schools. In an earlier study conducted by Fleischmann (1973), two-thirds of the 1,000 surveyed high school students said they did not enjoy school. Some other students focused on attitudes toward teachers. This study surveyed 54 graduating seniors who were…

Case studies of self-actualizing people according to the ideas of A. Maslow and the criteria of K. Dabrowski are presented. To find people meeting the criteria of Level 4 of the Dabrowski theory, a pool of 21 subjects was established by nomination. All subjects were given the Definition-Response Instrument to assess levels of emotional…

Attribution theorists have argued that if an intrinsically motivated activity is extrinsically reinforced, the activity will be devalued and extinguished when the reward is removed. Hypothesizing that activities performed for their instrumental outcome are valued less than activities not so externally oriented, and that activities performed for…

Observation suggests that people who strive for personally important goals disregard failure experiences or disruptions to completing a self-definition and engage in self-symbolizing in the form of positive self-descriptions designed to cover up a lack of support for the self-definition. To examine this self-symbolizing, dyads of females (N=30)…

Classroom speaking poses a unique opportunity for the evaluation and the clarification of human values. Value clarification is possible when a specific method is followed that encourages potential behavior change on the part of the speaker. Value clarification can thus be usefully applied by speech communication teachers as a natural, integral…

This paper describes two modes of educational decision-making: Mode I, in which the instructor makes such decisions as what to teach, to whom, when, in what order, at what pace, and at what complexity level; and Mode II, in which the learner makes the decisions. While Mode I comprises most of what is regarded as formal education, the learner in…

A content analysis of college students' essays on their plans for the future revealed sex differences in both content and structure. Essays were coded for the presence or absence, and the order, of career and marriage/family plans. In addition, the certainty of the plans was inferred from the use of contingency and probability qualifiers. The 110…

This study attempted to understand and define the concepts of creativity and self-actualization and to ascertain, first, if creative people are highly self-actualized, and second, if self-actualized people are highly creative. Four tests (Personal Orientation Inventory, Torrence Tests of Creative Thinking, Similes Preference Inventory, Lafferty's…

A counselor's values are inherent in all that he does with a client, ranging from selection of the counseling modality to the decision to terminate facilitative intervention. Value-free counseling is a myth, and recognition of this fact is the first step in arriving at a clear conception of what counseling can, or should, be. A counselor can be…

Prevalent among "third force" and other humanistic psychologists is the assertion that "becoming a person" or "self-actualizing" are desirable goals for individuals and for the human race. Major writers such as Rogers and Maslow and their followers have described the high-level humanizing process and have developed techniques for facilitating…

Self-concept, creativity, growth orientation, an integrated value system, and receptiveness to new experiences are considered to be crucial variables to the self-actualization process. A regular, year-long group counseling program was conducted with 85 randomly selected gifted secondary students in the Farmington, Connecticut Public Schools. A…

Seminar presentations of six leaders in the field of adult education are contained in this monograph: (1) "Adult Learning in the 1970's" by J. R. Kidd, (2) "Innovation in Organizing Learning for Adults--The New Technology" by Burton W. Kreitlow, (3) "The Nature of Continuing Professional Education" by Cyril O. Houle, (4) "Self-Planned Learning and…

This paper explains that to bring about any form of educational equity for learners and teachers requires the realization that what is important is to educate the human disposition to understand the self. It identifies a unique relationship between the practical developmental phases of an educator toward a fully conscious professional and the…

As "mind" is a cultural achievement, newborns enter the world without minds. Life experiences profoundly influence the mind. The social culture provides conditions for the growth of mind and the direction it takes. As informal education is inadequate to fill social needs or actualize children's potentialities, societies create schools. Since a…