| Chapter 2: | The Shadowy Edges of the Path: Shifting Power From the Teacher to the Students |
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Recognition of Some Educators Who Came Before
My ideas build on the efforts of many educators, scholars, and teachers of all kinds. What follows is a very brief description of the work of some selected humanistic writers and practitioners in the field of education who foreshadowed my work.
Harold C. Lyon, Jr. (1971) writes about the importance of emotions and also of education that addresses the whole person. He writes,
Lyon’s emphasis on integration of intellect and feeling resonates in my work. I have gone further and discuss the importance of inter-subjective experience, inner experience, and the classroom as a deeply democratic community in development.
C. H. Patterson (1973) writes about self-actualization, feelings, and groups in education. He also writes about the humanistic teacher:
I am in agreement with Patterson. He describes the characteristics of good teachers and how this translates into praxis. Excellent teachers are aware of their own inner experiences and perform various kinds of inner work with these experiences in the service of developing their authenticity and abilities.
George Leonard (1969) writes about the need for education to foster and encourage experience and how “Education, at best, is ecstatic” (p. 16).