DEVOLUTION AND THE DEHUMANIZING OF HUMAN EDUCATION

When functioning at its highest, human education helps each human being achieve his or her full potential. When this occurs, learning is viewed in terms of personal growth and the development of each human’s full potential. This occurs, not just on an intellectual level, but also on an emotional, psychological, creative, social, physical, and even spiritual or transcendent level as well (DeCarvalho, 1991; Maslow, 1971; Morris, 1978; Rogers & Freiberg, 1994; Patterson, 1973). 

Systematic Dehumanization

Sadly, human education seems to be devolving into a darkened age where the following dehumanizing elements are too often prevalent: 

1. Students are often asked to be passive learners and to learn in ways that are not natural for them. As well, the things given to them to learn are often meaningless or have no connection to their lives and experiences. 

2. Manipulation is used to get students to learn and to behave in acceptable ways. Instead of building on students' natural inclinations, they are manipulated by external rewards and punishment to "learn" school-related things and to be compliant. What is rarely considered are the reasons why students may not want to learn or why their behaviors may be disruptive or non-compliant.

3. One-dimensionality is perpetuated. Only the cognitive dimension of students' humanity is recognized. Ignored in classrooms and curriculum are the many aspects of humanity that make us human: our creativity, imagination, transcendence, curiosity, social natures, and our emotional dimensions. 

4. Humans and human learning are too often described in terms of numbers. Experiences, traits, endeavors, and achievement that cannot be quantified and compared, are thought not to exist or to be of little value. This quantification of the educational experience is often used to compare students to a mythical norm. Winners and losers are then created as students find themselves above or below "average".

5. Only traditional ways of knowing and being in the world are seen to be of worth. Perspectives that do not align with the majority are seen to be of lesser value. Norms and values that do not reflect the dominant culture are diminished or ignored. Only the history that tells the story of advantaged groups is seen as being worth repeating.

Humanistic Education

To counter this trend toward systematic dehumanization and devolution, a humanistic approach to human education is needed. Toward this end, five goals are identified:

1. Facilitate the development of fully functioning, self-actualized human beings who have the capacity to nurture themselves, others, and their environment.

2. Instill a joy of learning and a desire to be life-long learners.

3. Promote the discovery of each student’s passions, special talents, and abilities.

4. Teach the knowledge and skills necessary for students to be good decision makers and effective problem solvers.

5. Enable students to be responsible world citizens who are able to contribute to democratic societies.

Final Thought

If we want our societies to continue to evolve, we cannot let the educational overlords continue to distract us. In public education, we must remember that we are educating human beings to exist with other human beings in human societies. 

REFERENCES

DeCarvalho, R. (1991). The humanistic paradigm in education. The Humanistic Psychologist, 19(1), 88-104.

Maslow, A. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York: Viking Press.

Maslow, A. (1968). Toward a psychology of being (3rd ed.). New York. John Wiley and Sons, Inc.

Morris, J. (1978). Psychology and teaching: A humanistic view. New York: Random House

Patterson, C.H. (1973). Humanistic education. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Rogers, C.R. & Freiberg, H.J. (1994). Freedom to learn (3rd Ed). Columbus, OH: Merrill/Macmillan.

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