HUMANISM

Reported by: Mark Anthony A. Roble

Humanistic education (also called person-centered
education) is an approach to education based on the
work of humanistic psychologists, most
notably Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Carl Rogers
has been called the "Father of Humanistic Psychology"
and devoted much of his efforts toward applying the
results of his psychological research to person-centered
teaching where empathy, caring about students, and
genuineness on the part of the learning facilitator were
found to be the key traits of the most effective teachers.
Humanistic Education
-refers to an educational philosophy that believes
human beings are, by nature, self-developing creatures.
An educator's primary responsibility is to create an
environment in which students can do their own
growing. Humanistic educators have a broad
understanding of the knowledge that children acquire
as they grow, and highly value student's affective and
social development as well as their intellectual
development.
The five basic principles of humanistic education:
1) Students' learning should be self-directed.
2) Schools should produce students who want and know
how to learn.
3) The only form of meaningful evaluation is self-
evaluation.
4) Feelings, as well as knowledge, are important in the
learning process.
5) Students learn best in a non-threatening
environment.
The goal of humanistic education is to contribute to the
development of energetic, positive, self-respecting,
caring human beings who can meet all challenges.
The approach seeks to engage the whole person: the
intellect, feeling life, social capacities, artistic and
practical skills are all important focuses for growth and
development. Important objectives include developing
children's self-esteem, ability to set and achieve
appropriate goals, and development toward full
autonomy.
 The Curriculum:
The Humanistic Curriculum is based on the
belief that the education that is good for a
person is also best for the well being of the
nation. Here, the individual learner is not
regarded as a passive or at least easily
managed recipient of input. S/he is the
choosing or self-selecting organism.
To design the Humanistic Curriculum, we have to
focus on the question “What does the curriculum
mean to the learner?” Self-understanding, self-
actualization, and fostering the emotional and
physical well being as well as the intellectual skills
necessary for independent judgment become the
immediate concern of the Humanistic Curriculum.
This was to be accomplished through the study of
the studia humanitatis, today known as the
Humanities:
1. Grammar
2. Rhetoric
3. History
4. Poetry and
5. Moral Philosophy
 The Goals of Education:
To the humanists, the goals of education are
related to the ideals of personal growth, integrity,
and autonomy. Healthier attitudes towards self,
peers, and learning are among their expectations.
The concept of confluent curriculum and
curriculum for consciousness are the important
types of humanistic curriculum.
 Teacher as a Facilitator:
"The tutor or lecturer tends to be more
supportive than critical, more understanding
than judgmental, more genuine than playing
a role." Their job is to foster an engaging
environment for the students and ask
inquiry-based questions that promote
meaningful learning.
The humanist teacher is a facilitator, not a
disseminator, of knowledge. Participatory and
discovery methods would be favoured instead of
traditional didacticism (i.e. learn parrot-fashion
every thing the teacher says). As well as the child's
academic needs the humanistic teacher is
concerned with the child's affective (or emotional)
needs. Feeling and thinking are very much
interlinked. Feeling positive about oneself
facilitates learning.
To start with making you teaching more human(istic) the
following implications can help:
– Allow the student to have a choice in the selection of tasks
and activities whenever possible;
– Help students learn to set realistic and challenging goals;
–Have students participate in group work, especially
cooperative learning, in order to develop social and affective
skills;
–Teacher act as a facilitator for group discussions when
appropriate;
–Teacher be a role model for the attitudes, beliefs and habits
you wish to foster.
 The students:
The humanistic approach places a great
deal of emphasis on students' choice and
control over the course of
their education. Students are encouraged
to make choices that range from day-to-
day activities to periodically setting
future life goals.
This allows for students to focus on a
specific subject of interest for any
amount of time they choose, within
reason. Humanistic teachers believe it is
important for students to be motivated
and engaged in the material they
are learning, and this happens when the
topic is something the students need and
want to know.
From a humanistic approach on education and
learning students will learn best what they want
and need to know. That is, when they have
developed the skills of analysing what is
important to them and why. Besides that they
need the skills of directing their behaviour
towards those wants and needs. The result is:
they will learn more easily and quickly.
Knowing how to learn is more important than
acquiring a lot of knowledge. In our present
society where knowledge is changing rapidly,
this view is shared by many educators from a
cognitive perspective.
Self-evaluation is the most meaningful
evaluation of students work. The emphasis here
is on internal development and self-regulation.