Schools As Developmental Clinics: Overcoming The Shadows Three Faces

Education, Summer, 1999 by JOHN E. LeCAPITAINE

The Shadow

Everything with substance casts a shadow (Zweig and Abrams 1991). So it is with education; and, perhaps a larger shadow than most. To the point, I see the shadow in education as having three main faces (1) the hidden curriculum which promotes, engenders, and inculcates the, often inconsistent, unconscious, nebulous, random, and, of course, hidden values and beliefs of its implementer, traditionally in the form of cultural transmission; (2) the lack of, or, downright ignorance of, the contextual exigencies, experiences and meanings of students' backgrounds, especially with respect to economics, race, and gender inequities; and, (3) the not-so-hidden curriculum promoting a narrow list of academic subjects at any price, as long as its constituents remain faithful to, and are in conformity with national standards of achievement, vis a vis, standardized tests in a select number of academic areas.

The essential purpose of this chapter is to address this three-faced shadow, demonstrating its transformative power through adherence to the critical notion that personal and psychological development is the aim of education. Now, some foundational aspects.

The Foundation

Three philosophies of education which have typically dominated education, as a profession, include the romantic, cultural transmission, and progressive ideologies. The romantic philosophy as espoused by Rosseau (Kohlberg and Mayer 1972, 451-96) emphasizes the health and growth of the person, especially from within. The child is basically "good" and educators, to mix a metaphor, "only" need water that self in order for its natural growth to emerge. A.S. Neil Summerhill is a striking example of the romantic ideology. The cultural transmission philosophy has its roots in traditional Western education. This education embodies the transmission of moral rules, values, knowledge, and skills of the culture, so, essentially, the child internalizes the significant attributes of the culture (Kohlberg and Mayer 1972, 451-96). Now, the progressive ideology, as sanctioned by Dewey (1963) holds education responsible for facilitating a child's interaction with the environment. "Unlike the romantics, the progressives do not assume that development is the unfolding of an innate pattern or that the primary aim of education is to create an unconflicted environment able to foster healthy development" (Kohlberg and Mayer 1972, 451-96). Rather, and this is tantamount, the progressives define "development as a progressive through invariant ordered sequential stages. The educational goal is the eventual attainment of a higher level of stage of development in adulthood" (Kohlberg and Mayer 1972, 451-96). In order to do so, educational classrooms must be ripe with cognitive dissonance, discussion of dilemmas, problem-solving, role playing, and the like; interaction, being the key, and development, the raison de etre.

Personal And Psychological Development

Taking Dewey's notion of development as the aim of education, one step, further, I believe that personal and psychological development need to be the aim of education. By personal and psychological development, I am referring to some of the basic strands of human development, including emotional development, ethical/moral development, ego development, social development, spiritual development, multicultural development, cognitive development, aesthetic development, and career development. Contrary to the progressive tenets, these strands, are stage development models. Thus, they are hierarchical, in nature, and persons can have the opportunity to grow and to develop, positively, through the various personal and psychological constructs. We can, in essence, construct and develop our own emotions, moral/ethical reasoning, cognition, ego identity, etc. I believe this to be much more critical than the academic achievement produced today.

How Do We Develop Personally And Psychologically?

In consonance with the progressive educational ideology, we can develop through maturation and physical growth, by engaging in meaningful interactions and experiences by doing, through cognitive dissonance (e.g. dilemmas, for example) and through critical, reflective thinking; of course, this is not an exhaustive list.

Deliberate Psychological Education In order to purge the hidden curriculum in schools and to promote "individual and human development", Mosher and Spinhall, suggested "deliberate psychological education ... the deliberate development of positive psychological growth for all children" (1970, 911-24). Not only is the curriculum explicit, but it is for everyone - development for all.

The "all' is a critical element in personal and psychological development. In many schools, the two primary service modalities for teachers, counselors, social workers, and school psychologists, are crisis intervention (usually for one person at a given time) and remedial programming for those students who have a need to "catch-up" in one academic area or another. Some schools offer preventative programs to avert pregnancies, drug usage, conflict, etc.; but, again, only when the need arises. Very few, if any, schools, offer true developmental services, services which promote positive, age-appropriate, services, for everyone, that assist in normal, personal and psychological development across the aforementioned strands of development, throughout the life-span.