Humanistic education

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.^[1][2] Rogers is regarded as the founder of humanistic psychology^[3] 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^{[citation needed]}. He edited a series of books dealing with humanistic education in his "Studies of the Person Series," which included his book, Freedom to Learn^[4] and Learning to Feel - Feeling to Learn - Humanistic Education for the Whole Man, by Harold C. Lyon, Jr.^[5] In the 1970s the term "humanistic education" became less popular after conservative groups equated it with "Secular Humanism" and attacked the writings of Harold Lyon as being anti-Christian. That began a successful effort by Aspy, Lyon, Rogers, and others to re-label it "person-centered teaching", replacing the term "humanistic education." In a more general sense the term includes the work of other humanistic pedagogues, such as Rudolf Steiner,^[6][7][8] and Maria Montessori. All of these approaches seek to engage the "whole person"^{[citation needed]}: the intellect, feeling life^{[clarification needed]}, social capacities, and artistic and practical skills are all important focuses for growth and development. Important objectives include developing children's self-esteem, their ability to set and achieve appropriate goals, and their development toward full autonomy.^{[citation needed]}