Rogers and Maslow… what is their legacy?
// December 12th, 2006 // Christian Living, Family Life
I came across this transcript from an interview with [tag]W.R. Coulson[/tag], one of [tag]Carl Rogers[/tag] and [tag]Abraham Maslow[/tag]‘s research assistants. It’s a very interesting read, and surprisingly current even though it’s from a 1992 interview.
Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are legends in the [tag]educational psychology[/tag] world. They were the primary pioneers in “client-centered [tag]psychotherapy[/tag]“. They recognized that the psychological methods of the day were insufficient to solve people’s emotional problems. They began to build a new method of understanding the human mind by starting with a different set of assumptions: that we are all basically good and if left without negative external pressures we will make good decisions. Carl Rogers said, “It is the client who knows what hurts, what directions to go, what problems are crucial, what experiences have been deeply buried.”
In practice, this meant that [tag]therapy[/tag] became an exercise in helping the client discover his/her own feelings and then following the good feelings, and moving away from the bad. This is where the 70s and 80s mantra “If it feels good, do it” came from. The pursuit of “experiences” without any moral or ethical consideration became the thing of prime importance. Rogers said,
“Experience is, for me, the highest authority. The touchstone of validity is my own experience. No other person’s ideas, and none of my own ideas, are as authoritative as my experience. It is to experience that I must return again and again, to discover a closer approximation to truth as it is in the process of becoming in me. Neither the Bible nor the prophets — neither Freud nor research –neither the revelations of God nor man — can take precedence over my own direct experience. My experience is not authoritative because it is infallible. It is the basis of authority because it can always be checked in new primary ways. In this way its frequent error or fallibility is always open to correction.” — On Becoming a Person
Rogers and Maslow took their new theory and began applying it to [tag]education[/tag]. The failings in the American education system were plain to see and Rogers and Maslow believed they had the answer. The result was disastrous.
In 1992, W.R. Coulson (a research associate to Rogers and Maslow) began to talk about how Carl Rogers later realized the foundational errors in their theory as well as the tremendous negative impact it had on generations of school children. Read the transcript here if you missed the link at the beginning.
I read that transcript and it makes me wonder how such a clearly faulty world-view has infiltrated our families as well as the [tag]Christian Church[/tag]. Do we favor negotiating with our kids instead of simply telling them what to do? Do we give them options on moral and [tag]ethical[/tag] issues instead of telling them what is right and what is wrong? Do we define things for them based on “good decisions” as opposed to what pleases [tag]God[/tag] and does not please God? Do we tell them to “follow their heart” or do we tell them to “give their heart to [tag]Jesus[/tag]“?
Certainly, my 5 year old daughter’s [tag]kindergarten[/tag] is rife with Roger’s and Maslow’s influence. I’m told not to tell her when she is [tag]spelling[/tag] a word incorrectly. I’m told not to correct her when she says, “I runned home” instead of “I ran home”. Parent-teacher conferences are full of talk about “]tag]self actualization[/tag]“, “[tag]redirection[/tag]“, “self-learning” and the like. Getting her teacher to say that our daughter is not doing well in any area is a job! The implication is that she will find her way if left alone. The question for me as a [tag]parent[/tag] is whether or not I will allow the [tag]amateur psychology[/tag] of her kindergarten teacher (or the school system itself) to rule my decisions as a parent.
I see it’s effects in the Church as well. It’s no longer en vogue to talk about sin and obedience to Scripture when people come in for pastoral [tag]counseling[/tag]. I believe that our emotions are important. Of course they are! Our past shapes how we view the present. I also believe that God is ready and willing to redeem our misshapen perspectives. However, I fear that we are allowing the pendulum to swing in a direction that leads us farther and farther away from the standard set forth by the gospel. It’s worrisome to me that our methods of helping people are becoming harder and harder to distinguish from those of the failing psychological community.
How much of our world-view (in practice, not in theory) would Rogers and Maslow have disagreed with? Would they be comfortable in one of our services or counseling sessions? Sometimes I wonder.