The Need to Belong Rediscovering Maslows Hierarchy of...

The Need to Belong: Rediscovering Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. by: Norman Kunc Axis Consultation and Training Ltd Originally published in: Villa, R., Thousand, J., Stainback, W. Stainback, S. Restructuring for Caring Effective Education. Baltimore: Paul Brookes, 1992.  © Copyright 1992 Paul H. Brookes Publishers. Newtonian principles of physics were regarded as true until Einstein demonstrated that they provided an inadequate explanation of the laws of nature. Similarly, Freudian analysts viewed a womans admission of being sexually abused by her father as a neurotic fantasy stemming from an Electra complex. Only recently have other forms of therapy shown that women are accurate in their accounts of being abused. In every field of†¦show more content†¦The result is that people with disabilities, unable to make the transition into community life, spend their years continuously preparing for Iife, a modern version of Sysiphus, Often the lack of student progress is blamed on the student. Students are seen as having such severe disabilities that they are incapable of learning appropriate behaviour and skills. However, this answer is losing credibility. Research and experience are showing that students in segregated programs do imitate and learn, but often what they imitate and learn is the inappropriate behaviour of their classmates. Furthermore, there is growing documentation of students who seemed incapable of learning appropriate behaviour and skills in segregated settings achieving these previously unattainable goals once integrated into regular classrooms. It seems, then, that the adherence to current paradigms within special education has resulted in the creation and maintenance of what I term retarded immersion classes. Students are immersed in an environment of retarded behaviour and learn how to be retarded. A far more reasonable explanation for the lack of student progress has to do with the absence of motivation. There are very few, if any, rewards or payoffs to the student for learning new activities in this environment. Students dont pass retarded immersion and exit to general education: they cant even fail retarded immersion. In fact, they are sometimesShow MoreRelatedThe Humanistic Perspective on Classroom Management2373 Words   |  10 Pagesmeaningful knowledge base, become proficient problem solvers and learn how to work productively with others (Biehler and Snowman, 2006, p. 370). If this is the case, teachers need to know how to be able to develop this situation in the classroom and make it more conducive to learning. Therefore, it would seem that they need to encourage students to converse with each other with group discussions and assignments, to make sure they are active in the class, physically as well as mentally, and that they