This book is concerned with the strivings, satisfactions, hopes, and heartaches that pervade the teacher’s life and work. It deals with aspirations and struggles which large numbers of teachers have described and which all of us share. It searches into meanings we all seek to embrace. While it centers on teachers, most of what it contains applies to people in other walks of life. It has been written for teachers with the help of teachers. The research findings underlying it are noted mainly in the Appendix. The emphasis in the text is on what these findings mean from a personal point of view.
This is a personal document, for the voices of those who helped prepare it speak through it. Many of them, in the course of the study, glowed with the dedication of their calling, bristled with anger, trembled with fear, wept as only troubled souls can weep. Many of them unveiled a little of the pride and shame and tenderness people usually keep concealed from one another, and they also voiced hopeful expectations of things to be. They spoke in the language through which people reveal their weaknesses. This is also the language of humility and courage and kindness, through which people reveal their strength.
The author and his associates have also tried to speak with this voice, for the concerns expressed by the people in this study are our concerns. Many of them said they have been anxious—so have we. Many spoke of their loneliness—we, too, have tasted the loneliness that flows through so many of the tides of life. Many said they search for meaning—we, too, are involved in this search. Many expressed faith and hope; unless we shared this hope, there would be no point in undertaking a study such as this, and it would be foolish to remain in the teaching profession.
Contents
FOREWORD Stephen M. Corey
CHAPTER ONE
Introduction
Background and Theme
Major Concerns
Underlying Sources
CHAPTER TWO
Anxiety
Anxiety as an Essential Concept in Education
The Nature and Some of the Conditions of Anxiety
Some Theories of Anxiety
Anxiety and Fear
Perception, Feeling, and Impulse in Anxiety
Anxiety in Childhood and Youth
Teachers’ Reactions to the Personal Implications of Anxiety
CHAPTER THREE
Loneliness
Conditions Contributing to Loneliness
Loneliness and Self-Alienation
Homelessness
CHAPTER FOUR
The Search for Meaning
Education and the Search for Meaning
Helping Others through Facing Oneself
Hopelessness and Despair
The Paradox of Meaninglessness
Religion
Humility
CHAPTER FIVE
Sex
CHAPTER SIX
Hostility
Externalized Hostility
The Feeling of Being Abused
Using the Arts of Love to Accomplish the Purposes of Hate
Hostility in Education
Attitudes toward Authority
Hostility, Guilt, and Anxiety
The Right to Be Angry
CHAPTER SEVEN
Compassion
Love of Self and Love for Others
So Small in the Infinite Scheme of Things —
—And Yet So Great
BIBLIOGRAPHY
