From Legends to Legacy 9school, community college, university or adult education classes for prospective American
citizens. (Now there is the best situation for teaching...those learners really wanted to learn,
and there was real payoff in their success.... they got to be American citizens! It was a
combination of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation if I have ever seen it. They chose to
learn, and became citizens if they passed the test my teaching was based on! Talk about
motivated learners. Both Hertzberg (1968) and Maslow (1943) would have been proud of
their “motivation and “growth needs” being met, thus stimulating them to further learning.
They came prepared and had an unparalleled love of learning and increase in self-confidence
and knowledge.)
This special type of motivation also occurred whether I was learning to play racquetball,
master the computer or watching my kids and grandkids take on something they loved deeply,
such as reading or soccer. The big challenge then, is to find how we can get this type of
motivation and learning into our educational institutions on a regular and systematic basis, for
both students and educators.
By the way, this type of challenge to learning and motivation also worried people like
Pestalozzi, Froebel, Erickson, Montessori, Dewey, Parker, Hunter, and many other pioneers
of school “development” that you know as well as I do. They studied, observed and
implemented, having their own fair share of successes and failures in bridging the theory-
practice gap. Dewey once said when observing a great school: It’s fine in practice, but would
it work in theory!”(Rubin, 1966).
Oh, do I sound like a “name-dropper”? Selye, Culbertson, Maslow, Schon, Dewey, or
Rogers, for starters! Hope so.... for like you, I have been shaped, beaten, formed, reformed
and changed by the influence of colleagues and scholars like them throughout my life and I
am much the better for it. Gosh how we did fight it at times though.
This leads me to explain the plan for this paper...I plan to share with you my thoughts on
what you can do in preparing future education leaders build schools where our children and
grandchildren can learn about becoming successful, in both education and life. I will share
those powerful influences, or “life’s lessons” that helped me actually begin preparing this
paper as early as 1959 when I began my study of education and learning at the University of
California at Santa Barbara, and will hopefully continue as a “work in progress” for the rest of
my life. It could aptly be labeled, “Oldies but Goodies”.
First, you should know what I believe so what follows will make sense: I believe in
learning as much as we can about all forms of learning; that there are multiple intelligences
that count; that a quality and deep curriculum is necessary and essential; that a common and
democratic school is the best vehicle for learning; that this quality school must have a positive
culture and climate so that terrific teachers can do their best work, so that every child has an
opportunity to learn and finish schooling at the highest level they can. It of course must be
responsive and accountable. We must prepare education leaders (including teachers and
administrators) to build these institutions so that learning of all kinds can occur...particularly
in areas such as social justice, lifelong learning, relationship nurturing, the fostering of human
potential, communication, thinking; and of course, all of the basic knowledge and skills so
vital to a successful life. These must include the currently neglected areas of art, music, the
humanities, and what Bloom, Kathwohl, and Simpson and colleagues labeled the “cognitive”
“psychomotor, and affective domains” (1956, 1972, 1973). Yes, of course “cognitive” skills
such as those used in math, science, history, and all communication areas, including oral and
written skills must be central to this learning process.