This brief concept paper concerns general education at a College level. I differentiate between training and education where training involves teaching technique and a professional persona, and education involves the development of personality, in the final analysis, individuation, the progressive awakening and differentiation of one’s unique being. My search is for a synthesis between a Liberal Arts approach to education and a Progressive Humanist approach. I examine competency-based learning within the context of the spirit of the times. I subsequently explore the question of the forms of knowledge and education as initiation along with the mediaeval curriculum. The danger of fundamentalism in education is then explored and the need for genuine collaboration based on Eros. I argue for the need to base education on the nature of the psyche and psychological understanding.
I begin by looking at contributions from Cognitive Psychology, and then Jung’s Theory of Personality Types and the implication for education. I examine the need for Aesthetic and Ethical education and then the contribution of Developmental Psychology, including Eric Ericson and his epigenetic theory of Life cycle Development and Kegan’s theory of Moral Development. I subsequently examine education for the Adult and Older Person and then the implications of Abnormal Development. I finally propose a model of psycho-spiritual development as an educational ideal, which involves educating the whole person, with the kind of education being developmentally appropriate, including education of the physical body and physical mind, the vital or life mind, and the mental or intellectual being and finally the intuitive and spiritual nature according to the Mother’s view. I briefly discuss the education of the Imagination and the Creative and its place in a college curriculum. I then examine different topics such as the need to be realistic in assessing the ability of students with regard to their psycho-spiritual development, along appropriate teaching methods and the need to acknowledge the inter-subjective relationship between teacher and student. I finally introduce the notion of cultural evolution, and examine the major transition that is taking place today and its implications for education.
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