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Education's Part in the Developmentof Healthy Personality in Children andYouthKatharine F. LenrootPublished online: 30 Jan 2008.

To cite this article: Katharine F. Lenroot (1952): Education's Part in the Development of HealthyPersonality in Children and Youth, The Educational Forum, 17:1, 29-36

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Education's Part in the Developmentof Healthy Personality in

Children and Youth. KATHARINE F. LENROOT

T H E central theme of the 1950 Mid­century White House Conference

on Children and Youth was the develop­ment of "healthy personality." The con­ference, held in Washington in Decem­ber, 1950, was the fifth and largest ofthe National conferences on child lifecalled at IO-year intervals by the Presi­dent of the United States. Conceived ofas a conference in three stages-prepara­tory, the conference itself, and thefollow-up program-the conference isstill in full swing. Deriving inspirationand information from exchange of ideasand experience made possible throughNational agencies and the National Mid­century Committee on Children andYouth, State committees are active innearly all the States. They are encour­aging the translation into action of theinsights and findings of the Conference.

The phrase "healthy personality" isa brief way of stating the expressed pur­pose of the Conference-"to considerhow we can develop in children themental, emotional, and spiritual quali­ties essential to individual happiness andto responsible citizenship, and whatphysical, economic, and social condi­tions are deemed necessary to this de­velopment." In pursuing this theme thefact-finding staff of the conferencebrought together the contributions of

many different professions and disci­plines to develop in brief outline a pic­ture of the stages of developmentthrough which the child goes in hisjourney from infancy to maturity. Justas the knowledge of the educator, thepediatrician, the psychologist, the psy­chiatrist, the anthropologist, the socialworker, the religious leader, and manyother professions all had to be drawninto this attempt to advance the under­standing of all of us concerning childgrowth, so the wisdom and skill ofpractitioners in all these fields will haveto be pooled if the child as a wholeperson is to have the opportunities hisfull development requires. The Con­ference, thus, was essentially an inte­grating or inter-disciplinary process. Itwas an undertaking, moreover, muchmore of the lay citizens using expertsas resource people, than of the scien­tists or professional people themselves,and it drew into its deliberations andinto the preparatory and follow-up workthe very young as well as the more ma­ture.

As a start toward better understand­ing of the growth of healthy person­ality, the Conference had the benefitof a developmental outline worked outby Erik H. Erikson, a psychologist andpracticing psychoanalyst who has made

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anthropological field studies and has hadmuch experience with children. Heholds that in each stage of child de­velopment there is a central problem tobe solved, temporarily at least, if thechild is to proceed with vigor and con­fidence to the next stage. Among theseproblems are the development, in earlyinfancy, of a sense of trust; the gradualemergence of the sense that the childis an independent human being; thedevelopment of a sense of initiative,satisfaction in accomplishment, the at­tainment through work or play of asense of mastery and a feeling of worth­while endeavor. Then, in adolescence,according to this outline, comes thestruggle of the young person to estab­lish his own identity or role in society,to experience friendship and love, tofeel respon sible for that which he hascreated-biologically or socially- andfinally, to achieve that sense of integritythat characterizes the fully matureperson.'

The factors in the child's environ­ment that hinder or favor the develop­ment of the healthy personality, andthe implications of the knowledge wepossess for the conduct of social in­stitutions, were outlined in the digest ofthe Fact-Finding report that was in thehands of all conference members. Inthis brief article, some of the implica­tions of the conference for educationwill be discussed from the point ofview of the major objectives and meth-

1 A Healthy Personality for E very Child, Fact­F ind ing Report-A Di gest, Midcentury WhiteHouse Conference on Child ren and Youth, Heal thPublications In stitute, In c., 195 I, pp. 6- 24-.

ods of education, the need for deeperinsights and greater capacities for hu­man relations in the teaching and otherprofessional staff, and the relationshipof the school to the life of the wholecommunity.

The Major Objectives and Methodsof Education

If the experience and the outcomeof childhood and youth are to be healthof the whole personality, the concernof education must begin long beforethe child is of school age, and must,of course, be shared with the home,the church, and other social institutions.If the child has been relatively success­ful in meeting the problems of infancyand the preschool age, he reaches theage for primary education with a well­developed sense of trust in the loveand affection of those about him andlooks forward to experiences with otherpeople with confidence. Morover, hehas achieved a sense that he is an auton­omous human being, and knows thatwithin limits he can exercise initiativeand assume responsibility for much thatgoes on in his daily life, and that inpursuing his interests he has to takeinto consideration the needs and desiresof other people, and can enrich his ownplay life by sharing it with others.

Education has recognized that inmodern small-family and urban livingthe attainment of these qualities can begreatly furthered through the help ofthe school, through such means as thenursey school, parent-education pro­grams, and in other ways. To the extentthat such help is needed, it can lessen

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the problems of children entering theprimary grades and the extra burdenon the school caused by the unreadinessof children for the kind of group liv­ing that the school represents.

The strains and tensions of modernliving, and the problems and dangersthat will confront our society in thenext twenty or thirty years, demandthe development in high degree of thecorner-stones of healthy personality­trust in oneself and in others and in lifeas a whole, and independence and self­reliance in thought and action. If educa­tion is to play its part in the develop ­ment of healthy personality it must beconcerned with what happens to chil­dren in their preschool years-with theemotional as well as the physical andintellectual readines of children for theexperiences of the elementary school,and with means of assessing this readi­ness as a guide to school placement andschool experience.

Given these foundations in earlychildhood, the experience of the ele­mentary years must be primarily one offellowship and adventure in the de­velopment of one's own capacities andpowers. Routine and reg imentationmust yield to self-discipline and thediscipline experienced as essential ingroup living, under the guidance ofteachers who understand the growthprocess and can enrich it by the skillsand the knowledge which the experi­ence of the human race makes availableto each new generation.

In adolesence the young person feelsan even greater need than in the ele­mentary school for help, but this help

must take the form, not only of open­ing doors to human knowledge and hu­man experience, but of aiding the youngperson to understand and face his ownproblems and to see how his own par­ticular interests and powers can bechanneled and developed so as to equiphim to take his place in adult society.Here educational and vocational coun­selling is of special importance. Thehelp of specialists in the emotional andsocial problems of youth is often re­quired.

The Fact-Finding report of theWhite House Conference pointed outthat in school, as well as in the homeand elsewhere, the quality of humanrelations is preponderant among allfactors in furthering healthy personalitydevelopment, and is directly related toemotional stability and warm feelingstoward others. The teacher helps thechild to cope with others, their feelingstoward him, and his toward them. Thisrequires that the teacher himself de­velop basic acceptance of the child."

It is obvious that the future of oursociety will be jeopardized if many ofour young people fail to establish inadolescence a firm sense of identity,making it possible for them to go on tothe development of satisfying and effec­tive roles in family and community lifeand world affairs. The danger thatyouth may be swept into facist or com­munist movements or may fail to havethe imagination, sense of direction,courage and fortitude to meet whateverthey may be called upon to face in de-

2 Ibid. , pp. 113- 1 1 4 .

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fending and strengthening a freesociety, will be greatly aggravated iftheir development is arrested at anadolescent level. We need to reviewand evaluate such measures and serv­ices as parent education in relation toproblems of adolescence; youth coun­selling and guidance in school, employ­ment agency, and industrial settings;policies relating to the entrance ofyouth into industry; and the work ofyouth-serving agencies. Young peoplethemselves should participate in such re­view and be encouraged to take a re­sponsible part in looking at and work­ing on community problems.

It was disconcerting to note recentlyin the daily press that the falling off ofcollege enrollments, due in part to thetermination of the G.!. program, wasbeing followed by reduction of instruc­tional personnel in the humanities andsocial sciences, but that no such reduc­tion was occurring in the field of thenatural sciences. This trend, of course,reflects student demand for technicaltraining and mastery of knowledge re­lating to the physical universe. Never­theless, it is imperative that there bean integration of science and culture inthe education of youth. vVe cannot letloose scientists in our world who do nothave the orientation and cultural herit­age that will enable them to use sciencein the service, and not the destruction,of mankind. Such an orientation mustpermeate all education, from the ele­mentary to the graduate level.

It is obvious that young people can­not be helped in a vacuum to becomeequipped with the qualities necessary

for citizenship in a free society. Con­stantly the widening cultural milieu ofwhich the child is part becomes a partof him. Moreover, the question "whatkind of a world will confront the youngperson as he matures for full participa­tion in its life" is constantly uppermostin our minds. We ask ourselves, also,what will be his basic attitudes, values,purposes, ideals and feelings that willdetermine the part he plays in the lifeof his time?

We live in a period of conflict be­tween ideals and desires that we arecoming to see are in some degree in­compatible one with another. Thestruggle between freedom and totali­tarianism begins at home, though ittranscends national boundaries. Educa­tion is involved in this conflict. We,as Americans, want freedom of action;we want to be able to decide where welive, what we do, whom we marry, andhow to run the affairs of our home orour town. We want the protection oflaw in the exercise of the rights andresponsibilities of free men. On theother hand, we want the security thatcomes from the group-be it tradeunion, employers' association, or civicor social club. We want a high standardof living and many want the interven­tion of Government, when it seemsnecessary, to make possible such astandard, through such means as tariffs,employment security, price and wagecontrols, farm supports, or social secur­ity. At what cost of freedom is such pro­tection and security attained? Few, to­day, are ready to face this question.

Education needs deeper understand-

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THE EDUCATIONAL FORUM 33

ing of the stages in the growth of thehealthy personality and the conditionsessential to its development. It needsan approach to the experiences of classroom, study hall, and laboratory whichis based on this understanding. It needs,above all, evaluation of the underlyingdomestic and world issues of our timethat is related to a philosophy restingon belief in the inherent dignity andfreedom of man as a being of this worldand yet as having an origin beyond theworld of circumstance and a destinythat transcends mortal experience.

With these three cardinal points toguide it, education will help youngpeople to cherish and to recapture, tothe extent that it has been lost, thatfreedom of the spirit and love of libertythat led our forefathers to esteem thefuture above the past, achievementabove security, and freedom as man'smost precious possession. Where thiswill lead young people we cannotclearly see, nor with what attempts tostamp out freedom they will have tocope. They must learn, in some degreein school, to make choices consistentwith values they have learned to cher­ish, and to be courageous in supportof their chosen goals.

The Need for Deeper Insights andGreater Capacities for Human Rela-

tions in the Teaching Staff

Throughout the Platform adopted bythe Midcentury White House Confer­ence on Children and Youth at its clos­ing session is recognition of the impor­tance of educational opportunities forall. As an important factor in advancing

toward this objective, the Conferencestressed the need for study of thegrowth of human personality in thepreparation of teachers and in refresherand advanced courses open to the teach­ing personnel of the schools."

The conference held that not onlyteacher-training programs, but profes­sional training for all people workingwith children should include:

A common core of experiences dealingwith human behavior, including the needto consider the total person as well as anyspecific disorder; the inter-relationship ofphysical, mental, social, religious, and cul­tural forces; the importance of inter­personal relation ships; the role of self­und erstanding; and emphasis on the posi­tive recognition and production of healthypersonalities and the treatment of varia­tions; study in human growth and in familycounseling; classroom and field experienceopportunities for cooperative work on prob­lems common to all professional interests;formal and informal inservice education,"

The Work Group at the Conferencethat dealt with the school held that"Teacher preparation and teacher edu­cation institutions should accept respon­sibility for adequate preparation ofteachers through school and in-servicetraining for education touching onfamily life, human growth and develop­ment, human relations, citizenship, ethi­cal and spiritual values, and other needswhich are basic if people are to be

• See the Digest of the Fact-Finding report,above cited, pp. 120-121.

• Taken from "A Fair Chance for EveryChild," A Condensat ion of the Recommendationsof the Midcentury White House Conference onChildren and Youth," Nat ional Association forMental Health, 1790 Broadway, New York 19,

N.Y.

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34 THE EDUCATIONAL FORUM [November

qualified to function successfully in oursociety."!

The School and the Life of the WholeCommunity

It is self-evident that if the schoolis to be concerned, as it must, with thedevelopment of the whole child, it mustfunction as part of the whole com­munity and must be related to a widerange of social institutions affecting thechild's development. Among these arethe home, the Church, and industry, aswell as health and social services. Theschool can neither be isolated from thecommunity nor can it include withinits own organization all the servicesthat may be needed to strengthen andsupplement the home as the primaryinstitution for the rearing of children.

Among the factors in home life mak­ing particularly important a close re­lationship between the school and thehome are the increasing youth of par­ents, the mobility of families, and risingnumbers of mothers working outsidethe home. These characteristics of ourcivilization call for increasing emphasison parent education, both in preparingstudents still in school for parental re­sponsibilities and in providing opportu­nities for group discussion and study foryoung parents.

More than one-third of the womenwho marry do so before they are 20

years of age, and over half the bride­grooms are under 25, according tofigures compiled for the Midcentury

• Proceedings of the Midcentury White HouseConference on Children and Youth, Edward A.Ri chards, General Editor, Health PublicationsInstitute, Inc., Raleigh, N.C., 1951, p. 178.

Conference." The majority of mar­riages take place soon after the husbandgets his first job, and this is probablya healthy sign, but the young familymay encounter serious economic prob­lems, for earnings are lower for themthan for those more fully establishedin their vocational lives. Many youngpeople marry before they have fullyestablished their own sense of identityand are ready, in attitudes and feelings,for parental responsibility. While mar­riage and having a baby help those witha good foundation to mature rapidly,others may feel insecure and uncertainin themselves and in their marital re­lations, and so may have difficulty inimparting a sense of trust to their chil­dren. Because of the mobility of ourpopulation, the children, far less oftenthan in many other cultures, do nothave the care of grandparents, auntsand uncles.

There are many encouraging evi­dences of the desire and initiative ofyoung parents in relation to cooperativeefforts for their children's welfare.Among these are cooperative nurseryschools, exchange of neighborly servicesfor baby sitting, cooperative playgroups, and organizations of parents ofhandicapped children, as well as thework of parent-teacher associations.

The Midcentury Conference recom­mended that education for parenthoodbe made available to all through educa­tional, health, recreation, religious andwelfare agencies maintaining profes-

• Children and Youth at the Midcentury, AChart Book, Midcentury White House Conferenceon Children and Youth, Chart 8.

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THE EDUCATIONAL FORUM 35

sional standards, and that education atall levels, including community educa­tion, provide such appropriate experi­ences and studies of childhood andfamily life as will help young peopleto achieve the maturity essential to therole of parenthood.'

One out of every five mothers withchildren under 18 works outside thehorne." Large numbers of mothers ofvery young children are employed. Theproblems created for mother and child,as well as other considerations, call forextending the school age downward formany children, through nursery schoolsand kindergartens. They also call forbefore and after school services forchildren of elementary school agewhose mothers are employed, and forcommunity day care programs.

The home and the Church bear pri­mary responsibility for the religious de­velopment of the child. The problemsof how to bring Church, home andschool into fruitful relationships andhow to provide an underpinning ofspiritual and religious values and idealsthat will permeate all of education,have not been solved, despite many dif­ferent approaches to the subject. TheMidcentury Conference itself wasstrongly divided concerning the use of"released time" from public schools forreligious instruction-the majority ofthose present and voting at the finalplenary session of the Conference reg­istered opposition to this practice.

The importance of religion in the

T Proceedings, above cited, p. 30.B Children and Youth at the Mid century, A

Chart Book, Chart 12.

lives of children makes it imperativethat careful consideration be given tothe ways in which the opportunities ofchildren and young people for religiousexpression and religious training can bestrengthened. We need to find ways bywhich, without violating the principleof the separation of Church and State,the child's nurture in his own religiousfaith and in the spiritual values com­mon to all faiths may be encouraged,whatever type of school he attends.

The sense of accomplishment, thefeeling that one is able to do a jobsatisfactorily, to earn money, and tobuild for self-support and for capacityto provide for a family, are essentialstages in the development of healthypersonality. As pointed out in the Fact­Finding report to the Midcentury Con­ference, the manner in which youngpeople are prepared for and aided intheir early vocational adjustment mayshape their attitudes toward people andtoward work for years to come; maycreate feelings of cynicism or trust; maybuild or destroy their confidence in theirworth; and may mean the differencebetween welcoming employment as anormal and desirable part of living andregarding work as a necessary evi1. Thefact that the proportion of boys andgirls 14 through 19 years of age enrolledin school who also had outside employ­ment increased from I in 18 in 1940 toI in 5 in 1949 indicates the importanceof close cooperation between schools andindustry, a matter that is receiving in­creasing emphasis."

• See Digest of the Fact-Finding Report, abovecited, pp. 189, 192.

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There is need to review and evaluatesuch measures and services as parenteducation in relation to problems ofadolesence; youth counselling and guid­ance in school, employment agency, andindustrial settings; policies relating tothe entrance of youth into industry; andthe work of youth-serving agencies.Young people themselves should par­ticipate in such review.

The inter-relationships that exist be­tween the home, the school, the Church,industry, health and medical services,social services, and other aspects of com­munity life call for a maximum ofinterchange of experience and ideas andfor joint planning to strengthen theopportunities open to children andyouth for health of body, mind andspirit. The White House Conferenceplaced great emphasis, in its work andin its findings, on inter-professional co­operation and on the participation of laycitizens and professional workers.

We need to devote a far largeramount of time and energy to strength­ening local initiative and devising waysby which citizens in neighborhoods andsmall districts can be encouraged to re­view and evaluate their own needs,

their own resources and what may beavailable to them from outside, anddetermine their own programs. Thework of the Midcentury White HouseConference on Children and Youth, andits follow-up program, are based chieflyon community effort and the exercise ofcitizen responsibility." The school hasan obligation not only to participateeffectively in such efforts but also tohelp to prepare young people for takingan intelligent part in community under­takings, as well as in affairs reachingbeyond the local to the national and theinternational.

The importance of the local com­munity and of strong mutual relationships between people becomes height­ened as we forsee the dangers that mayconfront our country. Only throughstrength in the small and manageableareas of life can people learn to actwisely in the larger areas, and find thematerial and spiritual resources for fore­stalling and, if necessary, overcoming,disaster.

I. See "As Children Go So Goes the Na tion,"and oth er pub lications of the National M idcenturyCommittee for Children and Youth, Inc., 160

Broadway, New York 7, New York.

If we choose education for responsibility, we automatically demand aculture based upon the sense of responsibility.-JAIME TORRES BODET

PROFESSIONAL DISUNION

Very little of the thinking of the average teacher of a given languagegoes over to the fortunes of other languag es.-A. M. WITHERS

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