"Every single major push in education has made it worse and right now it's really bad because everything we've done is de-humanizing education. It's destroying the possibility of the teacher and the student having a warm, friendly, intellectual relationship"
About this Quote
William Glasser, a psychiatrist-educator best known for Reality Therapy and Choice Theory, saw learning as an intrinsically human exchange rooted in needs for belonging, power, freedom, and fun. He argued that reforms built on external control and measurement gradually strip schools of that humanity. Standardization, high-stakes testing, scripted curricula, and data dashboards promise equity and efficiency, yet they often reduce students to metrics and teachers to delivery systems. When the primary relationship becomes student-to-system rather than student-to-teacher, curiosity withers and compliance takes its place.
The claim that every major push has made things worse is sweeping, but it points to a pattern. From the factory model of the early 20th century to later waves of accountability, the impulse has been to engineer outcomes at scale. Policies such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, while aiming to close gaps, hardened the emphasis on quantifiable results. Even well-intended technology can become de-humanizing when it prioritizes surveillance, pacing algorithms, and isolated screen time over dialogue and mentorship. What gets crowded out is the warm, friendly, intellectual relationship that helps students internalize standards rather than merely perform them.
Glasser believed that lasting learning grows from choice, relevance, and trust. A teacher who knows a student well can challenge, coach, and co-create meaning in ways no rubric can capture. The research on motivation and belonging supports this: students engage more deeply when they feel seen and when their work matters beyond a test. None of this rejects rigor. It reframes rigor as thoughtful work pursued with guidance and care, not as a pressure cooker.
Restoring the human core requires rebalancing. Fewer mandates and more professional trust. Smaller communities within large schools. Projects, seminars, and narrative feedback that invite conversation. Above all, time and permission for teachers and students to form the intellectual friendships that make learning joyful and real.
The claim that every major push has made things worse is sweeping, but it points to a pattern. From the factory model of the early 20th century to later waves of accountability, the impulse has been to engineer outcomes at scale. Policies such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, while aiming to close gaps, hardened the emphasis on quantifiable results. Even well-intended technology can become de-humanizing when it prioritizes surveillance, pacing algorithms, and isolated screen time over dialogue and mentorship. What gets crowded out is the warm, friendly, intellectual relationship that helps students internalize standards rather than merely perform them.
Glasser believed that lasting learning grows from choice, relevance, and trust. A teacher who knows a student well can challenge, coach, and co-create meaning in ways no rubric can capture. The research on motivation and belonging supports this: students engage more deeply when they feel seen and when their work matters beyond a test. None of this rejects rigor. It reframes rigor as thoughtful work pursued with guidance and care, not as a pressure cooker.
Restoring the human core requires rebalancing. Fewer mandates and more professional trust. Smaller communities within large schools. Projects, seminars, and narrative feedback that invite conversation. Above all, time and permission for teachers and students to form the intellectual friendships that make learning joyful and real.
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| Topic | Teaching |
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