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Arlow attributes much of his knowledge about psychoanalytic education to Joan Fleming. His main thesis is that psychoanalytic education unconsciously represents an initiation: it is comparable to a "rite of passage." Much psychoanalytic education inadvertently tends to further candidates' desire to overcome their difficulties by identifying themselves with their analyst. This is reinforced by the idealization of authority figures which interferes with the personal analyses and with the candidates' growth. The training, therefore, may not work through the candidates' identifications, with a concomitant development of insight; instead, little is resolved and only the identification takes place. Arlow bolsters this idea by commenting on the curriculum used in most institutes, which "encourages imitation of the master rather than independent and critical examination of the data." He also indicates that there is an underemphasis on research in psychoanalytic education. He concludes by observing that the new generation of analysts will have no contact with the "founding fathers"; they will therefore have to rely on the objective observations of psychoanalysis which will enhance the scientific attitude in the analytic community.