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In his introductory notes to this small but thought provoking book Dr. Lawrence Kubie states that: “Throughout our educational system a realization is growing that both intellectual development and creativity will continue to be seriously hampered unless we find out how to make emotional maturity a part of education.” The book itself, by Richard Jones, tells how, through “action research,” he tries to make the achievement of emotional maturity a part of education.
He selected 17-year-old seniors from a New England preparatory boarding school for girls and matched them with two control groups: other seniors from this and another nearby school. Each group consisted of 19 participants. The experimental group formed the “self-knowledge workshop” which consisted of two 40-minute periods of classroom work and one 80-minute “free discussion” per week.
Although the set-up was akin to psychoanalytic group psychotherapy, no attempt was made to cure neuroses, to assure anyone's future happiness, or to stamp out prejudice. Instead, these girls were encouraged to become aware of their either forgotten or repressed “forbidden” thoughts, to talk about their loves and hates, their curiosity about their own and others' bodies, their unreal and confused feelings about sex, their strained and at times distressing relationships within their families and the school, their frustrations and their prejudices.
A comparison of test data, taken before and after completion of the workshop together with the conference notes shows that those girls who participated in these weekly meetings, showed a significant increase in attitudes of self acceptance.
Psychoanalytic group therapy is comparatively new. Only the future will tell whether the circle will replace the couch. Jones has demonstrated that psychoanalytic group therapy methods can be applied successfully to education. It enhances the educational process by enabling students to become more self accepting and mature.
This pilot study is warmly re