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This book is written for teachers and other school personnel to help them interact with students and each other in an emotionally growth-promoting
way. Dr. Kirkman believes that the teacher, because of his great contact with students, can be a most important factor in fostering emotional growth. This is in addition to the expected cognitive learning. As stated, “The child who develops well emtotionally is more likely to develop well intellectually and, likewise, satisfactory intellectual development gives emotional gratification.” The implication is that teachers have to be trained to enable them to apply psychoanalytic principles in the classroom.
The early chapters deal with theoretical concepts, comparing Classical Freudian approaches with those of Dr. Hyman Spotnitz. The principles of the latter are then applied to the classroom situation. The term counselor rather than psychoanalyst or psychotherapist is used in dealing with the therapeutic relationship.
Dr. Kirman stresses that although deficiencies of the first two years of life cannot be wholly supplied, the teacher can help the student find growth-promoting experiences. To do this constructively, the teacher has to be aware both of the deficiencies of the student and the emotional effects of the teacher's interventions on the student. The classroom can to a degree be considered analagous to the analytic situation in the sense that the teacher can be aware of the nature of the student's transference when evaluating the student's emotional state. If the teacher is aware of his own position of authority, he can deal helpfully with the feelings induced in him without exploitation.
Types of transference are described in the book along with methods for responding to them. It is suggested that the emotional needs of the student be dealt with at the beginning of the semester, as this fosters transference and provides a good setting for learning. The teacher can then also serve as a model for learning and identificat