Skip to main content

What is the relevance of Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of need in today's world?

I can think of one important application of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in today's society.  As we teach students, we can gain insight into their struggles if we understand Maslow's theory.  The lowest needs on the pyramid must be met in order for a student to learn properly.  The student who is hungry cannot concentrate.  The student who is homeless is likely to be too troubled to learn. The student who is not safe is too anxious to sit and read a book.  If these lower needs are not met, there can be no learning, and it continues to amaze me that American education has not addressed these problems, stubbornly believing that standardized tests and a common set of standards make students learn.  If you are tired, hungry, frightened, and cold, how much learning are you going to be able to accomplish? I know teachers who allow students to nap for this reason. I know teachers who bring food for their students.  They understand that no matter what they do, if the students' lower needs on the pyramid are not met, they cannot move up the pyramid. Moving further up, the students whose social needs are not being met are not going to be able to accomplish enough to gain self-esteem or become self-actualized.  If a student has a dysfunctional family or is the victim of bullying, that interferes with learning.  Good teachers understand this as well.  At each level of the pyramid, the needs must be met, so that a student can move on to real learning. The fact that a theory was devised a long time ago does not necessarily mean it has lost its power!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more