The Place of Confluent Education in the Human Potential Movement: A Historical Perspective

The Place of Confluent Education in the Human Potential Movement relates the twenty-seven year Confluent Education Program at the University of California-Santa Barbara to the broad Human Potential Movement, in which the program is considered to be deeply embedded. The origins of confluent education within the human potential movement are traced from Aristotle to its current form; followed by a sustained and coherent critique of confluent education; and concludes with its institutional, professional, and cultural legacy and summarizes the lessons to be learned from the history of this innovative form of Humanistic Education. This book fills out in detail the historical, cultural and philosophical context of confluent education, while providing a complete account of its origins, both remote and modern, and a sustained, coherent critique which are necessary for securing its identity. Finally, the demise of the program is interpreted using empirical methodology, a multivariate analysis of the highly selective character of the students and survey research from students, professors, academic administrators, and classroom teachers, which document the perceived strength and weaknesses of the program and the human potential movement per se.