CAPÍTULO II: MARCO TEÓRICO
2.2 B ASES T EÓRICAS
2.2.2 Estados Financieros
2.2.2.5 Elaboración y Presentación de Estados Financieros
One way of assessing the "morally educated” person is the method
23
devised by the Research Unit under the Farmington Trust. It used 22.
Ibid.. p. 34* 23.
See V/ilson, Williams, and Sugarman, Introduction to Moral Education,
the first few letters of several classical Greek words to identify
several attributes of what it considered to be the truly morally
educated person. They are PHIL, BMP, GIG, BIK, PffilON, KRAT, AND ARI.
The following is a brief definition with illustrations in parenthesis.
PHIL refers to the extent to which a person identifies with
another person or group of people. A high rating mi^it be given to
this identification with the feelings and interests of one group of
people and a low rating for the lack of identification with another group. (A white person who feels hurt when someone shows prejudice
against a negro would be given a high PHIL rating.)
BSP refers to the knowledge of feelings both towards oneself and
towards others, the former being AUTBW and the latter being ALLEMP, making a distinction between self-awareness and other-awareness. (The
recognition that negros feel pain in the same way as white people do.)
GIG refers to the factual knowledge necessary for correct moral decisions. (The recognition that negros have the same number of nerve
endings as white people.)
BIK refers to a set of moral principles or rules, relating to other -people’s interests, to which the person commits himself. (Act
so that you treat immigrants as human persons with the same rights as
other human beings.)
PHRON refers to a set of moral principles or rules, relating to
one’s own life and interests, to which the person commits himself.
(Treat yourself with the same respect as you treat immigrants. Don’t
consider taking your own life as you would not want anyone else to
take hie.)
KRAT refers to the action of a DIE or PIIROK moral principle. (A
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whites. A drug addict signs himself into a hospital.)
API refers to the over-all “moral education'* rating.
“Thus a typically ’morally educated* person
would act as follows: he is driving a car, for instance. He identifies with other people
sufficiently for their sufferings or inconvenience to count with him (PHIL). He knows how
aggravating it is if a road-hog crowds one into the side of the road, or if one is held up by an unnecessarily slow driver (BMP). He knows that if, say, he drives his car at a steady 30 m.p.h. on a crowded main road, most people will want to pass him, because most cars cruise at more than 30 m.p.h. (GIO). Putting these together, he formulates and commits himself to a rule (’It is not right to drive at only 30 under these
circumstances /so. either for me or for anyone else/*), or (’One shouldn’t crowd people into the side of the road’) (HIK). He is then capable of acting on this principle, not carried away by fear of going too fast, or a desire to be obstructive or anything of that sort, and increases his speed (KRAT). Borne average of these might perhaps be made to give a general ’moral education* rating (ARI).“24
Certain factors in the moral education of the adolescent cannot be changed. Por example, little can be done about his basic IQ
(which presumably would affect the GIG rating) and his experiences of
infancy or childhood cannot bo changed. Some factors that can be changed are the training of teachers and their selection according to personality and character, and the organising of the methodology and content of the religious education classroom process.
It is now necessary to look more closely at several attitudes of the “teacher” or worker with youth In order to underscore some
qualities that assist the development of autonomy.
24.
XI TO ROLE OP TO WW'
Any worker with youth, whether in school or church, needs to see
himself as an adviser or counsellor or simply as a resource person,
rather than as a ” teacher** • This is necessary if the way is to he
opened for an advance to Increased autonomy in the adolescent. Such would appeal* to he a psychologically sound view of one’s leadership role.
A. AUTONOMIC CHARACTERISTIC GOALS - GAEL ROGERS et al. 4
Carl Rogers drew attention to the tendency to impose one’s value patterns on other peoples
”Sexual desires and behaviors are mostly had* The sources of this construct are many - parents, church, teachers.
Disobedience Is had. Here parents and teachers combine with the military to emphasize this concept. To obey is good. To obey without question is even better.
Making money is the highest good. The sources of thiB conceived value are too numerous to mention. Learning an accumulation of scholarly facts is
highly desirable.
Browsing and aimless exploratory reading for fun is undesirable. The source of these last two concepts Is apt to be in school, the educational system. ...”2
Rogers believed that
”... the majority of adult values are introjected from other Individuals or groups significant to him, but are regarded as his own.”3
Psychological maturity is related to autonomy. It is something other
1.
Formerly a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University
of Wisconsin and organiser and head of the Counselling Centre, University of Chicago (among other professional posts). To add to his credentials, it should be mentioned that Rogers was also Past President of the American Association for Applied Psychology, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Psychotherapists•
2.
Rogers and Stephens, Person to Person, p. 10. (Pocket Book Edition 1971.)
3*
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than simply entering adulthood.
”X have observed changes in the approach to values as the individual grows from infancy to adulthood. I observe further changes when, if he is fortunate, he continues to grow toward true psychological maturity.”^
Kogers described discovering what it means to be autonomous as
discovering
”... what it means to be creative, what it means to put forth disciplined effort to reach one’s own goals, what it means to be a responsible free person, and most important, is appreciating the satisfactions that come from these experiences.”5
1• Acceptance
The way to autonomy does not lead along the road of intro;} eo ted values. On the contrary, it comes through the ability to think and act apart from these, ^or example, a group of prospective teachers at a training college were asked to list two or three values which they wanted most to pass on to children. Among the chief aims listed were "to do things according to instructions”•
”0ne explained her hope that ’when 1 tell them to write their names in the upper-right hand corner with a date under it, X want them to do it that way, not in some other form.”’^
'This is an illustration of an introjected value. The lack of autonomy in a teacher was introjected into his students as it had been introjected into himself by his source of learning. ”To do things according to instructions” is not a chief aim in education, even though it may have minor importance. Certain ’’rules of the game” in the learning process are subservient to autonomy and must be seen
5. 6. Ibid., p. I Ibid.. p. Ibid., p. 59.
9.
5.in this context* .
Only if the ’’teacher’1 has himself attained a certain degree of
psychological maturity can he hope to break the chain, of introjected values. This means that he does not ”teach” the values that have been handed down to him* he advises. To advise is to become a
’’midwife” in the sense that Socrates (according to Plato) saw himself.
The “Socratic Method” - a learning process which is as valuable
today as it was in ancient Athens - has as its chief aim the autonomy of the learner.
The ’’teacher” should consider himself to be part of the learning team. He has an opportunity of being a catalyst in learning.
Hoes ho avoid imparting a value system, a code of ethics? Is there then no content? Is the student placed in a vacuum and then prodded as if to say to him, "Go on, be autonomous; I know what I believe to be the right answer but you must try to guess it for
yourself”? There must be external content; a vacuum Is not suggested by ”midwifery” • There is content. The ”teacher” is a resource
person and should be as informed as possible on the factual basis behind learning. He can assist with true or false statements
(concerned with fact), but must play a different role when It comes to right or wrong statements (concerned with belief).
Per example, consider the choosing of a vocation, a subject in which the adolescent is already involved. It may be that his parents are beginning to bring pressures to bear upon him because they have already decided that they wish him to become a doctor. They are
trying to introject a certain vocational choice value. It may be that this adolescent is suffering much tension due to the fact that he does not want to be a doctor. In this situation, the ’’teacher” is
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placed in a position of adviser. Obviously, it is not his role
to be formally a vocational adviser * there are those professionally trained to assume this role - but he oan assist the youth to look at vocations in terms of his own choice,-regardless of the boy’s
qualifications, which, of course, are not unimportant. He can help him to deal with the question, ’’What do X really want to do with my life?"7 8
The fact that someone is helping the boy to look objectively at vocations without trying to introject a certain selection can do much to relieve unnecessary tension as well as to aid development
towards autonomy. Many people suffer from feelings of guilt because they have not become what their parents wanted them to be in terms of vocation. The parents have introjected the values attached to a certain vocation and this introjection is a block in the road to autonomy.
Amateur though he be, the adviser can assume a parallel role to the psychotherapist. Xt is a therapeutic relationship. Tho teacher does not add a further observation on vocation but opens the way for the student to make up his own mind. The outcome could be a realisation on the part of the adolescent, ”1 don’t want to be a doctor, even though my parents want me to. I don’t want that kind of life for myself and I’m not a failure for having these feelings.”
Regarding the valuing process, Rogers wrote:
’’One way of assisting the Individual to move toward oo<mn»BB to experience Is through a relation- shin in which he is prized as a separate person. In which the experiencing going on within him Is emphatically understood and valued, and in which he is given the freedom to experience his own feelings and those of others without being threatened in doing so*”&
7.
See Living Bible. Rook 3» unit 3. 8.
He claimed, that thia is
”... a brief statement of the essential qualities in the therapeutic relationship.”9
It is this kind of relationship which the adviser should seek with
his students*
Autonomous growth and psychological maturity go together* These
are the value directions wiiich the ’’teacher” should seek to inspire
in the adolescents* One could simply replace ’’client” with
’’adolescent” in the follov/ing quotation:
’’They tend to move away from facades. I’retence,
defensiveness, putting up a front, tend to be negatively valued*
They tend to move away from ’oughts*’ The compelling feeling of ’I ought to do or be thus and so’ is negatively valued* The client moves away from being what he ’ought to be,’ no matter who has set that imperative. ... Self-direction is positively valued. The client
discovers an increasing pride and confidence in making his own choices, guiding his own life. ... Sensitivity to others and acceptance of others is
positively valued. The client comes to appreciate others for what they are, just as he has come to appreciate himself for what he is.
finally, deep relationships are positively valued. To achieve a close, intimate, real, fully
communicative relationship with another person seems to meet a deep need in every individual, and is very highly valued.”
A rational extension of the thinking behind autonomy is the right of others to autonomy on the same grounds that one claims the right for himself. By the ’’teacher” of the adolescent seeing himself as an
adviser or counsellor means that he no longer views the student from a height but sees himself alongside as a ’’midwife” to learning. He accepts the student with a personal regard as having a right to make
XiOc. cit. 10.
Ibid.. pp. 18-19. 9*
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his own. decisions. This acceptance is shown through sympathy,
understanding and sensitivity. And these qualities are passed on.
This is not, however, merely another form of introjectionj for these
values are discovered rather than indoctrinated.
2. Empathy
“When someone understands how it feels and seems to be me, without wanting to analyze me or judge me, then 1 oan blossom and grow in that climate.”^
This is a basic relationship attitude, endorsed by Christianity,
which needs to bo, shown by an adviser. Professor William Barclay
translated the fifth beatitude of Jesus
”0 the bliss of the man who gets right inside other people, until he oan see with their eyes, think with their thoughts, feel with their feelings, for ... that is what God in Jesus Christ has done.”«2
This means that when the adolescent says, ”1 can’t do this”, the
adviser does not necessarily say, "But of course you can”. The
reply, "It does look quite difficult, doesn’t it?” might b© more
empathetic.
There is an ancient saying,
”Ko one should condemn another until he has walked in his moccasins for ten days.”
Empathy means to so identify with other people that one does not
judge them from without hut from within their situation.
3. Freedom
A corollary of acceptance and empathy is freedom. If the ’’teacher”
11.
Ibid., pp. 4M9* 12.
Gospel of Matthew (The Daily Study Bible Series) Volume 1, p. 100. Exposition of “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” This saying of Jesus should be seen in the light of the introduction to the Sermon on the Mount, ”And He taught them REPEATEDLY”f (imperfect tense), Matt. 1:2. Empathy was central to the teachings of Jesus.
accepts the adolescent as having the right to believe independently
what he responsibly wills to believe, then the young person is put in a free position*
However*, behavioural, psychology would suggest that there is no such thing as a free person. It emphasises hovr much one is
motivated by forces outside his control - cultural forces outwith and unconscious forces within. 3?or the adolescent, the peer group is one external force. And internally, conscience can be ’’the voice of one’s grandmother”, through what will later be described as the
13 ”Parent” ego state acknowledged in transactional analysis.
Contrary to believing that autonomy is a myth, llogere argued that acceptance itself within a learning situation can encourage, at least with some success, the freedom to be one’s own self. In psychotherapy it is
”... the experience of becoming a more autonomous, more spontaneous, more confident person.”14
Ho longer is the adolescent under pressure to come up with the ”teacher’s” answer. He is encouraged to move
”... toward being a person in his own right, with feelings, goals and ideas of his own.”15
If fully accepted, he is given the opportunity of learning to be free, at least in relationship to this one individual. And this can open the way to the feeling of freedom being transferred to other relationships. It may mean greater tension in these relationships. If an attempt to check the ’’weaning process” is made by a dominant father or mother, for example, there comes a point of tension. But
See below, SECTION W), V, C, 6. 14*
Kogers and Stephens, op. cit.. p. 40* 15*
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the adolescent has been offered encouragement to break from this
dominance#
One adolescent when asked to describe how he felt towards his
parents replied, ’’They make me feel as if I’m in a box that’s too small for me.” And when asked how he felt towards his youth leader in the church he replied, “He gives me room to move, as if I can breathe
In the same youth group where this young person felt he was being given fresh air and room to move, there were numerous instances of isolation from parents where communication had broken down
completely. This could even have been encouraged by the freedom given in the group. It contrasts with the inhibitions in a number of homes where parents came to the minister with complaints of ”he/she
never seems to talk at home, never tells us what he’s been doing or where he’s been.”
Parents oan help by appreciating the situation. ”If we can’t match up to his expectations at home we’re at least grateful to learn that he is relating openly in the group here.” barriers of communication in the home in late adolescence can be created by good relationships outside as a backlash. These barriers must be brought out into the open through discussion. The process from bondage to liberation in certain relationships increases tension, rejection, confusion, and the withdraw feeling from breakdown in communications in the home* The school should help the adolescent come to terras with this constructively.
A teacher has the advantage of coming suddenly on the scene
with no previous domestic association. He is not part of an. attachment
the young person is trying to get free from in the ’’weaning process”.
But the fact that the teacher represents an institution can be a barrier, particularly if the young person is led to believe that hie