Analytical Psychology and the Art of Teaching

Abstract

A teacher returning to his work in an American college after making some real study of Analytical Psychology will find himself considering anew the familiar professional problems and discerning the existence of hitherto unsuspected ones. He will find himself questioning many accepted theories of pedagogy, altering his methods of instruction, approaching in a new way the students entrusted to his direction. He may, at first, find his zeal outrunning his discretion, and fall into the error of confusing his function with that of the psychological analyst. But he will soon recover awareness of the fact that, although the analyst is a teacher, the teacher of literature or philosophy or any other branch of knowledge is not and should not be an analyst. This return to common sense will not, however, relieve him from the necessity of asking himself where and how the theories of Analytical Psychology may legitimately be applied in the practise of his chosen art.