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Subject Area: Political Theory

Teaching vs. Student Autonomy - Leonard P. Liggio, Literature of Liberty, January/March 1979, vol. 2, No. 1 [1979]

Edition used:

Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought was published first by the Cato Institute (1978-1979) and later by the Institute for Humane Studies (1980-1982) under the editorial direction of Leonard P. Liggio.

Part of: Literature of Liberty: A Review of Contemporary Liberal Thought, 20 vols. 19781-982

About Liberty Fund:

Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.


Teaching vs. Student Autonomy

Glenese Keavney and Kenneth E. Sinclair

  • University of Sydney

“Teacher Anxiety.” Review of Educational Research 48 (Spring 1978): 273–290.

Does the manner in which teachers tend to cope with their feelings of anxiety affect their individual liberties and those of others? Some reseachers have treated reductions in teacher anxiety as an end in itself. Of course the teacher regards reducing his anxiety as a positive gain. However, the method by which the teacher reduces anxiety may not actually be positive for the teacher's students or even for the teacher himself.

Research evidence suggests that one way in which beginning teachers reduce their anxiety is to become more dogmatic and less open to knowledge about their pupils, including their pupils' interests and concerns. This tends to be reflected in the teacher's teaching behavior. Such dogmatic explanations tend to be like “two plus four is six because it is” or “because I say it is.” A study has shown that student teachers under the supervision of senior teachers with six or more years of experience tend to become more dogmatic than their counterparts who teach under the supervision of less experienced teachers. This suggests that those older teachers may well have become more dogmatic.

Given this and other evidence, it is becoming clear that teachers tend to exhibit authoritarian behaviors while cultivating those students that work well under such a system and punishing those who are independent and nonconforming. This obviously has serious consequences for free societies. It also raises important questions about the systems of schooling that presumably support and encourage such behavior in the teachers themselves.