--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: \"Teachers\"... treat students neither…" description: "\"\"Teachers\"... treat students neither coercively nor instrumentally but as joint seekers of truth and of mutual actualization. They help students define..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/james-macgregor-burns-24605_actualization_teachers-treat-students-neither-coercive_565908.png" --- # "Teachers"... treat students neither coercively nor… ![“"Teachers"... treat students neither coercively nor instrumentally but as joint seekers of truth and of mutual actualization. They help students define moral values not by imposing their own moralities on them but by positing situations that pose hard moral choices and then encouraging conflict…” quote by James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/james-macgregor-burns-24605_actualization_teachers-treat-students-neither-coercive_565908.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/james-macgregor-burns-24605_actualization_teachers-treat-students-neither-coercive_565908.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/james-macgregor-burns-24605_actualization_teachers-treat-students-neither-coercive_565908.png) > “"Teachers"... treat students neither coercively nor instrumentally but as joint seekers of truth and of mutual actualization. They help students define moral values not by imposing their own moralities on them but by positing situations that pose hard moral choices and then encouraging conflict and debate. They seek to help students rise to higher stages of moral reasoning and hence to higher levels of principled judgment.” [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Educators should guide students as co‑explorers of truth, fostering moral reasoning through dialogue rather than imposing values. **In simple terms:** Teachers act as partners in moral discovery. Key Takeaway Facilitate open ethical discussion. Themes education morality dialogue critical thinking Mood thoughtful encouraging Type pedagogical philosophical When to use this quote - classroom debates - community service projects - curriculum design Key Concepts constructivist pedagogy ethical development Questions to Reflect On - How can you create safe spaces for moral debate? - What questions provoke deeper ethical reflection? A Different Perspective Students may resist challenging moral dilemmas. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Actualization](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actualization/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/choices/) [Conflict](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/conflict/) [Debate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/debate/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Hard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hard/) [Helping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/helping/) [Higher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/higher/) [Higher level](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/higher-level/) [Imposing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/imposing/) [Joints](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/joints/) [Judgment](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/judgment/) [Levels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/levels/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Moral choices](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-choices/) [Moral reasoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-reasoning/) [Moral values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral-values/) [Morality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/morality/) [Mutual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mutual/) [Principled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/principled/) [Reasoning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/reasoning/) [Seekers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seekers/) [Situation](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/situation/) [Stage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/stage/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) [Students Define](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students-define-4681276/) [Teacher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teacher/) [Teachers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teachers/) [Teachers Treat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teachers-treat-4681275/) [Treat Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treat-students-418889/) [Treats](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/treats/) [Truth](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth/) [Values](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/values/) [War](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/war/) ## Related quotes > [Challenging schools to treat their students as customers with a choice, instead of inmates serving time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-warlick/challenging-schools-to-treat-their-students-as-customers-with-a/) [David Warlick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-warlick/) > [Teachers who ill-treat students should be punished](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mazher-mazher50/teachers-who-ill-treat-students-should-be-punished/) [Mazher (@mazher50](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mazher-mazher50/) > [I believe that it's fine if the university wants to regulate, for example, bandwidth access, but they should treat the students data as private…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annalee-newitz/i-believe-that-it-s-fine-if-the-university-wants-to-regulate-for/) [Annalee Newitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annalee-newitz/) > [Always treat your students as if their parents were sitting beside them in the classroom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/always-treat-your-students-as-if-their-parents-were-sitting-beside/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [Always treat your students ….](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vikrant-parsai/always-treat-your-students/) [Vikrant Parsai](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vikrant-parsai/) > [The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all students as if they were variants of the same individual and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/howard-gardner/the-biggest-mistake-of-past-centuries-in-teaching-has-been-to-treat/) [Howard Gardner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/howard-gardner/) > [If you think that moral reasoning is something we do to figure out the truth, you’ll be constantly frustrated by how foolish, biased, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/if-you-think-that-moral-reasoning-is-something-we-do-to-figure-out/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [Our moral reasoning is plagued by two illusions. The first illusion can be called the wag-the-dog illusion: We believe that our own moral judgment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-harris/our-moral-reasoning-is-plagued-by-two-illusions-the-first-illusion/) [Sam Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-harris/) > [To be a fully functioning moral agent, one cannot passively accept moral principles handed down by fiat. Moral principles require moral reasoning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-shermer/to-be-a-fully-functioning-moral-agent-one-cannot-passively-accept/) [Michael Shermer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-shermer/) > [Perhaps the most remarkable thing I found about the Bible was how flexible it is. Here we have a book written 3,000 years ago,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-plotz/perhaps-the-most-remarkable-thing-i-found-about-the-bible-was-how/) [David Plotz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-plotz/) > [“The why of the mind's existence and the how of its profound capacity to reason - especially its penchant for moral reasoning - will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/the-why-of-the-mind-s-existence-and-the-how-of-its-profound-capacity/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [God doesn't help. I think that's a knockdown argument. I think that it really shows that whatever moral knowledge we have and whatever moral…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/god-doesn-t-help-i-think-that-s-a-knockdown-argument-i-think-that-it/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [My early research - I'm a social psychologist, and my early research was on how people make moral judgments. When I entered the field…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/my-early-research-i-m-a-social-psychologist-and-my-early-research-was/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [“Schwitzgebel even scrounged up the missing-book lists from dozens of libraries and found that academic books on ethics, which are presumably borrowed mostly by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-haidt/schwitzgebel-even-scrounged-up-the-missing-book-lists-from-dozens-of/) [Jonathan Haidt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-haidt/) > [That torture is wrong can never be the conclusion to any line of reasoning because it has to be a fundamental premise. Witnessing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giles-fraser/that-torture-is-wrong-can-never-be-the-conclusion-to-any-line-of/) [Giles Fraser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giles-fraser/) ## More by James MacGregor Burns > [Let us face reality. The framers (of the Constitution) have simply been too shrewd for us. They have outwitted us. They designed separate institutions…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/let-us-face-reality-the-framers-of-the-constitution-have-simply-been/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/ambition-must-be-made-to-counteract-ambition-the-interest-of-the-man/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [Woodrow Wilson called for leaders who, by boldly interpreting the nation's conscience, could lift a people out of their everyday selves. That people can…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/woodrow-wilson-called-for-leaders-who-by-boldly-interpreting-the/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [In real life, the most practical advice for leaders is not to treat pawns like pawns, nor princes like princes, but all persons like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/in-real-life-the-most-practical-advice-for-leaders-is-not-to-treat/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [The practice of leadership is not the same as the exercise of power.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/the-practice-of-leadership-is-not-the-same-as-the-exercise-of-power/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“equal, hierarchical, or unrelated? These relationships also define the exercise of power as a collective act. A psychological”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/equal-hierarchical-or-unrelated-these-relationships-also-define-the/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [To elevate the goals of humankind, to achieve high moral purpose, to realize major intended change, leaders must thrust themselves into the most intractable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/to-elevate-the-goals-of-humankind-to-achieve-high-moral-purpose-to/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“above all, Locke’s transforming idea that government was established and maintained by the consent of the governed, in which all men had an equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/above-all-locke-s-transforming-idea-that-government-was-established/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [Leaders are not pale reflectors of major social conflicts; they play up some, play down others, ignore still others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/leaders-are-not-pale-reflectors-of-major-social-conflicts-they-play/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [Those who remember only that the Roosevelts served hot dogs to the royals will be fascinated by this well-researched account of an historic and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/those-who-remember-only-that-the-roosevelts-served-hot-dogs-to-the/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“Politics seemed to have fallen to a new wartime low of spite and pettiness.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/politics-seemed-to-have-fallen-to-a-new-wartime-low-of-spite-and/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“licentiousness has seldom produced the loss of liberty; but that the tyranny of rulers has almost always effected it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/licentiousness-has-seldom-produced-the-loss-of-liberty-but-that-the/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“as a luxury liner, it had been converted to wartime use; with blacked-out portholes and gray camouflage paint, it had”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/as-a-luxury-liner-it-had-been-converted-to-wartime-use-with-blacked/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [“above all, Locke’s transforming idea that government was established and maintained by the consent of the governed, in which all men had an equal…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/above-all-locke-s-transforming-idea-that-government-was-established-2/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) > [Divorced from ethics, leadership is reduced to management and politics to mere technique.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-macgregor-burns/divorced-from-ethics-leadership-is-reduced-to-management-and-politics/) [James MacGregor Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) [Explore all 24 James MacGregor Burns quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-macgregor-burns/) ## More Actualization quotes > [It was psychobabbler Abraham Maslow who wrote of the phenomena of self-actualization. What Maslow failed to grasp is that reaching true self-actualization can only…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-nugent/it-was-psychobabbler-abraham-maslow-who-wrote-of-the-phenomena-of/) [Ted Nugent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-nugent/) > [Intimacy requires courage because risk is inescapable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rollo-may/intimacy-requires-courage-because-risk-is-inescapable/) [Rollo May](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rollo-may/) > [Money cannot buy the self-actualization of one's feelings.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-t-usha/money-cannot-buy-the-self-actualization-of-one-s-feelings/) [P. T. Usha](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-t-usha/) > [If you follow your bliss...the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/if-you-follow-your-bliss-the-life-that-you-ought-to-be-living-is-the/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [The horror no less than the charm of real life consists precisely in the recurrent actualization of the inconceivable](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/the-horror-no-less-than-the-charm-of-real-life-consists-precisely-in/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [I taught myself to write in order to understand who I was and so yes, writing was an act of self-actualization in the beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/danielle-trussoni/i-taught-myself-to-write-in-order-to-understand-who-i-was-and-so-yes/) [Danielle Trussoni](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/danielle-trussoni/) > [My mom says you only need three people you can rely on to achieve self-actualization.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cassandra-clare/my-mom-says-you-only-need-three-people-you-can-rely-on-to-achieve/) [Cassandra Clare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cassandra-clare/) > [The bible is a source of great inspiration to me. It is a textbook of metaphysics. Within the bible are keys to personal growth,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-fante/the-bible-is-a-source-of-great-inspiration-to-me-it-is-a-textbook-of/) [John Fante](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-fante/) > [“Human beings have an extraordinary capacity to imagine possibilities and then turn those possibilities into realities. Evident in the gifts of civilization—in our arts,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-edmund-miller/human-beings-have-an-extraordinary-capacity-to-imagine-possibilities/) [Scott Edmund Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-edmund-miller/) > [It looks as if there were a single ultimate goal for mankind, a far goal toward which all persons strive. This is called variously…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/it-looks-as-if-there-were-a-single-ultimate-goal-for-mankind-a-far/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [To achieve self actualization, do good things for other people that you would want to be done onto yourself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/meg-cabot/to-achieve-self-actualization-do-good-things-for-other-people-that/) [Meg Cabot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/meg-cabot/) > [“There is no greater moment in life than that when we discover the unique design which has shaped our lives from the moment of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacob-nordby/there-is-no-greater-moment-in-life-than-that-when-we-discover-the/) [Jacob Nordby](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacob-nordby/) > [“The leader’s joy is the success of change, the evidence of progress and the actualization of a better life.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/israelmore-ayivor/the-leader-s-joy-is-the-success-of-change-the-evidence-of-progress/) [Israelmore Ayivor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/israelmore-ayivor/) > [What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualizat ion.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-maslow/what-a-man-can-be-he-must-be-this-need-we-call-self-actualizat-ion/) [Abraham Maslow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-maslow/) > [“We cannot define ourselves without negating the alternatives that we do not become.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-barrett/we-cannot-define-ourselves-without-negating-the-alternatives-that-we/) [William Barrett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-barrett/) [Browse all 71 Actualization quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/actualization/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "\"Teachers\"... treat students neither coercively nor instrumentally but as joint seekers of truth and of mutual actualization. They help students define moral values not by imposing their own moralities on them but by positing situations that pose hard moral choices and then encouraging conflict and debate. 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