Ann Ferren Teaching Conference January 9, 2009

John Hyman

William G. Perry, Jr.

Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years

CHART OF DEVELOPMENT
Position #1: The student sees the world in polar terms of we-right-good vs. other-wrong-bad.
RIGHT answers exist for everything in the ABSOLUTE known to AUTHORITY whose role is
to teach them. Knowledge and goodness are commodities to be accumulated through hard work
and obedience (paradigm = a spelling test or arithmetic quiz).

Position #2: The student perceives diversity of opinion, and uncertainty, and blames confusion on
poorly qualified authorities. She may define apparent diversity as a mere exercise set up by
authority Aso we can learn to find THE ANSWER for ourselves.@

Position #3: The student accepts diversity and uncertainty as legitimate but still temporary in
areas where authority Ahasn=t found THE ANSWER yet.@ She supposes authority grades her on
Agood expression@ or some such, but is puzzled as to standards.

Position #4: The student perceives a diversity of opinion and concludes that Aanyone has a right
to his own opinions.@ She still assumes that authority=s ANSWER is right. She might use the
language of relativism because, after all, that=s what the authority wants.

Position #5: The student perceives all knowledge and values (including the authority=s) as
contextual and relativistic; she subordinates dualistic right/wrong explanations to the status of a
special case.

Position #6: The student apprehends the necessity of orienting herself in a relativistic world
through some form of personal commitment (as distinct from unquestioned or unconsidered
commitment to a simple belief in certainty).

Position #7: The student makes an initial commitment in some area of her life (e.g., AI have
decided on medicine.@) Typically, she experiences relief in settled purpose; at the same time, she
feels strongly defined by the forms of the role she has chosen (medical student, doctor, etc.).

Position #8: The student experiences the implications of commitment and explores the
availability of different styles and forms (e.g., ASo I=ve decided to become a doctor, but how
many ways are there of doing that? ...and of doing the other parts of my life?@).

Position #9: The student realizes her commitment as an ongoing, unfolding activity through
which she expresses herself. She understands that while her past decisions may have settled to
some degree what she is doing, how she does it emerges from herself in the particulars of each
moment. She has taken and is taking responsibility.

William Perry, Jr.: On the implications of his scheme for working with students:

Alienation cannot be prevented. And indeed it should not be. If it could be prevented, so could
that detachment which is man=s last recourse of freedom and dignity in extremis. The educator=s
problem is therefore certainly not to prevent alienation, or even to make the option less available.
His problem is to provide as best he can for the sustenance of care (200).

The good teacher becomes one who supports in his students a more sustained groping,
exploration, and synthesis (211).

The most pressing problem emerging from our study is therefore the question: What
environmental sustenance most supports students in the choice to use their competence to orient
themselves through Commitments...? ...the most important support seemed to derive from a
special realization of community. This was the realization that in the very risks, separateness, and
individuality of working out their Commitments, they were in the same boat not only with each
other but with their instructors as well. ...Like any other sense of community this one seemed to
derive from reciprocal acts of recognition and confirmation. ...The first of these requirements
enjoins upon educators a certain openness a visibility in their own thinking, groping, doubts,
and styles of Commitment. ...The second requirement enjoins on educators the duty of
confirming the student in his community with them a membership he achieves (at the very least
as an apprentice or colleague-to-be) through his own making of meaning, his daring to take risks,
and his courage in committing himself@ (213).

Perry, William G., Jr. Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A
Scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970.

Beth Neman: On why we might think about Perry=s scheme of development:

Knowledge of Perrys scheme also helps us to empathize with our students, especially when
they are experiencing the often painful transitional periods between one stage of intellectual
growth and another. We need to make allowances for strong student reactions during these
periods of disequilibrium, for as Perry (and Piaget) contends, cognitive growth is necessarily
accompanied by psychic pain (20).

Neman, Beth. Teaching Students to Write. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.