There are five basic priniciples of humanistic education:

1) Students should be able to choose what they want to learn. Humanisticteachers believe that students will be motivated to learn a subject if it'ssomething they need and want to know.

2) The goal of education should be to foster students' desire to learn andteach them how to learn. Students should be self-motivated in their studies anddesire to learn on their own.

3) Humanistic educators believe that grades are irrelevant and that onlyself-evaluation is meaningful. Grading encourages students to work for a gradeand not for personal satisfaction. In addition, humanistic educators areopposed to objective tests because they test a student's ability to memorize anddo not provide sufficient educational feedback to the teacher and student.

4) Humanistic educators believe that both feelings and knowledge areimportant to the learning process. Unlike traditional educators, humanistic teachers do not separate the cognitive and affective domains.

5) Humanistic educators insist that schools need to provide students with anonthreatning environment so that they will feel secure to learn. Once studentsfeel secure, learning becomes easier and more meaningful.

Summary:

The five basic principles of humanistic education can be summarized asfollows:

1) Students' learning should be self-directed.

2) Schools should produce students who want and know how to learn.

3) The only form of meaningful evaluation is self-evaluation.

4) Feelings, as well as knowledge, are important in the learning process.

5) Students learn best in a nonthreatening environment.