Freedom to learn

"...When I realise the incredible potential in every student,I want to try to release it. We are working hard to release the incredible energy in the atom and the nucleus of the atom. If we do not devote equal energy- yes, and equal money- to the release of the potential of the individual person, then the enormous discrepancy between our level of physical energy resources and human energy resources will doom us to a deserved and universal destruction.
I'm sorry I can't be cooly detached about this. The issue is too urgent. I can only be passionate in my statement that people count, that interpersonal relationships are important, that we know something about releasing human potential, that we could learn much more, and that unless we give strong positive attention to the human interpersonal side of our educational dilemma, our civilization is on its way down the drain. Better courses, better curricula, better coverage, better teaching machines will never resolve our dilemma in a basic way. Only persons acting like persons in their relationships with their students can even begin to make a dent on this most urgent problem of modern education."

From 'Freedom to learn' by Carl Rogers& H.J.Freiberg.