Robert J. Havighurst
Encyclopedia
Robert James Havighurst was a professor, physicist
, educator, and aging expert. Both his father, Freeman Alfred Havighurst, and mother, Winifred Weter Havighurst, had been educators at Lawrence University
. Havighurst worked and published well into his 80s. According to his family, Havighurst died of Alzheimer's disease
at the age of ninety.
and Illinois
. He obtained many degrees and education achievements: 1918-21 B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University
, 1922 M.A. Ohio State University
, 1924 Ph.D., Chemistry Ohio State University, 1953-54 Fulbright Scholar, University of Canterbury
, New Zealand
, 1961 Fulbright Scholar University of Buenos Aires
, 1962 Honorary Degree Sc. Adelphi University
, 1963 Hon. L.L.D. Ohio Wesleyan University
.
2006
as a postdoctoral fellow, studying atomic structure and publishing papers in journals of physics and chemistry.
He decided to change careers in 1928, so he went into the field of experimental education. He became an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
. In 1940, he became an education professor at the University of Chicago
in the University's Committee on Human Development. He worked in the field of aging. Again, in the same year he was interested in international and comparative aspects of education. He wrote several books and published many papers. His most famous book called "Human Development and Education".
He was inducted in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame
.
Intellectual Contributions
Havighurst's educational research did much to advance education in the United States. Educational theory before Havighurst was underdeveloped. Children learned by rote and little concern was given to how children developed. From 1948 to 1953 he developed his highly influential theory of human development and education. The crown jewel of his research was on developmental task. Havighurst tried to define the developmental stages on many levels.
Havighurst identified Six Major Stages in human life covering birth to old age.
From there, Havighurst recognized that each human has three sources for developmental tasks. They are:
The developmental tasks model that Havighurst developed was age dependent and all served pragmatic functions depending on their age.
Developmental Tasks
(Ages 0–6)
(Ages 6–18)
(Ages 18–30)
(Ages 30–40)
(Ages 40–60)
(60 and over)
Education, which was funded by the U.S. Office of Education. He involved Native Americans in planning the study as well as helping in field work and data analysis. The conclusions indicated that education for Native American youth across the United States varied widely according to numerous factors such as funding, location, curriculum, faculty, degree of isolation, and cultural differences. Recommendations included finding ways for Native Americans to have an increased voice in their education and the establishment of a National Commission on Indian Education.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Havighurst focused his attention on the problems of urban education. He conducted a study of public high schools in the forty-five largest cities in the United States. The study examined: educational goals, school structure and organization, staff characteristics, curriculum, student activities, student activism, and school-community relations. Havighurst concluded that there was more and deeper segregation and separation of high school students of different socioeconomic and ethnic groups in 1969 to 1970 than there was ten or twenty years before. In 1977, at age seventy-seven, he coedited a book in which he developed a series of policies and practices for the improvement of big city schools based on his research.
"The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to tolerate ambiguity and not be driven by fear into a rigid, single-solution approach to problems, who are rational, foresightful and who look for facts; who can draw inferences and can control their behavior in the light of foreseen consequences, who are altruistic and enjoy doing for others, and who understand social forces and trends."
"A successful mother sets her children free and becomes free herself in the process."
"The two basic principle processes of education are knowing and valuing."
"The art of friendship has been little cultivated in our society."
"A developmental task is a task which is learned at a specific point and which makes achievement of succeeding tasks possible. When the timing is right, the ability to learn a particular task will be possible. This is referred to as a 'teachable moment
.' It is important to keep in mind that unless the time is right, learning will not occur. Hence, it is important to repeat important points whenever possible so that when a student's teachable moment occurs, s/he can benefit from the knowledge."
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
, educator, and aging expert. Both his father, Freeman Alfred Havighurst, and mother, Winifred Weter Havighurst, had been educators at Lawrence University
Lawrence University
Lawrence University is a selective, private liberal arts college with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, in Appleton, Wisconsin. Lawrence University is known for its rigorous academic environment. Founded in 1847, the first classes were held on November 12, 1849...
. Havighurst worked and published well into his 80s. According to his family, Havighurst died of Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
at the age of ninety.
Education
He attended public schools in WisconsinWisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
and Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
. He obtained many degrees and education achievements: 1918-21 B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...
, 1922 M.A. Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, 1924 Ph.D., Chemistry Ohio State University, 1953-54 Fulbright Scholar, University of Canterbury
University of Canterbury
The University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, 1961 Fulbright Scholar University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
, 1962 Honorary Degree Sc. Adelphi University
Adelphi University
Adelphi University is a private, nonsectarian university located in Garden City, in Nassau County, New York, United States. It is the oldest institution of higher education on Long Island. For the sixth year, Adelphi University has been named a “Best Buy” in higher education by the Fiske Guide to...
, 1963 Hon. L.L.D. Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University
Ohio Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college in Delaware, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1842 by Methodist leaders and Central Ohio residents as a nonsectarian institution, and is a member of the Ohio Five — a consortium of Ohio liberal arts colleges...
.
2006
Career
He published a number of papers in journal of physics and chemistry about the structure of the atom in 1924. He went to Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
as a postdoctoral fellow, studying atomic structure and publishing papers in journals of physics and chemistry.
He decided to change careers in 1928, so he went into the field of experimental education. He became an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
. In 1940, he became an education professor at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in the University's Committee on Human Development. He worked in the field of aging. Again, in the same year he was interested in international and comparative aspects of education. He wrote several books and published many papers. His most famous book called "Human Development and Education".
He was inducted in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame
International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame
The International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame was founded in 1996 "to honor leaders in the fields of continuing education and adult learning and to serve as a record and inspiration for the next generation of continuing education leaders"...
.
Intellectual Contributions
Havighurst's educational research did much to advance education in the United States. Educational theory before Havighurst was underdeveloped. Children learned by rote and little concern was given to how children developed. From 1948 to 1953 he developed his highly influential theory of human development and education. The crown jewel of his research was on developmental task. Havighurst tried to define the developmental stages on many levels.
Havighurst identified Six Major Stages in human life covering birth to old age.
- Infancy & early childhood (Birth till 6 years old)
- Middle childhood (6–13 years old)
- AdolescenceAdolescenceAdolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
(13–18 years old) - Early Adulthood (19–30 years old)
- Middle Age (30-60years old)
- Later maturity (60 years old and over)
From there, Havighurst recognized that each human has three sources for developmental tasks. They are:
- Tasks that arise from physical maturation: Learning to walk, talk, control of bowel and urineUrineUrine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
, behaving in an acceptable manner to opposite sexSexIn biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, adjusting to menopauseMenopauseMenopause is a term used to describe the permanent cessation of the primary functions of the human ovaries: the ripening and release of ova and the release of hormones that cause both the creation of the uterine lining and the subsequent shedding of the uterine lining...
. - Tasks that arise from personal values: Choosing an occupation, figuring out ones philosophical outlook.
- Tasks that have their source in the pressures of society: Learning to read, learning to be responsible citizen.
The developmental tasks model that Havighurst developed was age dependent and all served pragmatic functions depending on their age.
Developmental Tasks
(Ages 0–6)
- Learning to walk. * Learning to crawl. * Learning to take solid food. * Learning to talk. * Learning to control the elimination of body wastes. * Learning sex differences and sexual modesty. * Getting ready to read. * Forming concepts and learning languageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
to describe social and physical reality.
(Ages 6–18)
- Learning physical skills necessary for ordinary games. * Learning to get along with age mates. * Building wholesome attitudes toward oneself as a growing organism. * Learning on appropriate masculine or feminine social role. * Developing concepts necessary for everyday living. * Developing conscience, moralityMoralityMorality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
and a scale of values. * Achieving personal independence. * Developing attitudes toward social groups and institutions.
(Ages 18–30)
- Achieving new and more mature relations with age mates of both sexes. * Achieving a masculine or feminine social role. * Accepting one’s physique and using the body effectively. * Achieving emotional independence of parents and other adults. * Preparing for marriageMarriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
and family life. * Acquiring a set of values and an ethical system as a guide to behavior. * Desiring and achieving socially responsible behavior.* Selecting an occupation.
(Ages 30–40)
- Selecting a mate. * Learning to live with a partner. * Starting family. * Rearing children. * Managing home. * Getting started in occupation. * Taking on civic responsibility. * Finding a congenial social group.
(Ages 40–60)
- Assisting teenage children to become responsible and happy adults. * Achieving adult social and civic responsibility. * Reaching and maintaining satisfactory performance in one’s occupational career. * Developing adult leisure time activities. * Relating oneself to one’s spouse as a person. * To accept and adjust to the physiological changes of middle age. * Adjusting to aging parents.
(60 and over)
- Adjusting to decreasing physical strength and health. Adjusting to retirement and reduced income. * Adjusting to deathDeathDeath is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
of a spouse. * Establishing an explicit affiliation with one’s age group. * Adopting and adapting social roles in a flexible way. * Establishing satisfactory physical living arrangements.
Educational Work and Civil Rights
From 1967 through 1971, Havighurst directed the National Study of IndianNative Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Education, which was funded by the U.S. Office of Education. He involved Native Americans in planning the study as well as helping in field work and data analysis. The conclusions indicated that education for Native American youth across the United States varied widely according to numerous factors such as funding, location, curriculum, faculty, degree of isolation, and cultural differences. Recommendations included finding ways for Native Americans to have an increased voice in their education and the establishment of a National Commission on Indian Education.
In the late 1960s and 1970s, Havighurst focused his attention on the problems of urban education. He conducted a study of public high schools in the forty-five largest cities in the United States. The study examined: educational goals, school structure and organization, staff characteristics, curriculum, student activities, student activism, and school-community relations. Havighurst concluded that there was more and deeper segregation and separation of high school students of different socioeconomic and ethnic groups in 1969 to 1970 than there was ten or twenty years before. In 1977, at age seventy-seven, he coedited a book in which he developed a series of policies and practices for the improvement of big city schools based on his research.
Major Published Works
- WHO SHALL BE EDUCATED?: THE CHALLENGE OF UNEQUAL OPPORTUNITIES. New York: HarperHarper (publisher)Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins.-History:James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishing business J. & J. Harper in 1817. Their two brothers, Joseph Wesley Harper and Fletcher Harper, joined them...
, 1944; Havighurst, Robert J.; and Davis, Allison. - FATHER OF THE MAN: HOW YOUR CHILD GETS HIS PERSONALITY. New York: HoughtonHoughton-Buildings:* Houghton Hall, a country house in Norfolk, England * Houghton Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire, a stately home in Yorkshire, England* Houghton House, a ruined house in Bedfordshire, England-Australia:...
, 1947; Havighurst, Robert J.; and Neugarten, Bernice L. - AMERICAN INDIAN AND WHITE CHILDREN: A SOCIOPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION. Chicago: University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, 1955; Havighurst, Robert J.; Stivers, Eugene; and DeHaan, Robert F. - A SURVEY OF THE EDUCATION OF *GIFTED CHILDREN. Chicago: University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
, 1955; Gross, Irma; Havighurst, Robert J.; and others (Eds.). - POTENTIALITIES OF WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE YEARS. E. Lansing: Michigan State University PressMichigan State University PressMichigan State University Press, founded in 1947, is the scholarly publishing arm of Michigan State University. During the past six decades it has become a vital part of the institution's land-grant mission and is a catalyst for positive intellectual, social, and technological change through the...
, 1957; Havighurst, Robert J.; and DeHann, Robert F. - EDUCATING GIFTED CHILDREN. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957; Havighurst, Robert J.; and others.
- GROWING UP IN RIVER CITY. New York: Wiley, 1962; Havighurst, Robert J.; Neugarten, Bernice L.; and Falk, Jacqueline M.
- SOCIETY AND EDUCATION: A BOOK OF READINGS. New York: Allyn & BaconAllyn & BaconAllyn & Bacon, founded in 1868, is a higher education textbook publisher in the areas of education, humanities and social sciences. It is an imprint of Pearson Education and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts....
, 1967; Havighurst, Robert J., (Editor). - COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION. New York: Little and Brown, 1968; Havighurst, Robert J.; and others.
- ADJUSTMENT TO RETIREMENT: A CROSS-NATIONAL STUDY. Van Gorcum, 1969.
- DEVELOPMENTAL TASKS AND EDUCATION. McKay, 1972.
- TO LIVE ON THIS EARTH: AMERICAN INDIAN EDUCATION. New York: Doubleday, 1972.
- OPTOMETRY: EDUCATION FOR THE PROFESSION. National Commission on Accrediting, 1973.
Havighurst Quotes
"Family life is the source of the greatest human happiness. This happiness is the simplest and least costly kind, and it cannot be purchased with money. But it can be increased if we do two things: if we recognize and uphold the essential values of family life and if we get and keep control of the process of social change so as to make it give us what is needed to make family life perform its essential functions.""The modern world needs people with a complex identity who are intellectually autonomous and prepared to cope with uncertainty; who are able to tolerate ambiguity and not be driven by fear into a rigid, single-solution approach to problems, who are rational, foresightful and who look for facts; who can draw inferences and can control their behavior in the light of foreseen consequences, who are altruistic and enjoy doing for others, and who understand social forces and trends."
"A successful mother sets her children free and becomes free herself in the process."
"The two basic principle processes of education are knowing and valuing."
"The art of friendship has been little cultivated in our society."
"A developmental task is a task which is learned at a specific point and which makes achievement of succeeding tasks possible. When the timing is right, the ability to learn a particular task will be possible. This is referred to as a 'teachable moment
Teachable moment
A teachable moment, in education, is the time at which learning a particular topic or idea becomes possible or easiest.-In education:The concept was popularized by Robert Havighurst in his 1952 book, Human Development and Education. In the context of education theory, Havighurst explained,The...
.' It is important to keep in mind that unless the time is right, learning will not occur. Hence, it is important to repeat important points whenever possible so that when a student's teachable moment occurs, s/he can benefit from the knowledge."