April 13, 2021

How does student development and student formation work together within formative education?

Development is organic and natural. It is a process-oriented growth dynamic which is the result of a singular evolutionary biological and psychic mechanism. Development happens with or without formation. Certain things can aid development or hinder it; however, development is spontaneous. Development evolves as a function of being an organism.

Formation is relationally infused with intention and purpose which is appropriated through reflection. It tends to be goal oriented and needs to be aligned with the developmental stages in a person’s life for it to have a lasting effect.

The body and mind need to develop and formative education needs to accompany the stages of development for human fulfillment and flourishment.

An Analogy
The human body grows from birth. A person develops in size, maturity and strength naturally. Exercise assists growth and enhances the organism’s progress. In fact, exercise (physical, psychological and spiritual) can even be tailored to achieve certain kinds of progress and growth. 

In this analogy, development is growth. Development is simply going to happen. It’s part of life, and it’s part of every organism. Formation helps the process of development and existentially aids and elicits growth as it seeks out purpose and meaning for the organism. Formation actualizes the growth process in a way that the organism can self-possess, direct its growth and leads to congruency.

The Result
At Boston College the intellect, affect and volitional aspects of the human person engage. Cognitive development and learning enter into a dialogue with emotional intelligence. The effect becomes the barometer for congruence within the person. What is elicited from this process is desire. What gives you joy? What are you good at? What does the World need? These are the questions that shape the template we use at Boston College as shorthand for the formative education process. Assessment and discernment clearly are part of this process and lead to decisions about one’s life and values. A dialectic is formed with the world and the result is hopefully to transcend a myopic vision to that of a universal understanding of the common good for humanity.