The Role of Coercive Persuasion in Education and Learning: Subjugation or Animation?

This chapter explores the role that coercion plays in the educational process, looking at it both from the point of view of the teacher and from the perspective of the student/learner. The primary focus will be on coercion but inevitably manipulation and seduction enter the picture as well. I have observed that when learners get really motivated, or, as I prefer to call it, animated , they seem to learn more and certainly enjoy it more. What has come to be called experiential education has become very popular as a way of animating learners, which raises the question of whether this form of learning rests on fundamentally different assumptions than traditional teaching formats. This analysis and implications applies primarily to the learning of interpersonal, group, and interorganizational relationships and the “human side of enterprise,” that is, management and leadership. The need to explore the design of alternative experiential learning settings that animate learners and/or invent new modes of learning without the intense face-to-face contact – that animation seems to be depended on – is advocated.