Hundreds Gather at PUC to Hear Renowned Educator

On February 5, four hundred educators from all over Napa Valley and the Western United States packed into Pacific Union College’s Paulin Hall to hear Dr. William Glasser, president and founder of The William Glasser Institute in Los Angeles, speak on the principles of building a quality school. The presentation, “Every Student Can Succeed—a day with William Glasser,” was sponsored by PUC, the Seventh-day Adventist Northern California Conference, and the PUC education department.

Dr. Glasser focused on how each individual has the freedom to make choices and the responsibilities that goes with that freedom. He takes this theory and applies it to the school setting, explaining how educators have fallen into the trap of coercive management strategies. He encourages teachers to use choice theory, a non-coercive approach which helps students understand the power they have to make choices.

“The choice theory is something we should have been doing years ago,” says Samir Berbawy, principal of Lodi Academy. “It makes absolute sense. We’re going to start using it at our school.”
Educators from the Seventh-day Adventist Pacific Union Conference, spanning Arizona, Utah, Nevada, California, and Hawaii, attended as part of a teacher inservice day. Administrators from local public schools also attended the presentation, which was by invitation only.

Dr. Glasser is the author of 19 books on education and has contributed to numerous journals and magazines on education and behavioral science. The William Glasser Institute provides materials and training for thousands of educators and counselors around the world.