Editorial

Abstract

We are at the starting gate and ready to run with the 16th Annual Conference for the International Alliance for Invitational Education. “Inspiriting Education Start to Finish,” the conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky October 15-18. The conference promises interesting and provocative programs with an outstanding array of speakers. If this issue of the JITP makes it out of the starting gate on time, the can serve as a last minute reminder to come and join with and share with your colleagues in Lexington. This issue of the JITP offers an assortment of topics quite relevant to invitational education. David and Cheryl Aspy’s article, “The Self According to Allan Bloom and Charles Reich” examines the concept of self outside the normal parameters of theoreticians with whom we are more familiar. Bloom and Reich make social observations of forces which help shape who we are and who we become. This seems particularly apt at a time when some are beginning to raise questions about the oversimplification of self-concept theory that is becoming increasingly prevalent in much of the popular press. You probably will not find many answers in this thought provoking article, but it will challenge your thinking.