Most educators readily agree it is nice to be nice; but the question usually follows, Does it make any difference in the learning process? Our experience at a 97 percent black, ghetto elementary school indicates it not only makes a difference, but also it becomes essential for us to work effectively helping construct and perpetuate a healthy, sane society in which people of all economic and cultural environments look forward to participation. The elementary school where I served as principal enrolled a 97 percent black population, with 87 percent of students participating in the free lunch program. The school was departmentalized; we enrolled about 350 students; the mean reading level reached 1.5. The school plant was forty-five years old, located on two acres in a slum adjacent to downtown Shrevepor., Louisiana. We had no public transportation to school nor any transportation provided by the school system. Some students walked about a mile through downtown traffic to reach school. Attendance on cold, rainy days posed a problem, especially if inclement weather occurred on Monday or Friday. Some days less than 50 percent of the students attended. All second through fifth grade students qualified for the Title I program. I had volunteered to transfer from my previous assignment as principal of a predominantly white elementary school to a black school during integration in February 1970. The faculty included twenty teachers, an equal racial balance. Earlier I had applied for a sabbatical for the following year to work on a doctorate. When I returned to this assignment after one year's leave, only four of the original faculty remained from the previous year, two black teachers, a white librarian, and me-an 80 percent turnover in one year, indicating general working conditions at that time. While on sabbatical at Northeast Louisiana University, I met David N. Aspy who helped equip us with skills which resulted in a complete change in the school's learning and emotional atmosphere. These skills simply allow people to become the humane facilitators we all enjoy being-but because of circumstances we frequently employ other, ineffective methods of interaction.