| Abstract: | Experiential education may be viewed as a process of enculturation; a student explores the work culture in depth and learns how to develop the personality characteristics prized by the culture. Implications of a cultural viewpoint for selection, training, and evaluation of students in an undergraduate internship in a psychiatric residential treatment center for adolescents are examined. One ritual of enculturation, the peer evaluation meeting, is discussed and recommended for its benefits to experiential education as a tool for training, providing staff identity and psychological support, and affirmation of the values of the institution. |
