From a sample of 3,500 eighth-grade pupils, 96 class clowns were identified by peer nominations on a sociometricform. These pupils were compared to a randomly selected sample of 237 nonclown classmates on the bases of teacher ratings and student self-esteem and school-attitude measures. Clowns were found to be predominantly males. Clowns were seen by their teachers to be higher than nonchwns in Asserting, Unruliness, Attention Seeking, Leadership, and Cheerfulness, and to be lower in Accomplishing. Clowns report lower attitudes toward teacher and principal than do nonclowns and see themselves as leaders and as being vocal in expressing ideas and opinions in front of their classmates.

A number of scholars and researchers have worked together over the past decade to develop an understanding of certain abstract principles and everyday facts that appear to relate to one another and which seem to influence human success or failure. This understanding has evolved into a model of practice called "invitational theory." The term "invitational" was chosen for its special meaning. The English invite is probably a derivative of the Latin word invitare, which means to offer something beneficial for consideration. Translated literally, invitare means to summon cordially, not to shun. Implicit in this definition is that inviting is an ethical process involving continuous interactions among and between human beings.

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Beyond our Galaxy, in some forgotten time (circa 1968), two young professors at the University of Florida, Betty Faye Siegel and William Watson Purkey, applied for and received a small grant from the Noyes Foundation of of New York to train educators. The grant provided modest fellowships for teams of teachers, principals, and school board members to attend a three-week residential summer program on humanizing the educative process. Although the funding was to be for a single summer, the program was so successful that the Noyes Foundation continued its support for the next eight years.

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