Conceptual apparatus of education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

CONCEPTUAL APPARATUS OF EDUCATION OF LIFE-MEANINGFUL VALUES OF BASIC AND HIGH SCHOOL PUPILS

Candidate of Pedagogical Science,

Senior Research Worker,

Institute of Education of National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv)

Анотація

Катерина Журба,

кандидат педагогічних наук, старший науковий співробітник,

Інститут проблем виховання Національної академії педагогічних наук України (м. Київ)

ПОНЯТІЙНИЙ АПАРАТ ВИХОВАННЯ СМИСЛОЖИТТЄВИХ ЦІННОСТЕЙ В УЧНІВ ОСНОВНОЇ ТА СТАРШОЇ ШКОЛИ

У статті аналізується понятійний апарат проблеми виховання смисложиттєвих цінностей в учнів основної і старшої школи. Розглядається сутність таких понять як «смисл», «смисл життя», «мета життя», «смисложиттєві орієнтації», «смисложиттєві цінності», «виховання смисложиттєвих цінностей», обґрунтовується їх взаємозв'язок і взаємообумовленість. Характеристика понятійного апарату є основою визначення цілей і перспектив виховання смисложиттєвих цінностей в учнів основної і старшої школи на грунті спільного розуміння проблеми і використання загальноприйнятої термінології.

Annotation

The article analyses the conceptual apparatus of the problem of education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils. The essence of such concepts as «meaning», «meaning of life», «purpose of life», «life-meaningful orientations», «life-meaningful values», «education of life-meaningful values» is examined, their interrelation and interdependence are proved. Defining the meaning of life is the result of the individual's conscious choice and inner actions, which is under the influence of subjective and objective factors. The meaning of the personality's life is considered by us as a dynamic system that combines the main and secondary meanings and is the pivot on which a person relies in different life situations. Life-meaningful values are based on humanistic ethics and morality, which are leading in the upbringing of the growing personality. The characteristics of the conceptual apparatus is the foundation for setting goals and perspectives of education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils on the basis of common understanding of the problem and usage of common terminology.

school education life meaningful

Аннотация

В статье анализируется понятийный аппарат проблемы воспитания смысложизненных ценностей у учащихся основной и старшей школы. Рассматривается сущность таких понятий как «смысл», «смысл жизни», «цель жизни», «смысложизненные ориентации», «смысложизненные ценности», «воспитание смысложизненных ценностей», обосновывается их взаимосвязь и взаимообусловленность. Характеристика понятийного аппарата является основой определения целей и перспектив воспитания смысложизненных ценностей у учащихся основной и старшей школы на почве общего понимания проблемы и использования общепринятой терминологии.

Theoretical understanding of the problem of education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils is very important because it defines the system of scientific approaches, provisions and basic principles which are required for systematizing current researches.

Within the conceptual field of our research we consider it is necessary to examine the nature of the concepts «meaning», «meaning of life», «purpose of life», «life-meaningful orientations», «life-meaningful values», «education of life-meaningful values».

The meaning and understanding of life

While considering the conceptual apparatus of our research it should be determined the significance of the word «meaning».

The scientist of the 17^th century P. Berynda reveals the significance the word «meaning» originated from ancient Slavic «meaning» as «intelligence, quick wits, mind, thoughts of the mind, the addition to the act of speech, understanding» (3, p. 118) through intelligence, mind and sense.

The summary of definitions in modern dictionaries allows us to distinguish the concept of «meaning» (as an idea of something, understanding of the essence, significance and inner meaning of something, and the purpose and role) and «sense» (meaning, the essence of that which is essential, reason, reasonable basis, purposefulness, goal, role and sense, concept).

V. Chudnovsky has the same opinion, who believes that the concept of «meaning» has two significances:

• essence, the main, basic of an object or a phenomenon;

• personal importance for the individual the fact, that the main and basic, which suggests to make a conclusion about the dominance of the meaningful, chief above the secondary or subordinate (18).

In modern scientific literature some concepts about understanding of meaning may be distinguished in such a way.

Meaning as an interpretation of life (J. Royce, R. Powell), based on personal meaning, influences on the personality's outlook and reflects the degree of awareness of reality. The main provisions of that concept are: 1) a person is not a machine; 2) the personality is defined as a set of systems where style and value ones are the key, as provide the functioning of the other systems: sensory, motor, cognitive, affective; 3) the personality as a purposeful super system is directed to find his personal sense (meaning of life) that characterizes the image of «I», lifestyle, world view (6).

Meaning as a part of consciousness and self-awareness (L. Vygotsky, A. Maslow, S. Rubinstein, V. Stolin) was used along with the term «semantic reality», «semantic canvas of life» and revealed a subjective and active nature of this phenomenon being a life-creative basis. According to A. Maslow, each person finds meaning through humanistic values, the implementation of actions, feelings of love and unity with others. Higher semantic needs determine the life goals that bring into correlation with the truth, justice, goodness, beauty and identify ways of self-actualization (5, p. 64).

Everyone expresses himself through the meaning, which distinguishes him from the other people, because it does not exist in a finished form and describes the process of the meaning creation as the most important moral capability.

Meaning as a part of activity (A. Asmolov, B. Bratus, A. Leontiev, D. Leontiev) describes the action and humans' activity aimed at achieving the goal. Thus, A. Asmolov believes that the meaning is connected not only with the personality's activity and depends on the position in life, internal movement, personal meanings, and semantic units (2). At the same time, meaning defines self-attitude, attitude to people, and the world and determines the semantic regulation of the personality's life activity (9).

We consider that «meaning» is a semantic criterion for life, while «meaningful» indicates awareness by the personality of the meaning. The combination of «meaning» and «meaningfulness» allows the individual to understand the meaning of his life. Defining the meaning of life is the result of the individual's conscious choice and inner actions, which is under the influence of subjective and objective factors. Before the pupils of basic and high school is not an easy task of understanding the true, not false meaning, which may be the result of false or distorted moral notions and convictions, individual and social differences. In adolescence and early adolescence there is a need of understanding own existence, purpose and definition of the meaning of life. Finding and defining the meaning of life cannot rely on someone else's choice, as it makes it an impossible choice. Although the meaning of life is largely due to public morality, values and ideals, a man decides himself what he wants to be or strive for in life. The searches for the meaning of life are carried out by the youth and adolescents as on intuitive and logical levels. The children are managed by the need of understanding their feelings, aspirations and experience. However, in unstable periods of society's life, in terms of revolutions, wars, political and economic crises, when human needs are neglected and the conditions of self-fulfilment are limited, a person is getting uncertain and loses the meaning of life, going through a break of the meaning of life with life goals aimed at survival in adverse conditions.

The meaning of the personality's life is considered by us as a dynamic system that combines the main and secondary meanings and is the pivot on which a person relies in different life situations.

The meaning of life is to choose by the personality of the highest values or ideas to which he is ready to serve or devote all his life. The meaning of life can be defined by one or more life-meaningful values characterizing his some flexibility, variability. However, a wide range of life-meaningful values in most cases indicates the uncertainty of their role in the individual's life. Also, the meaning of life provides the individual's proactive stance in choosing lifemeaningful values.

The meaning of the personality's life has to be realistic, one of that takes into account the individual's capabilities and real-life circumstances, conditions, which in turn may also influence on the motivation and change his idea about the meaning of life.

The meaning of life is to be constructive, taking into account the individual's requirements and requests to his life needs and self-fulfillment, and optimal, providing maximum disclosure of the essential powers, abilities and capabilities of a particular individual.

«The main motivating idea about the meaning of life of the individual and his life-meaningful orientation and value are in interdependence and function together as parts of a single hierarchical meaning-value structure» (8, p. 3).

World outlook, the purpose of life

The meaning of life is caused by the personality's outlook that determines the system of his moral views and beliefs regarding vision and understanding of himself in the world, his purpose, relationship to others and to himself. The person focusing on the general idea of the meaning of life, not copy them but adapt to the conditions of his life. At the same time, to teach, to submit a completed form of the meaning of life is impossible, because everyone needs his own, only that sense of life which is inherent to the personality, due to individual characteristics, needs, desires, conscious search for his place in life. «And, in spite of the fact, that the sociological researches witness, the meanings of life of different people are quite common, everyone is individual, unique by emotional and semantic fullness as a unique and unrepeatable every person» (7, p. 90-91).

While the outlook determines understanding of society, a human being, values, attitudes based on humanistic or authoritarian ethics that defines the rules of life, behavior, relationships with others, life aspirations. The personality's world outlook affects the choice of own personality's life goals.

Understanding the concept of «the meaning of life» is closely related with «the purpose of life», where the last one is considered in the context of moral ideals, needs and the individual's ideas about his own future. At the same time «the meaning of life» is an aspiration for the goal. Thus, we can imagine the purpose of life as a task, which the personality solves during the life. The purpose of life cannot be easily accessible; it requires tireless work, considerable moral efforts. On this occasion K. Ushinsky wrote: «The purposes of life can be petty; but if a person does not notice their insignificance, their values are not developed, they are for him - serious purposes: he achieves them and lives. But strip him of these goals, and if he loses hope of finding the others, he will languish or commit suicide, but not to live. This dramatic fact is known to every human soul enough to ensure that the goal of life is just a grain of whether this goal is achieved or not» (16, p. 462-463). It is the purpose of life which encourages people to self-transformation, self-creation to developing their own life values.

From A. Makarenko's point of view, the purpose of life is not absolute, because the nature itself has no purpose, arguing that «it often happens in life that acts without a goal are the best and most noble deeds. The happiest men's states - those states that have no relation to the target. And, on the contrary, too real vision of a close aim, especially the individual goal, makes life just repulsive» (11, p. 86). In the aim of life the educator sees a calculation, selfishness; instead, the impractical desire to enjoy life, love of life, and its completeness seems to him more attractive.

It is hard to disagree with T. Myshatkina, who states: «The purpose is a certain threshold, and the meaning of life is the general line that defines the objectives, that the overall thrust which affects all human behavior throughout his life» (12, с. 82).

The purpose of life allows the individual to understand the meaning of his own life, determine for himself the most important values of life or a life-meaningful value at which he will focus. It is the ability to choose the purpose transforms a man into the creator of his own life, able to realize his life-meaningful values and establish his own program of life, aims for the future. Thus, the purpose of life is a major life target of the personality embodied in a life-meaningful value.

Life-meaningful values and orientations

Life-meaningful orientations are the personality's focus on the interiorization of life-meaningful values and the meaning of life that define the tasks and activities of the personality in their capture and influence on the nature, behaviour and self-identity. The life-meaningful orientations consist of large and small meanings that characterize a multilevel complex system with different semantic structures.

D. Leontiev proposes in his method «Life-meaningful orientations» to consider the purposes of life, richness of life, satisfaction and self-realization as basic life-meaningful orientations relating to the past, present and future of the personality which can be considered both separately and together (10) that allows us to interpret life-meaningful values not only in the system but also within the vector or orientation that affects the lifestyle, the individual's nature, his moral choice.

The establishment of life-meaningful orientations is connected not with some dramatic changes in the outlook of adolescent and youth, but with amplification of their range and filling them with new meanings.

The meaning of life is formed, confirmed, transformed and implemented by means of using life-meaningful values. On the one hand, life-meaningful values are included in the structure of the individual's personal values, on the other hand - the meaning of life characterizing human values and his choice of the life meaning. «The hierarchy of personal values and meanings, firstly, prevents the personality to dissolve in empirical existence, losing intrinsic potency as developed personal values are the basis of the inner world as an expression of stable, invariant, secondly - makes it possible to exist and operate freely, it means consciously, deliberately» (4, p. 22-23).

Life-meaningful values determined by the choice of a subject, simultaneously acting as a determinant, with a significance («sense») for a person and the function of the meaning of life, serving his motivation and core. «Thanks to the existence of such values the person has the ability to be flexible in terms of focus on the meaning of life. It means that they help, for example, such as a man losing the meaning of life to fill the arisen emptiness, protect and cover the meaning of life and with it the man himself. However, it is paradoxical but true: these values sometimes hide the true meaning of life, which can be implemented in one of the most important values, and can be «woven» with a range of different life-meaningful values» (13, p. 51).

Thus, «life-meaningful values» as the most important component of moral self-identity of the personality that determines his attitude to himself, people, society and describes his moral need for love, prosperity, freedom, justice, respect for the dignity of their implementation in the relevant behavior and work at himself.

The personality is not able to get life-meaningful values in a finished form, but must find them, based on his experience in the process of life, overcoming difficulties and obstacles.

Life-meaningful values reflect the life concept, purpose and summarized and understood principles of life which are within the sphere of valuable regime of life and life claims that is to say expectations, life aspirations, hopes, demands, the personality feels in relation to his future, to his life.

The problem of the meaning of life and life-meaningful values exacerbates in different periods of the personality's life. As a rule, they are related to:

• radical changes in society (revolutions, wars, economic and political crisis and troubles), characterized by the break the usual relationships with parents, friends, changes in life and values of people;

• destruction of the individual's everyday life (parents' divorce, loss of relatives, unrequited love, severance of friendship, incurable disease, traumas, leading to injury, disappointment in the ideals and etc.);

• age crises inherent in adolescence and early youth;

• deepening into religious, psychological and philosophical practices associated with life claims of the individual and his aspiration to achieve his vertex opportunities.

We share the views of K. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya and T. Berezina about that life demands provide, model that a person, in his opinion, wants to get from life, can expect or has the right (1, p. 150).

Life-meaningful personal space

The result of awareness of the personality as the creator of his own life, choosing life-meaningful values, own interpretation of moral experience is to create meaningful personal space that reflects the personality's moral development, integrity and autonomy and creates conditions for self-realization. Semantic space of basic and high school pupils is aimed at assimilation and integration of the basic life meanings. Blocking individual semantic space can lead to alienation of the personality, loss of the meaning of life, inability to develop. Another important feature of semantic personal space is its integrity, which stipulates the interconnection of impressions, feelings, aspirations and actions in the past, present, future, allowing the personality to understand not only the correctness or falsity of his actions and understand their consequences, but also to subordinate them to their life-meaningful values. «One of the key features of a developed personality is the ability to manage own semantic space actively. This refers to the ability to rethink, reconstruct own experience according to changing circumstances, and in accordance with the personal narrative of life plans, objectives and prospects of the personality» (17, p. 306).

Decisions and life claims of the personality

Life claims of the personality are an important element of the personality's internal life, the target idea, a driving factor in the choice of life-meaningful values by the personality. Doing motivation, incentive role, vital claims direct the personality to changes and self-motion.

Life claims, according to T. Titarenko - «a dynamic model of the desired future world, the new interpretative frame in which a man wants to pack up his life. This active, emotional, persistent, purposeful, specific attitude towards himself and his surroundings, the time of his life, their future, which takes into account previous defeat and victory, interests of the personality and society, needs of socialized «I» and deep nature, intention of potential» (15, p. 20).

The choice of life-meaningful values due to the individual decision is based on the moral knowledge, beliefs, moral experience. In support of this view, in A. Guseinov, I. Cohn's dictionary, the decision is defined as «an intellectual phase of moral choice; a rational procedure of moral consciousness, which opts an action, preferring relevant moral values and norms» (14, p. 290-291). The decision-making passes through the stages of searching, understanding, acceptance and implementation of decisions, where each stage may have its duration and nonlinearity, which can be explained as doubt, changes, return back to the earlier denial views by teenagers and high school pupils.

Life-meaningful values are based on humanistic ethics and morality, which are leading in the upbringing of the growing personality.

Education of life-meaningful values

«Education of life-meaningful values» is the result of the interaction of all the individuals of the educational process, purposeful activity aimed at forming humanistic thinking, awareness of the importance of life-meaningful values in their own lives, formation of moral qualities, development of emotional and sensual sphere, introspection and reflection, capacity for free choice, readiness for self-realization.

One should pay attention to the conditions and circumstances of life in the education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils, because the personality opts in certain circumstances, making a choice in favour of values that seems extremely important at the moment, according to some situation in life, as an attempt to solve the vital problem.

Conclusions

Thus, the characteristic of the conceptual apparatus of education of life-meaningful values of basic and high school pupils in the philosophical, psychological and pedagogical discourse allows examining them in the context of the present, to determine the goals and prospects of such education in secondary schools, based on the common understanding and usage of mentioned terminology.

Literature

1. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya K.A. Time of personality and time of life: Monograph / K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, T.N. Berezina. - SPb.: Aleteyya, 2001. - 304 p.

2. Asmolov A.G. Psychology of personality / A.G. Asmolov. - M.: MGU, 1990. - 255 p.

3. Berinda P. Slavic and Russian vocabulary and interpretation of names (Le^ikon slavenorwsskiy y Ym^n tlkovanie) / Pamvo Berinda. - K.: Tipografii Obshchezhitelnago Monastyra Kuteynskago, 1653. - 330 p.

4. Bekh I.D. Education of personality: Textbook / Ivan Dmytrovych Bekh. - K.: Lybid, 2008. - 848 p.

5. Varii M.I. Psychology of personality: Educational manual / M.I. Varii. - K.: The Centre of Educational Literature, 2008. - 592 p.

6. Volkov I.P. Sociometric methods in the study of social and psychological researches / I.P. Volkov. - L.: 1970. - 88 p.

7. Ethics: Educational manual / [V.O. Lozovyi, M.I. Panov, O.A. Stasevska, M.B. Tsenko and others; edited by V.O. Lozovyi]. K.: Yurinkom Inter, 2002. - 224 p.

8. Zhuchkova S.V. Life-meaningful orientations as subjective components of the phenomenon of life sense / S.V. Zhuchkova // Materials of international extramural scientific and practical conference [«Actual questions of pedagogics and psychology»], (August 1, 2011). Part Ill. - Novosibirsk: «ENSKE», 2011. - P.146-149.

9. Leontiev D.A. Psychology of sense: nature, structure and dynamics of semantic reality / D.A. Leontiev. - M.: Smysl, 1999. - 487 p.

10. Leontiev D.A. The life-purpose orientations questionnaire / D.A. Leontiev. - M.: 1992. - 16 p.

11. Makarenko A.S. Pedagogical writings: issued in 8 v.: V.8 / Anton Semenovich Makarenko; comp. M.D. Vinogradova, A.A. Frolov. - M.: Pedagogy, 1986. - 336 p.

12. Mishatkina T.V. Ethics: Practical studies: Guide for students of higher educational institutions / Tatyana Viktorovna Mishatkina. - Minsk: TetraSystems, 2003. - 320 p.

13. Semikov V.A. Psychological and acmeological peculiarities of development of life-meaningful values of humanities students: dis... cand. of psychological sciences: special.: 19.00.13 - «Psychology of development, acmeology (psychological sciences)» / Semikov Vladimir Alekseevich. - Tambov, 2009. - 263p.

14. Glossary of Ethics / Edited by A.A. Guseynov and I.S. Kon. - M.: Politizdat, 1989. - 447 p.

15. Tytarenko T.M. Life requirements of personality: Monograph / Tytarenko Tetiana Mykhailivna. - K.: Pedahohichna dumka, 2007. - 456 p.

16. Ushynskyi K.D. Selected pedagogical writings: issued in 2 v. / Konstantyn Dmytrovych Ushynskyi; edited by V. Stolietov.

- K.: Radianska shkola, 1983. - V.1.: Theoretical problems of pedagogics / comp. E.D. Dnieprov; edit. O.I. Pyskunov. - 488 p.

17. Chepelieva N.V. Understanding and interpretation of life experience as a factor in personal development / N.V. Chepelieva // Pedagogical and psychological science in Ukraine: collected scientific researches: issued in 5 v. - V.2: Psychology, age physiology and defectology. - K.: Pedahohichna dumka, 2012. - P. 300-311.

18. Chudnovskiy V.E. Sense of life and destiny / V.E. Chudnovskiy. - M.: Os, 1997. - 208 p.

Размещено на Allbest.ru