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A PERSON’S IDENTITY
IN THE CONDITIONS OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
Т. H. Deberdeeva
Education is a social activity of society which integrates various social institutions (family, religion, culture, media, etc.) around one main task. This task, according to the opinion of the authors of the federal state educational standards (which was repeatedly mentioned by A.M. Kondakov), with other options of articulation of the tasks, includes forming Russia’s future.
“We should not just confidently develop, but also preserve our national and spiritual identity; we should not lose ourselves as a nation. We must be and remain Russia.” (4) It is not possible to continue to be Russia, causing the movement of Russia towards a civilian open society, without solving the problems of personal identity. “Generally speaking, it is the social construction of the personal identity as a man of peace and a citizen of the country which acts as a mission of social and cultural modernization of education.” [1, p. 22] This requires consistent development and transformation by the person of different modalities of his/her civil life in modern society, i.e. the “multiple selves” which are mentioned by A.G. Asmolov. Today we find ourselves in an environment where the number of a person's identities increases dramatically. It includes not only civic identity, but also a political and regional identity, professional and social identity, gender, ethnic, religious, network, and family identity, etc. “The diversity of identities is one of the key objectives on which today's education should focus.” [see: 2] However, focusing on multiple identities, the authors of standards offer the Russian identity as a mission of a contemporary school, i.e. “formation of a personality of a future Russian citizen, as an essential condition for strengthening Russian statehood.” [3, p. 1]
This mission involves climbing the expanding circles from the cradle and one’s local homeland to the Motherland and the whole of mankind. Culture (“basic identity”) is the core thing in this route. Cultural identities (including ethical, national, religious, and civilizational) play a key role in understanding by a person of himself, in further self-identification, which lasts during a person’s whole life, and is an ongoing, open process.
The following structures are offered as the components of Russian identity:
1. Ethnic and regional identity. In its structure it is possible to separate several layers: regional ethnicity, national identity, and ethnic identity. At this stage, in the elementary school, there is a clear need of forming a person’s tolerant conscience.
2. Civil identity - the formation of a person's identity as a citizen of one’s country, development of civil patriotism and love for one’s motherland [1, p. 37-38]. Obviously, in the process of forming civil identity, a conflict between its elements may manifest itself (between patriotism and civil qualities) which cannot be brought together. At this stage in the secondary school, the need for development of a tolerant culture becomes even more apparent.
3. Universal identity - studying the products of world culture and the general history of mankind, gaining universal values, the achievements of science and technology, and human values which make a person close to all of mankind. Finding this identity is a delayed process which is possible in a secondary school
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only in rare cases. Self-understanding as a man of peace, a member of the community “people of Earth” and “mankind” requires a very high level of development of personal culture and a high degree of inner freedom and tolerance. From the perspective of a particular person, identity is a need for ordering one’s life, which a person can only do by being part of a community of other people. To do this, a person should voluntarily accept the dominant elements of consciousness, norms, values, tastes, habits and other means of interconnection adopted by other people.
Not accidentally, A.M. Kondakov recalls the Soviet Union, after the collapse of which “the guidelines, to which our society adhered in the formation of values of the younger generation, have disappeared” [3, p. 1]. An open society brings together a variety of people with different perspectives and different interests. There are no common values accepted by people in this society of growing uncertainty, which, on the one hand, complicates the formation of the identity, and on the other hand, opens a variety of options (ways, methods, samples) of selfidentity. In the existing space of choice, the problem of expediency and selfrestraint seems important. A child, often not being a subject, not having specific goals, being in the process of understanding meanings, undergoes the risks “to be drowned” in a sea of opening opportunities, in the process of trial and error, in the process of self-understanding. An adult who is sincerely interested in the future of the development of a young one’s personality should become an assistant, a counselor, and a friend in this process.
Under the conditions of the total crisis of the family, which modern Russian society is experiencing, and the lack of a coherent consistent system of impact upon the younger generation built by the government and the society (ideas, meanings, goals, objectives, behaviors, etc.), the mission of identity formation, according to the opinion of the authors of the standards, rests with the teachers. Certainly, the Institute of Education is the most important factor in the formation of new life standards of a person. However, it is hardly possible to limit the space of self-identification to just the space of formal education.
Networking teenagers, communication and behavioral strategies in social space, private conversations, watching movies and reading books: these manifestations of formal and informal education and a person’s development also (and even more) affect the process of self-actualization, and define the space of choices in the self-identification process. But, unfortunately, this process cannot be controlled by either parents or teachers. And being in “free floating”, the identification process becomes contradictory and can have such negative consequences as self-identification as part of representatives of dubious subcultures (for example, Goths or emos) or a complete lack of understanding of oneself, which can be manifested in a suicidal mood, which, unfortunately, is quite common among teens.
Total control, and narrowing the space of choice goes in contradiction with the principle of openness. A person constantly faces choices in his/her life, and is always in the process of self-determination, self-identification. A person should know how to make a responsible choice and be responsible for its consequences. Thus, work focused on self-determination of a child should be made in an educational institution (preferably, also in a family) at the early stages of personality development.
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The first step in the formation of a child’s identity shall include gaining knowledge. It is still difficult for many Russian teachers (at the psychological level) to acknowledge the fact that a cognitive approach, being the first one (as a keystone), is not the only one or the key one (especially, the last one). Otherwise, the “end result” will be an “educated kidult”. The second step is to achieve a connotative level (recognition of values at an emotional level): the presence of an emotional and positive attitude to culture, traditions, history, etc. The third step includes the axiological level (with the following values): respect, recognition, availability of the developed system of universal values, etc. And finally, the fourth step includes the behavioral level - implementation of behavior patterns and a life strategy in general.
Accordingly, the methods of working with students on the implementation of a certain “step” are different, ranging from theoretical to social projects and social actions. Of course, the teaching skills imply an impact upon a child in a gameplaying form, with great respect to each individual and recognition of his/her capabilities and high potential.
Describing the interaction of an adult and a child, Daniel Pennak, in his book “School Suffering”, not incidentally uses the image of an orchestra, in which “each schoolchild plays his/her own instrument - there's nothing to be done with it”. The thing is to get to know our “musicians” in the best possible way and to achieve harmony between them. A good class is not a regiment, keeping up, but an orchestra playing a symphony. And if you have a triangle in the orchestra, which only says “ding-ding”, or a jaw harp, which produces nothing but “bang-bang”, the most important thing is to make them start, when it is necessary, and to make them sound as good as possible, to make them the best possible triangle and jaw harp, so that they could be proud of their contribution to the common business. And because the wish to reach universal harmony, anyway, makes them all move forward, even the triangle eventually will play good music, though not as brilliant as the first violin, but it will be music nevertheless. The orchestra music - here everybody can build his or her own path of self-identification, followed by selfrealization, in the conditions of an open lifelong education with various methods, forms and content.
References
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Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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