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15International Annual Edition of Applied Psychology: Theory, Research, and Practice Volume 2, Issue 1, 2015.
THE ETHNO-CULTURAL APPROACH IN THE SOLVING OF PROBLEM OF STUDENTS CIVIL FORMATION
Svetlana N. Filipchenko
Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia sgu.pedago gika@yandex .ru
Natalia G. Nedogreeva Saratov State University, Saratov, Russia nata-ned@mail .ru
Abstract
The article considers the aspects of students, future teachers, civil formation in problemsolving implementation of the personal requirements of the new state education standard. In accordance with the principle of cultural congruity the education meets the task to introduce adolescents to the different layers of culture of ethnic groups, societies and the world in general. The implementation of this principle assumes communication with the system of common mankind values, moral values and norms of society and orients the teacher on the introduction of trainees to different layers of culture. It is shown that a religion is one of the most effective means of formation of tolerant consciousness among the younger generation. Purposeful use of its positive potential during the formation of personality can help to nurture a future generation's positive attitudes towards representatives of different peoples and a respect for ethnic and psychological characteristics of various ethnic groups living in Russia.
Key Words: the students civil formation, the principles of cultural congruity, of nationalities, of intercultural dialogue and of tolerance, the ethno-cultural approach.
The Higher School today bears up great expectations of the realization of the tasks of civil upbringing of students. The ethno-cultural approach to the civil formation of the student's personality supposes the use of existing values of national cultures. The most proper for the essence and destination of ethno-cultural
component of students civil formation are the principles of cultural congruity, of nationalities, of intercultural dialogue and of tolerance.
The compliance with these principles in the high school educational process provides the formation of personal civil identity of the citizens of their own countries ready to act in the ethno-cultural environment on the basis of ethnic cultures.
The ethno-cultural approach to the training of students, future teachers, is to provide the regional-ethnic orientation both the content of education and the use of different methods of such training. A distinctive feature of this approach implementation is the selection of the ethno-cultural component in the curriculum content and academic disciplines. On its basis in the course of used modern pedagogical technologies of education the formation of the personality of the future teacher happens who is ready to meet the requirements of the second generation Federal state education standard for personal results of the educational process.
The concept of the principle of cultural congruity in education was formulated by F.A.V. Disterveg, who argued that the education must take into account the conditions of certain time and place where and when each human was born and lives, what means both the whole modern culture in the broad sense of the term and the culture of specific country, which is the motherland [3]. In the modern pedagogical science this principle got its rationale in the works of A.P. Bulkin, I.E. Vidt, A.Y. Danilyuk, N.B. Krylova, A.V. Mudrik, C.Sh. Salimova, V.D. Semenov and others.
In accordance with the principle of cultural congruity the education meets the task to introduce adolescents to the different layers of culture of ethnos, society and the world in general. We mean such types of culture as everyday life, mental, intellectual, political and moral culture that defines the relationship of a person to himself and to other people, society and nature. It is necessary that education and training could help a growing person to navigate through the changes of himself and of the world around. It is important that education could help him to «fit in» the
changing realities of life and to find the ways of self-realization and self-assertion that will be adequate to these realities [5].
N.B. Krylova underlines that the cultural congruity is «a meta-principle according to which the education (including the formation of civil identity) on the one hand should be adequate to the modern culture and its features and requirements, and on the other hand should be able for social reconstruction that is to be organizing new culture forms but not only transferring its norms and values» [4, p. 76]. This principle has both an explanatory sense as culture-capacious education (that is filled with cultural elements) based on the "quality" and "worth" features (which are conceptual definitions of culture) and the functional sense because it implies a direct influence on the determination, organization and production of educational content; educational forms; methods and tools [ibid.].
The principle of cultural congruity discovers an amazing historical plasticity and converts at the end of the last century owing to the beginning of the processes of globalization and informatization and spreading of ideas of tolerance and human rights, social groups and peoples protection, that significantly complicated the educational reality. The classical principle of cultural congruity was modified to the principle of multiculturalism due to the requirement to represent many different cultures in a single educational system [2, p. 6].
The implementation of this principle involving the communication with the system of mankind common values as well as the society moral values and norms orients the teacher on the introduction of trainees to different layers of culture (of everyday life, physical, sexual, financial, spiritual, political, economic, intellectual, moral culture and others). However the goals, contents and methods of education meet the principle of cultural congruity only if they take into account the historically developed in a particular society traditions.
The consideration of ethnic and regional society cultures is the requirement for the implementation of this principle in the student's civil personality formation. It is important that the principle of cultural congruity allows to perform the intra-
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disciplinary and to complement the inter-disciplinary integration, what is an essential point of students civil development.
Thus the essence of the principle of cultural congruity in the context of personal civil formation is that it directs the teacher on the students knowledge of native land, of the subjects of different cultures living in the Saratov region and on the taking into account all regional cultural traditions and events that happen in the region.
The modern interpretation of the principle of cultural congruity assumes that the person civil formation must be based on universal values, must be built on taking into account the features of ethnic and regional cultures and must solve the task of initiation of this person to the different layers of culture. The goals, content and methods of education correspond the principle of cultural congruity only if they take into account historically particular for each society traditions and style of socialization.
Also the particular attention should be paid to the principle of nationalities. The full justification this principle received in the writings of K. D. Ushinsky, who claimed that if education does not want to be powerless, it must be national. «As well as there is no person without vanity, there is nobody without love to the Motherland, and this love gives to the education the correct key to the heart of a man and the powerful support for the struggle with his bad natural, personal, family and tribal inclinations. Addressing the nationality, education will always find answers and assistance in living and a strong sense of a person, which works much stronger than the beliefs got only through the mind, or habits that were formed by fear of punishment» [8, p. 252].
In modern pedagogical science the principle of nationalities defines the folk traditions as the basis of education; that means in-growth of new generation in adults life (an independent development of cultural values) and targeted transfer of cultural experience from seniors to juniors [7].
The methodological significance of the principle of nationalities is that its realization provides the students civil formation through their assimilation of national cultural values, history, traditions and customs and promotes their inclusion to cultural and historical roots (through the connection with the principle of cultural congruity). This principle orients the teacher on the development of students' sense of belonging to a particular nation, on the formation of the knowledge of mental and moral values of their own people, its history and traditions; that allows students to feel themselves the part of certain civil community and to associate themselves with this community.
Besides the principle of nationalities high importance has the principle of cultures dialogue (V.S. Bibler, A.B. Pankin, A.P. Sadokhin, E.G. Falkova and others), the relevance of which for students civil identity formation is caused, on one hand, by the necessity to take into account the traditions of national education, and on other hand with the multicultural changes of students contingent structure. This is due to the growth of national consciousness of the nations and ethnic groups living in Russia as well as to large scale of migration both within the country and from abroad what is the reality of social, economical and political life of our society in general and of the Saratov region in particular.
The study of the culture of neighboring peoples promotes the upbringing of feelings of equality and dignity through cultural dialogue with representatives of various nationalities. The culture in such dialogue acts as one of deciding factors of peoples association. There is no history and individuals development without the cultures dialogue. The ethnic culture allows to perceive deeply something alien through own and something own through alien [6, p. 229]. Personal interaction with another culture and its actors as carriers of various cultural orientations on one hand gives the better understanding of the uniqueness of the mental and cultural heritage of own ethnic group, and on the other hand to learn, to understand and to accept the culture values of other ethnic groups. A person who has own worldview and faith is
able to show generosity and to respect the outlook and faith of another person and to own the harmony of civil, ethno-cultural and human identities [1].
This approach is realized during the learning of different disciplines, especially such as philosophy, pedagogy, psychology and elective courses. Thus, for example, in the course «The pedagogical education» 050100 (the degree of bachelor) such claims to knowledge of future teachers are nominated as ability to work in multicultural and multi-ethnic environment, ability to form a tolerant attitude to the cultural traditions of Russian Federation peoples and to form a critically thinking person.
During the pedagogical practice of students of the faculty of physics the considerable attention is paid to issues related to the culture of inter-ethnic relations, to the knowledge of own ethnicity, the knowledge of history, language and culture of own people, of the native land, of the foundations of cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia and of the whole mankind, and to the absorption of humanistic, democratic and traditional values of the multinational Russian society, etc. A considerable accent is put on the problem of communication of students of different nationalities.
One of the most effective means to form the tolerant consciousness among the younger generation is religion. The purposeful use of the positive potential of religion in the formation of personality helps to nurture a future generations' positive attitude towards the representatives of different nationalities, as well as the respect and loyalty to ethnic pedagogical and psychological special features of various ethnic groups living in Russia.
In modern conditions in public consciousness is established the opinion that any religion is not only a form of social consciousness and ideology, but it is also the bearer of universal moral values, the part of the national cultural heritage and one of the factors that shape national and ethnic consciousness, the culture of inter-ethnic relations. The worldview of the peoples is largely determined by the nature of the religion which they professes.
That is the reason of the particular interest of extra-curricular activities whose primary purpose is to create the culture of inter-ethnic relations of students, such as «Fundamentals of Islam» and «History of world religions». These lessons - are not just familiarity with the Islam and the Koran as the oldest monument of Islam and the culture of Muslims but also the lessons that teach children to respect the other peoples, to distinguish good and evil, and help them to acquire the moral and ethical standards of various peoples.
Being one of the main regulators of social behavior, the religion even at subconscious level substantially determines the specificity of national-cultural environment of ethnic community. Nowadays the religious affiliation rather reflects the type of culture to which a person relates and his cultural values orientations than the degree of his religiosity. The religion is an important indicator of national awareness and ethnic integration, therefore the religious orientation of the representatives of any nation reflect trends of cultural development of the ethnos as a whole. Any religion teaches tolerance, patience, respect for parents, women and mothers, care for the weak, sick and destitute, as well as to be educated, humane, hardworking and honest. The very fact of stable existence of different religions for thousands of years suggests that they have deep roots in human nature and perform a number of inherent functions. The religion is primarily the sphere of the spiritual life of society but also reflects the universal norms of morality.
Thus, the carried out by the students during their teaching practice cultural and religious education of the younger generation, its adaptation to the values of national religious culture is an invaluable contribution to the education and development of pupils. The knowledge of traditional religious culture may serve as a protective mechanism against the negative mind effects of religious-mystical and extremist elements and allows to form students' high moral, national and religious tolerance and respect for other cultures. Studying the history of religion, pupils make sure that all the world religions are characterized by similar substance and continuity of
content and that the real meaning of religion is the moral improvement of man and consolidation of Nations.
The main installation in conducting such training activities is a clear focus on self-expression, so students are not restricted to the "right" point of view, but on the contrary, in all possible ways they are pushed to make own conclusions and decisions. In this regard, the decision about the refusal of any competition is made. The lesson can take place in the form of conversation or in accordance with the fairly common "round table" technology. The leader (teacher) specifies the direction of reflections, expresses his own point of view on a particular issue and then unobtrusively offers every student to explain his own point of view. It was very nice to see how students after adopting this form of communication argued with pleasure, entered into debate with each other and then with the help of leaders by joint efforts came to a general conclusion. All events were accompanied by presentations.
The authors also tried for the first time such rarely used in the Russian educational activities modern technology as «The World Café». It is known in the world since 1995. This is as well the art of conversation essentially in a relaxed and open atmosphere - in the cosy atmosphere of a 'customary cafe' that allows you to engage the collective intelligence of the participants in the process of discussion and offers them to large-scale multi-level dialogue. «The World Café» technology is the process, the communication and the infusion in a conversation of such things that help the leaders (table-holders) and all participants of the conversation to reach their goals, this is a very simple but very powerful method of creation of the subject of joint discussion of burning questions of the participants of the dialogue. The tables for 4 persons are arranged, their masters while leading the thread of the conversation and plunging deeper and deeper into the subject invite new people into the discussion - so that any person can move from one table to another, and so on.
In the conclusion the presenters identify those of the participants who were most active in the course of the event and express the hope that the rest of them
probably after such a lively conversation could put their own opinion on the discussed issues.
The conversation as a form of classes conducting is fully justified. Students do not feel shy and do not try to remain silent from fear to give the wrong answers because of the very simple reason - every answer of each of them is right while expressing personal point of view.
So, the process of students civil formation necessarily includes the ethno-cultural component and is implemented with the help of principles adequate to its essence. Such core values as "Motherland", "tolerance", "nobility", "generosity", "responsibility", "duty", "national pride", "fairness" and others are set by the course of social development and form the guideline for peoples association, become the motives of civil behavior and serve as the criterion of civil character acts.
The experience of personal civil behavior is based on the moral choice, on the evaluation of this choice results and solved moral dilemmas. The education on the historical and cultural traditions and customs gives a sense that each person is a unique representative of his own people (nation) and the providing of sustainable harmony between the various ethnic groups forms the respect for the cultures diversity and readiness for cooperation. The ethno-cultural direction of values orientations promotes the mutual diffusion of universal human values and national values and their interdependence.
References
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