The civil education
All the modern world is surprised nowadays by the phenomena of “Asian Tigers” – the countries, that a few years were economically undeveloped. What is the secret of their success? To achieve it they use not only the modern super technologies, but also various spheres of the educational space, particularly, moral education.
The successful America also considered and consider the education a part of the purposeful nurturing of citizen-patriot. Accordingly, the civil education in economically developed countries is the prerogative of the national policy.
Why does the society need the civil education? It helps to nurture citizens socially and economically active. All the liberal economy is based on the activeness of the population. The social activeness allows to express one’s dissatisfaction by peaceful means, to attract one’s attention, to participate at the elections. This is one of the tasks of the civil society.
What result does the society want of the civil education? The society needs stability. How does the society feel it? The society tries to understand the strategy of the power and to work out its own strategy. It’s able to conduct the dialogue with the power. The civil education teaches to understand it. The society must understand the power and to influence it. The society is interested to assume some elements of the authorities power. One must be taught in school how to do it, how to create civil society institutions.
What do the civil skills, civil values give to a citizen? This allows him/her to form the career decisions, to plan the strategy of his/her own life, to use the opportunities, provided by the state. It is very important to see the strategic resources of the state and of your own. The successes of a citizen and of the country depends of his/her civil potential.
A citizen must learn to build real plans and to reach it. The society must help him/her to be successful. This education has to be not only theoretically perfect, it must also include practical work on socially important projects. The pupils, parents, local communities, authorities – they must take part together in this process. They have to get skills of the social partnership. The cooperation between the population, authorities and the society must be permanent – it would provide social stability and maximal profit for the country.
School must become a center of the local community. In Krasnoyarsk region of Russia the civil education has become already a tradition. The local civil activists intend to create a department of the civil sciences within the pedagogical institute.
Nowadays in the Republic of Saha-Yakoutia the civil sciences are being taught from 6th to 11th classes at school. Every school; has the right to determine if it needs the civil education. For instance, in 2004-2005 school year of 20 schools of Yakoutsk only in two schools the civil education was provided. That is not enough and doesn’t respond modern needs of the civil society and the state policy.
One of the most important questions of today is a s follows: Is our youth ready for the life based on the civil responsibility? What do the youngsters need to achieve their goals? First of all, to be able to model vital situations. It is very important to teach a young to adapt to a new situation, to feel new responsibilities and new rights, to put up with the particularities of his/her colleagues, to foresee problems he/she can face, to feel comfortable in a new atmosphere.
All these skills and knowledge are very important for the civil education. The civil education forms the knowledge about the society, the civil values, the person’s ability to model and to build his/her own life.
The Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the republic of Sakha-Yakoutia Anna Solovieva.