Abstract
The paper deals with the contemporary problems of education – its functions, mission, humanistic essence and need for the understanding of value. Education is not only school training or getting competences at the highest educational institutions. It is understood as a life experience, where cognition, judgement and practical activity come together in one complex. Nowadays the most popular systems of education are structured on the model based mainly on pragmatism, professionalism, information, technology, to which philosophers are trying to attach moral and cultural dimensions, but their views do not carry much weight. The author agrees with R. Dahrendorf that we need empathetic education and with P. Kemp that educational institutions today are transformed more and more into commercial institutions, that universities try to sell knowledge, people are educated for competition, while cultural and moral education are considered useless. Therefore the author argues for the development of cultural and moral education at all levels of education starting from childhood up to life long learning. Teaching and practising of philosophy must be returned to the curricula more widely because philosophy is able to explain values, teach morals, cultivate critical, creative and caring thinking and develop personalities.
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Notes
- 1.
See, for example, information about university ranking
http://www.shanghairanking.com/; http://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings; http://www.webometrics.info/en/ranking_europe/central_eastern_europe?sort=desc&order=World+Rank. Accessed February 2, 2014.
- 2.
Discussions about need of global education reforms and failure of results are described in Bereiter 2002. See especially Chapter 12. Why Educational Reform Needs a New Theory.
- 3.
See, for instance, Vandenberg (1981, 38–64).
- 4.
Guerra Palmero, M. J. means the Bologna process which was launched in 1999 by the Ministers of Education and university leaders of 29 countries, including University of Latvia, it has further developed into a process encompassing 46 countries. The progressive step for Europe was the idea to harmonize the national educational systems, but the Bologna process oriented universities to the three cycle degree system where every cycle gives the possibility of joining the labour market. The demands of market power seem to be much more stronger than the necessity to develop socially wise and responsible personalities.
- 5.
See: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a26
Accessed December 20, 2013.
- 6.
The concept of “understanding” has been developed in philosophical hermeneutics, see the classical book by Gadamer (2006).
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Kūle, M. (2016). Life Experience, Values and Education. In: Tālivaldis Ozoliņš, J. (eds) Religion and Culture in Dialogue. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-25724-2_13
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