On the priorities of education in the context of global problems of the modern world

In the modern world there are serious socio-cultural changes and crisis phenomena of both local and global nature. Education, being an inertial system by nature, cannot keep up with rapidly changing events, and therefore it is constantly necessary to forecast and correctly prioritize its development. Historical and cultural analysis of the situation in Russia and the countries of Western civilization has revealed serious problems that cannot be solved without the active participation of education. The first problem is caused by the crisis of the policy of globalization and multiculturalism promoted by the West. Examples from history and modern times show that what is acceptable for some countries often becomes destructive and destructive for others. Consequently, the pursuit of a common cultural identity can be considered now only as a very distant prospect in the evolutionary process of humanity’s development. The priority of education today should be to provide targeted assistance in helping the growing individual and a particular people to realize their cultural identity, to develop in them a respectful attitude towards the cultures of other peoples and, on this basis, to pursue a productive intercultural dialogue. Other global problems that cannot be solved without the active participation of education are the energy and environmental crises and the consumer psychology imposed on people from an early age. The origins of these global problems are common and are not related to the political structure of states. There have been at least two periods in human history when people were on the verge of extinction. Each time they were saved by the fact that they found the strength to consciously change their way of life and themselves on the basis of jointly accepted and universally recognized values and taboos, that is, they showed themselves not only as rational beings, but also as moral and spiritual. This aspect is poorly reflected in the rationale of the competency-based approach and in the program documents on education adopted in Russia and the world in recent years. In line with the competence approach, an important priority of education today should be the development of people’s environmental consciousness and recognition of the priority of spiritual needs over material needs.

priorities of modern education, crisis of modern education, global crises, cultural identity, competence approach