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THE IDEA OF INTERCONNECTION OF MORAL AND AESTHETIC UPBRINGING OF YOUTH IN THE PEDAGOGICAL HERITAGE OF UKRAINE: PAST AND PRESENT

The article reveals the importance of reviving the spirituality of the individual at the present stage, substantiates the need to study and critically rethink the historical and pedagogical experience of moral and aesthetic education. The authors emphasize that in order to realize the spiritual and creative function of education, it is advisable to use the pedagogical achievements of the past in the moral and aesthetic education of the younger generation.
Keywords: moral and aesthetic education, aesthetic culture, moral values, atmosphere of joy, aestheticization of life.

Bilyk V. M.
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor,
H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

Druganova O. M.
Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor,
H. S. Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.187

The ability to perceive different aspects of life and evaluate the world aesthetically is one of the conditions for the formation of a young person’s morally stable attitude to reality, people, work, nature, and the Motherland. At the same time, the more developed the moral components are, the wider the range of aesthetic feelings of a young person becomes, the more opportunities for correct perception of nature, social and spiritual life.

Today, the imbalance of spiritual and material values of human culture is determined by a deep moral crisis in society. According to scholars, the lack of moral values and the education of young people without taking into account the cultural and historical traditions, values, and mentality of their people have become significant problems of our time. The spiritual culture of an individual is the level of moral perfection, the totality of moral virtues accumulated by a person, the level of his or her aesthetic education and creative development.

One of the ways to revive spirituality is to study and critically rethink the accumulated historical and pedagogical experience of moral and aesthetic education, the possibility of implementing the most valuable pedagogical ideas in modern educational institutions of Ukraine.

Ukrainian educators (M. Verba, V. Hryhorov, I. Ziaziun, T. Polozova, N. Sokolova, A. Luhovskyi, V. Sukhomlynskyi, O. Sukhomlynska, H. Shchukina, H. Shevchenko, and others) who devoted their research to moral and aesthetic aspects tried not only to substantiate the theoretical foundations of these areas of education, but also to determine the influence of one on the other.

The analysis of historical and pedagogical works shows that the influence of aesthetic education on the formation of moral consciousness and spirituality of students of different ages was studied more often. The role of moral factors in the formation of students’ aesthetic culture has been studied less.

A notable contribution to the development of theoretical issues of moral and aesthetic education, to the accumulation of experience in the formation of moral and aesthetic qualities in the younger generation was made by such educators, whose time of activity falls on the eighteenth – nineteenth centuries: H. Skovoroda, O. Dukhnovych, M. Drahomanov, S. Rusova, K. Ushynskyi, T. Shevchenko, I. Franko, M. Lysenko, M. Leontovych, J. Stepovyi, B. Yavorsky, and others. In their works, moral and aesthetic education were defined as components of human spiritual culture, important conditions for the formation of a harmoniously developed personality.

For example, the prominent philosopher H. Skovoroda in his works (“Noble Erodius”, “The Primary Door to Christian Goodness”) saw the formation of habits of highly moral behavior of young people as crucial in education, because, in his opinion, habit does not live in knowledge, but in actions and deeds [5, p. 77]. He dreamed of the spiritual improvement of man through art, the beauty of work. In his work “Conversation on Wisdom. Wisdom and Man”, he emphasized that the main conditions for a moral and beautiful (happy) life are “imperishable” beauty and “kindred” labor, because it corresponds to the natural abilities and aspirations of a person.

The basis of all human actions is the achievement of good, the good, and that is why, in his opinion, what is useful for a person is desirable for him or her, and therefore beautiful. According to H. Skovoroda, benefit and beauty, and beauty and benefit, are indivisible, and their unity becomes a source of human happiness. According to the thinker, beauty is organically linked to kindness, so goodness lives in beauty [5, p. 211]. This thought led to the combination of moral and aesthetic in his worldview.

The study of memoirs, art history, and pedagogical sources shows that the Kharkiv Collegium played a special role in the formation of moral and aesthetic education of the youth of Sloboda Ukraine. According to scholars, among the teachers of the collegium and additional classes (military, music, art) were individuals who not only left a mark on the history of Ukrainian culture but also significantly influenced the moral and aesthetic formation of the students of this institution [1, p. 38].

Researchers of this period [4, p. 232] note that attention to moral education and the development of students’ creative abilities was paid by the teachers of the college, regardless of their status or age. Students were brought up in the spirit of high morality, which was facilitated not only by strict discipline but also by the ability to behave virtuously and compose works (literary, philosophical treatises, musical compositions, etc.), which in turn was considered the highest dimension of spiritual maturity.

The legacy of famous twentieth-century educators such as H. Vashchenko, V. Zatonsky, V. Zenkovsky, A. Makarenko, Y. Mamontov, O. Muzychenko, I. Ohienko, and V. Sukhomlynsky reveals the content of the process of forming a harmonious, spiritually rich personality. The works of these enlighteners reveal the educational value of the traditions of the people, moral norms, ideals, which can help to form both ethical qualities (a sense of belonging to one’s people, patriotism, humanism, and others) and aesthetic values – the ability to sympathize, see, understand, and appreciate beauty.

An analysis of the views of representatives of national pedagogical thought in the middle of this period shows that Ukrainian teachers insisted on moral education through art and phenomena of reality.

Thus, in his essays, Y. Mamontov argued that the completion of individual and social formation of a personality is the formation of aesthetic culture, and art is one of the ways of spiritual education of a child. The purpose of aesthetic education, in his opinion, is the development of aesthetic worldview from cognition of the beautiful in art to the beautiful life-art [2, p. 69].

An outstanding figure of public education, Professor O. Muzychenko expressed the idea of combining the development of a national labor school with the theory of free education. In his opinion, a single school is a secular, free, free and labor institution that aims to provide children with knowledge and skills, to educate their will and character, and to take into account the child’s interest based on the native language of instruction, the use of folk art, the study of local history, history, and the creation of an atmosphere of joy [3, p. 201].

The scientist understood the “atmosphere of joy” to mean such an arrangement of educational institutions that would form students’ love for school, and it, in turn, should be the main part of a golden childhood. This is how true national education can take place through love for school, for the entire native culture and people [3, p. 203].

It should be noted that the idea of joy at school, developed by O. Muzychenko in 1919, was continued in the future:

– in the 1930s – in the idea of “aestheticization of life” and internal stimulation of moral behavior;
– A. Makarenko’s idea of tomorrow’s joy as a new technology of education (a combination of the idea of collective upbringing and future life prospects);
– creation of the school of joy by V. Sukhomlynsky (in the 50s and 60s);
– innovative developments of the school without coercion in the 80s of the twentieth century, etc.

Thus, within the framework of the concepts of the national school, domestic educators, addressing the development of moral and aesthetic education, emphasized that the formation of the individual’s consciousness is influenced by the unity of the moral and aesthetic in art, and the involvement of young people in world values, returning to domestic cultural traditions is the path of moral and aesthetic formation of the individual.

In view of the above, it is possible to determine the prospects for further development and implementation of the experience of the relationship between moral and aesthetic education in modern conditions:

— in order to revive the traditions of moral and aesthetic education, it is advisable to involve young people and adolescents in cultural and educational activities and volunteer work;
— organization of cultural, educational and charitable activities of higher education students (teachers, sociologists, social workers, psychologists) is relevant;
— study and apply the experience of training teaching staff for moral and aesthetic education of youth.

List of references

1. Bilyk V. The question of the dialectical unity of moral and aesthetic education in the history of pedagogy of Ukraine (up to the nineteenth century). Pedagogy of Formation of Creative Personality in Higher and General School : a collection of scientific works. Zaporizhzhia, 2009. № 55. С. 37-43.
2. Mamontov Y. Modern problems of pedagogical creativity. Kharkiv, 1922. Part 2. 80 p.
3. Muzychenko O. School reform or school reformation? Free Ukrainian school. 1919. № 4. С. 201-206.
4. Siropolko S. History of Education in Ukraine. Lviv, 2001. 664 с.
5. Skovoroda H. Literary works. Kyiv, 1972. 435 с.