Problems Of Historical Education Content Improvement As A Result Of Global-Geopolitical Transformations

Abstract

The article discusses modern approaches to improving the content of modern historical education. The authors pay special attention to the analysis of the influence of global geopolitical transformations on the content of historical knowledge, where a new interpretation of the sociocultural meanings and stereotypes of the activity of all social institutions suggests a new look at history. The features of the influence of a single information system on the entire system of domestic humanitarian education are revealed. It is proved that to solve the problems of educational history, it is necessary to develop more advanced epistemological tools. It is shown that to achieve a high level of humanitarian education is possible only with the rethinking of both modern and historical realities. The position is argued that with an increase in information flows in the context of globalization of education, a violation of the axiological scale occurs, on the basis of which the educational and educational meaning of any educational system is formed. In such conditions, it is important to help students develop an appropriate vector in their formation, which is hardly possible without the role of historical knowledge. In addition, knowledge of history is of particular importance for students due to the scientific orientation of modern education. In such a situation, the existing cult of technology does not contribute to the development of a creative style of thinking. Further, the article analyzes the mechanisms that contribute to increasing the effectiveness of historical education, and suggests ways to optimize historical education.

Keywords: Educationtransformationgeopoliticscognitionaxiology

Introduction

The relevance of the study of the role of historical education in the modern global geopolitical world is due to a number of factors. First, the global world order will demand specialists of a new type, where the historical component in global education is no less important than the possession of information technology. Second, the humanitarian component of any educational sphere becomes a determining basis for the formation of a person who can survive in a contradictory information society, which is hardly possible without an appropriate level of historical knowledge at the school level.

In the modern world dominated by consumerism, the contradiction between the material and spiritual needs of the younger generation is deepening, since the set of values that the market dictates as fundamental for the implementation of the so-called “successful personality” does not always agree with the traditions that characterize a particular society. A distinctive feature of global education is its internationalization, which leads to a serious transformation of national educational systems, which only individuals with a high level of humanitarian education can counteract.

In the process of reforming humanitarian disciplines, history is of fundamental importance, contributing to the development of a spiritually rich, culturally developed personality. The problem is that the modern education system forms mainly technical thinking, which becomes dominant, acting as a recognition of the rigid dependence of all social phenomena on innovative technical discoveries. The fact is that an image oriented towards the cult of technology helps to develop an appropriate style of thinking that turns a person's life into an appendage of the machine. In this situation, humanitarian education is subjected to the strongest pressure of technicism, which deprives it of the possibility of self-creation, because it manifests itself as neutral worldview. At the same time, humanitarian education determines the parameters of the modern educational space, which includes the whole variety of historical, geopolitical and social conditions in which society exists. Thus, a young man who is born as a potential creator is gradually becoming a hostage of electronic means of communication, which turns him into a lifelong executor of someone else's will. The aggravation in modern global education of the problem of correlation of such important components of the worldview of a young person as creativity, knowledge and information, requires fundamentally new approaches to the methodological basis of education, which can be provided only by a deep knowledge of history.

Problem Statement

The use of the latest information technologies has led to an increase in technogenic expansion into the humanitarian sphere, as a result of which natural science through a systematic approach has significantly impoverished historical education through not always justified differentiation, which led to the breakdown of holistic academic disciplines. Serious damage to the humanities and historical education, in particular, was done when the generalized synthesis of phenomena was replaced by analysis, while the methodology has not yet developed a superdisciplinary approach to research (Kochetov, 2001). The current situation was fully reflected in the humanitarian block of educational disciplines, where history has traditionally taken the leading place, which was fully exploited by proponents of manipulating public opinion through the latest information technologies.

The leading problem of the educational system in the context of globalization processes is the problem of transformation under the influence of universalist social processes of historical educational knowledge as the basis of humanitarian education. In other words, there is a need to embed the history of an individual society in the world history of civilizations, which is exacerbated by the technocratic bias of modern education, which is influenced by modern digital technologies.

Research Questions

Humanitarian education fully depends on the fact that the parameters of the modern educational space are determined by the whole variety of geopolitical, natural, historical and social conditions for the existence of a particular society. Gradually, the notion of a “mono-linear” path of development ceases to be adequate, a variation of historical choice appears” (Shuper, 2008, p. 13).

The formation of an effective educational space presupposes the emergence of historical education at a fundamentally new level, at which a new type of specialist is being formed. They are able to not only maximize the use of all the advantages of information technology to solve a specific scientific problem, but also rely on the historical past, using it as a worldview basis. Such a specialist should have powerful immunity against the leveling effect of globalization on sociocultural identity.

Current global trends contribute to the formation of relevant geopolitical ideas about the educational space, which is characterized by a constant increase in various flows of information, student exchanges, joint grant activities, etc. Great importance in this process is given to humanitarian education, in which historical education plays a leading role. However, under the conditions of cardinal social transformations, historical knowledge undergoes a special deformation, since it is intended not only to capture important and unique moments of the human past, but also to form a certain axiological scale, which is created on the basis of a synthesis of various assessments by leading scientists and history teachers.

Modern science is not able to predict crisis phenomena in society, since historical education is based on the views that formed in the industrial era and are under great pressure from positivist tendencies. The most important cause of the crisis in the humanitarian scientific sphere is the failure of the category apparatus, with the help of which it is increasingly difficult to adequately reflect the most important transformations that have affected the social sphere in the information age.

The loss of quality of historical education in recent decades has led to a significant decrease in the level of worldviews of young people who have to create a new world order. In particular, historical education suffers to a large extent from the fact that all basic attitudes that characterize the education system as one of the leading attitudes of the existence of man and humanity are violated. In the modern world, the leading goal of educational policy is being violated, the quality of which has always been several main areas: the formation of systemic thinking, the development of information culture and creative activity. A special place is occupied by such an important task of historical education as the education of high morality. These qualities allow students to successfully adapt to global society, working for the benefit of their family and society.

One of the most noticeable consequences of the crisis of historical education is the fragmentation of educational space, which is manifested, in particular, in the biased selection of historical material, which forms a false worldview basis, where the systemic basis is lost. Modern teachers are seriously concerned about the arbitrary selection of historical events and their ambiguous interpretation. In this regard, the thesis of Jaspers (1932), which proved that education is not knowledge possession, but the assimilation of spiritual contents, is of particular importance, because knowledge as such is not education, because naked knowledge becomes only an external burden for a person. However, education can fill the soul with images of greatness “by contemplating the depth of pictures”. Based on such a message, this German scientist was sure that education in modern conditions also acts as self-education (Jaspers, 1932).

One can agree with James (1991), who rightly emphasizes that most often the source of false memory is our messages to other people about our past experience. In such reports, true facts are given a simpler character to make them look more interesting (James, 1991). With this approach, more often is said about what could be done than about what was actually done. Moreover, if at the very beginning of the story we people are aware of the difference between the possible and what really happened, then “... in the course of the narrative, fictions of the imagination erase genuine facts from memory, place themselves in it and begin to completely dominate” (Vlasyuk, 2014, p. 7).

The developing university of the 21st century will be based on the unity of research, teaching and civilizational renewal. To transform higher education requires nothing more than a complete inversion of its traditional structure/discipline towards gen-4.0 ways of innovation and learning. The purpose of education and the 21st century university is to help us develop what matters most: vertical literacy – the ability to perceive and embody our greatest opportunity in the face of destruction (Sharmer, 1998).

A similar feature of historical knowledge is fully used in the political struggle, because it is specific historical examples that often act as arguments for the biased subjects of the information war. The specified specificity of historical knowledge acquires special significance precisely in educational knowledge, because it is possible to develop powerful immunity in the fight against such actions only in the educational institution in the future. The specified specifics of humanitarian education provoke periodic discussions about the essence of historical knowledge, which are significantly exacerbated in the context of the next reform of the system of domestic education. At present, cruel historical and ideological pressure on its historical consciousness and historical self-consciousness is very painful for the Russian people. According to him, “... we are supposedly the last in Europe to become a historical state, etc.” (Churinov, 2004, p. 4).

Purpose of the Study

Among the various forms and types of cognition, the educational one occupies a special place, which is due to its peculiarity, as inclusiveness. That is why representatives of various scientific fields pay maximum attention to the study of various manifestations of cognitive activity at the level of a specific educational system. In the context of global transformations, the solution of certain problems arising in society is largely due to the shortcomings of the educational institution, which is not able to guarantee the appropriate level of educational knowledge, which is in demand at this stage of social development. Historical knowledge in this regard is gaining universal significance, since the formation of not only a humanitarian scientific school dealing with theoretical issues of the development of historical science, but also practitioners who, due to their political orientation, are forced to rely on a solid historical basis, depends on its results.

Research Methods

The methodological basis of the study is the ideas and principles of systemic and synergetic approaches, which contribute to the disclosure of the meanings of the new model of instruction as a guide to natural integration, based on the idea of the diversity of social unity. The article also used general scientific methods: analysis, synthesis, transition from the abstract to the concrete, analysis of special literature devoted to the problem of research.

Findings

Current global trends contribute to the formation of relevant geopolitical ideas about the educational space, which is characterized by a constant increase in various flows of information, student exchanges, joint grant activities, etc. A special role in this process is played by humanitarian education, namely historical education, which is the leading one.

The loss of the quality of humanitarian education in recent decades has led to a significant decrease in the level of worldviews of young people who have to create a new world order. Despite the support of the media and significantly expanded opportunities in connection with the use of the latest information technologies, contributing not only to a higher level of epistemological attitudes, but also expanding the communication capabilities of students.

Humanitarian education to a large extent suffers from the fact that all basic attitudes that characterize the education system as one of the leading attitudes of the existence of man and humanity are violated. The leading goal of educational policy is being violated, in the quality of which several leading areas have always acted: the formation of systemic thinking, the development of an information culture and creative activity. A special place is occupied by such an important task as the education of high morality. These qualities allow students to successfully adapt to global society, working for the benefit of their family and society.

One of the most noticeable consequences of the crisis of humanitarian education is the fragmentation of educational space, which is manifested, in particular, in the selection of historical material, which is not only formed on a biased basis, but also loses its systemic basis. Modern teachers are seriously concerned about the arbitrary selection of historical events and their arbitrary interpretation.

Among the various forms and types of cognition, the educational one occupies a special place, which is due to its peculiarity, as inclusiveness. That is why representatives of various scientific fields pay maximum attention to the study of various manifestations of cognitive activity at the level of a particular educational system. In the context of global transformations, the solution of certain problems arising in society is largely due to the shortcomings of the educational institution, which cannot guarantee the appropriate level of educational knowledge, which is in demand at this stage of social development. In this field, the problems of historical knowledge acquire special, universal significance and cannot leave indifferent not only humanitarians involved in theoretical issues of the development of historical science, but also practitioners who, due to their political orientation, are forced to rely on a firmly historical basis. In particular, Kochetov (2001) rightly emphasizes that modern science is not able to predict crisis phenomena in society, since the humanities are based on the views that emerged in the industrial era and were under the strongest pressure of positivist tendencies. The most important cause of the crisis in the humanitarian scientific sphere is the failure of the category apparatus, with the help of which it is increasingly difficult to adequately reflect the most important transformations that have affected the social sphere in the information age. The use of the latest information technologies has led to an increase in technogenic expansion into the humanitarian sphere, as a result of which natural science, through a systematic approach, has significantly impoverished the humanitarian sphere through not always justified differentiation, which has led to the breakdown of holistic academic disciplines. Serious damage to the humanities was done when the generalized synthesis of phenomena was replaced by analysis, while the methodology has not yet developed a superdisciplinary approach to research (Kochetov, 2001). The current situation was fully reflected, for example, in the historical sciences, which was fully exploited by the proponents of the manipulation of public opinion through the latest information technologies.

Under the conditions of cardinal social transformations, historical knowledge undergoes a special deformation, since it is intended not only to record important and unique moments of the human past, but also to be created on the basis of individual assessments based on a certain axiological scale. In his Psychology, W. James rightly emphasizes that most often the source of a false memory are our messages to other people about our past experience. In such messages, the true facts are given a simpler character to make them look more interesting. With this approach, more often is said about what could be done than about what was actually done. Moreover, if at the very beginning of the story, people are aware of the difference between the possible and what really happened, then “... during the narrative, fictions of the imagination erase genuine facts from memory, place themselves in it and begin to completely dominate” (James, 1991, p. 229).

A similar feature of historical knowledge is fully used in the political struggle, because it is specific historical examples that often act as arguments for the biased subjects of the information war. The specified specificity of historical knowledge acquires special significance precisely in educational knowledge, because it is possible to develop powerful immunity in the fight against such actions only in the educational institution in the future. The specified specifics of humanitarian education provokes periodic discussions about the essence of historical knowledge, which are significantly exacerbated in the context of the next reform of the system of domestic education. However, they often forget that “... the history of our country is erased into a very distant past, and it consists not only of hopeless secrets, but also has a significant number of scientific facts that allow us to reinforce the forces of the historical consciousness of our people and gain strong knowledge about the statehood of our country ... without any exemptions. And meanwhile, cruel historical and ideological pressure on its historical consciousness and historical self-consciousness is currently very painful for the Russian people. According to him (the indicated pressure), it turns out that Russia does not have a centuries-old “democratic tradition”, that we supposedly must be aligned with the West and recklessly adopt everything from the West in order to enter the so-called world civilization, so that “official science” consists of Norman theories what philosophy, political science, cultural science, economic theory, etc. are so full of in our country, so that it’s unknown in the name of what we agreed to consider ... that we were supposedly the last in Europe to become a historical state, etc. (Churinov, 2004).

A student faces problems already at the elementary school level, when he begins to get acquainted with the history of his native country only from the moment of adoption of Christianity in Russia, although the spiritual world of our ancestors was always oriented towards the past. However, despite the numerous evidences of archaeologists and historical evidence of our own ancient and developed culture. Students are still concerned about the deep roots of the Slavs, i.e. an attempt to penetrate into the pre-Christian past, which can give answers to the traditional question of the “mysterious Russian soul”. “The axiologization of the global educational space in the context of globalization will require a transition from a model of “lagging behind” education corresponding to the stage of unsustainable development of civilization to a systemic model of advanced education that is adequate to the goals of sustainable development and embodies its principles” (James, 1991, p. 261). When solving problems associated with the reform of humanitarian education, it is also important to take into account the mental characteristics of the Russian person. The entire official history is based on the so-called “ancient” books – that is, printed books of the 16th century, which are supposedly “precise copies” of ancient manuscripts, prudently made before all libraries were burned almost simultaneously. It is customary to believe this version, but real documents, such as the Slavic-Aryan Vedas or the Veles Book, proving the history of many thousands of Slavs, are recognized as fake, or simply silent about its existence. For a long time, the answer to the question “Where did Russia come from?” was hidden and inundated with prejudices and prohibitions. Among students, there is a suspicion that problems with the search for the library of Ivan the Terrible do not arise by chance, because sacred texts of the true history of ancient Russia are actually supposed to be placed there before adoption of Byzantine Christianity in the 10th century. Indeed, such a connection with the Past served as a source of spiritual strength – at one time or another, in one way or another – for almost all generally known peoples in the history. The relevance of spiritual ties with the Past is not limited to the tribal system: this classical orientation of consciousness along the paths of blood ties was relevant for both highly educated Romans and wild Germans, although, of course, it played a different role in their spiritual life; it continues to be one of the important components of the culture of some (eastern) countries.” And this is understandable, since it is this “tribal memory” that allows the blood-bearing community of people from generation to generation to recognize themselves as such, distinguishing themselves from other similar communities (Prokhorov, 1989).

It is equally important in educational practice to consider – what Danilevsky (2008) has already clearly defined – that in the theory of cultural-historical types there is no place for a Eurocentric myth. In relation to educational historical knowledge, this means that Europe is not the only civilization, and this fact is fundamentally important for students to feel. Danilevsky (2008) stands before our contemporaries in the sense that he was the first to propose a model of a multipolar world order, representing in his eyes as "... necessary and at the same time the only possible guarantee for maintaining global equilibrium, the only bastion against the world domination of Europe" (p. 392).

An important feature that determines the essence of historical education is conditioned by the secular power in the life of Russia has always been acting as a weaker link than spiritual power. The fact is that modern media resources, represented mainly by mass media, in modern conditions are aimed at the formation of a consumer type of personality, which inevitably implies a direct distortion of real facts. As a result of such a policy, the ideological vector of modern mass media is formed as a leading one that excludes an alternative point of view. The commercialization of media provokes an extremely low ethical level of historical information, which leads to the destruction of moral and cultural forms of behavior. That is why the state of the media space involves appropriate control not only from the state, but also from the relevant pedagogical structures (Avdeeva, 2015).

The crisis of modern mankind is largely associated with the collapse of the system of prevailing values, their meaninglessness, which leads not only to the loss of the social basis laid down in the past, but also to the leveling of the present. The problem is compounded by the fact that value transformations take place in the spiritual realm, reinforcing the sense of tragedy of what is happening. In addition, a spiritual catastrophe most often precedes other social catastrophes, since the established axiological scale helps to set a clear algorithm for the future. Here a problem arises, moreover, global and frightening, which consists in the formation and consolidation in Russian society of completely new, often socially disapproved, common moral values (Malimonov, Sinkovskaya, Korol, & Rakhinsky, 2016). Such faults in history were perceived as completely natural and reflected in the educational system of a particular country. This is a consequence of their freedom, when it becomes possible to choose some path of social development or refuse, choosing another. Such a change of values is found in the development of societies, since such transformations of the established axiological systems that are characteristic of individual peoples are especially relevant in the context of the formation of the global information community. In order for our children and grandchildren to perceive our traditions, our values ... in the modern information environment of the Internet, it is necessary to create conditions for the transmission to new generations of spiritual values, behaviors that correspond to the foundations of Russian national culture (Malimonov et al., 2018).

Humanitarian education is both the cause and the consequence of the reassessment of the existing axiological social system, which is especially evident in recent decades. Such trends are the foundation of human existence, since the updating of the value system acts as the basis for the progressive development of society. It is historical education as the most important part of humanitarian education that should act as a counter to dangerous manipulations with the consciousness of the people, which is often determined by the desire to plant cultural values alien to a particular society, which is hardly possible without openly belittling the heroic past. The national mentality acts as the guardian of real historical experience, therefore, the persistent desire to include dogmas foreign to it comes into conflict with the historically established axiological system.

The modern model of humanitarian education can act as one of the best options for combining global, universal values, on the one hand, and domestic regional pedagogical traditions, on the other. A special role in this process is played by computer technologies, which significantly expand the current educational space, often reaching the virtual level. A systematic educational policy in the field of humanitarian disciplines, based on a stable historical basis, creates the conditions for a gradual transition to sustainable development; to a new vision of the role of humanities in the future world order.

Conclusion

Thus, we can draw the following conclusions:

First, the problem of the content of historical education is largely due to modern global geopolitical transformations, therefore, their solution involves an appropriate educational policy in the field of the humanitarian block of disciplines.

Second, historical education is increasingly becoming the object of information warfare, which is inspired by supporters of the revision of the existing picture of the world order, which implies a significant strengthening of the methodological basis of history, serving not only as a science, but also as an educational discipline.

Third, the understanding of the importance of preserving the sociocultural identity of the younger generation in the context of the formation of global education presupposes the maximum accounting of pedagogical traditions that characterize the educational process of a particular region, which significantly increases the role of historical education.

Fourth, an appropriate level of historical knowledge can act as an effective counteraction to unconstructive reformist activity, often acting as an imposition on the younger generation of alien norms and standards, not only in the educational sphere, but also in the future life.

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