Kudryavzev V.T. Education: a “Groundhog’s Day” or breaking free from the established pattern

Kudryavzev V.T. Education: a “Groundhog’s Day” or breaking free from the established pattern // Preschool Education Today. 2012, Issue 5 - p. 34–39.

This work is licensed under a Сreative Commons Atribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

2012, 5

Vladimir T. Kudryavzev
Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Head of Department of Theory and History of L. S. Vygotsky Institute of Psychology of Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

Defining education as an especially built system for changing self, the author describes two educational models – the traditional “mass”, and the developmental one using the metaphors given in the title. The main developmental effect of education lies not only in mastering new knowledge available in a culture. The article illustrates it with examples of how developmental processes “pass a person by” when he or she is not being an actor of own development, thus not making them a part of one’s life story. “Subjectless” development is part of history and many people’s lives. It is only when a culture is becoming a tool of self-development (which assumes effort) education can be called truly developmental.