Simon Soloveichik: the Education of a free man

How to raise a free person

Simon Lvovich Soloveichik (1930 — 1996) — Russia's publicist, teacher and philosopher. After graduating from MSU, worked as a pioneer, a teacher in the schools of Moscow, correspondent of the magazine "pioneer". In 1992 he founded and headed the newspaper "First of September", carrying on its pages the promotion of humanistic pedagogical ideas.

In 1994, Simon Soloveichik wrote a Manifesto "a Free Man", which very briefly and clearly expressed the basic ideas of upbringing of a free man, the definition of internal freedom, of conscience, of what is free child, free school and what is the path to the education of a free people.





The highest value ofthe Old ideology of the left is not the will of wicked men, as they often think and say, but because at its base was a beautiful dream but unrealistic. Very few people actually believed in it, therefore the education has constantly been ineffective.

Official propaganda, which was adhered to by the school, the stark did not correspond to real life. Now we return to the real world. Here it is important: it is not Soviet, he's not bourgeois, it is real, real is a world in which people live. Good or bad, but live. Each nation has its own history, its own national character, their language and their dreams — each nation has its own, special way. But in General the world is one, real. And in the real world has values, and is his sovereign purpose for each individual. There is one Supreme value against which to line up all other goals and values.

The teacher, educator, education is very important to understand what is the highest value.

In our view, such Supreme value is what people dream of and argue for millennia, what is the most difficult for a human to understand — freedom.

Ask: whom now to educate?

We answer: man free.
 

What is freedom?To answer this question, written hundreds of books, and this is understandable: freedom — the concept of the infinite. It belongs to the highest concepts of man and therefore cannot have a precise definition. Infinite not definable in words. It is beyond words.

How many people live, they will try to understand what is freedom, and strive for it.

Complete social freedom anywhere in the world, economic freedom for each person there and, apparently, can not be; but a free people. What does that mean?

The word "freedom" contains two different concepts, very different from one another. In fact, we are talking about completely different things.

Philosophers, analyzing this difficult word, came to the conclusion that there is "freedom from" — freedom from any foreign oppression and coercion is "freedom for" — the inner freedom of a person to self-fulfillment.

External freedom, as already mentioned, there is no absolute. But internal freedom can be infinite even under the most difficult life. In pedagogy for a long time discussing liberal education. Teachers in this direction tend to give the child freedom in school. We're talking about something else — about the inner freedom that is available to man in all circumstances for which it is not necessary to create special schools.

Inner freedom does not depend rigidly from the outside. In the free state can be dependent, unfree people. In fact, proprietary software, where everyone is somehow oppressed can be free. Thus, to educate a free people is never too early and never too late. We need to educate free people, not because our society freedom is a controversial issue, and because internal freedom is necessary to our very children, in whatever society he or she lives.

A free man is a man free internally. Like all people, apparently it depends on the company. But internally he is independent. The society can be freed externally from oppression, but it can become free only when the people in the majority will be internally free.

Here it should be, in our view, the purpose of education: the inner freedom of man. Raising internally free people, we bring the greatest benefit to our students and the country seeking freedom. This is nothing new; look at the best teachers remember their best teachers — they've all tried to educate free, because they are remembered.

Internally free people hold and the world develops.
 

What is inner freedom?Inner freedom is as contradictive as freedom at all. Internally free person, a free person, something free and something not free.

Which is free from the internally free man? First of all, the fear of the people and the life. From the popular General opinion. It is independent from the crowd. Free from patterns of thinking — able to your personal opinion. Free from prejudice. Free from envy, greed, from his own aggressive aspirations.

We can say this: it is human. Free person easy to learn: he simply holds, in his own thinking, he never showed no servility, no calling audacity. He appreciates the freedom of every person. He does not boast of its freedom, is not seeking freedom at any cost, not fighting for their personal freedom — he always owns it. It is given to him in perpetual possession. He lives for freedom and live freely.It's easy man, easy, he is full of life breath.

Each of us met free people. They always love. But there is something truly free man is not free. It is very important to understand. What is not free is a free man? From conscience.
 

What is conscience?If you do not understand what a conscience is, do not understand and internally free man. Freedom without conscience is about freedom, this is one of the hardest types of addiction. If it would be free, but without a conscience — a bad slave to his desires, a slave to life circumstances, and external his freedom, he uses for evil. Such a person is called as you want, but not free. Freedom in the General consciousness perceived as good.

Note the important difference: it doesn't say not free from his conscience, as you say. Because my conscience is mine. Conscience and its. Conscience — the total of each separately. Conscience is what connects people.

Conscience is the truth that lives between people and in each person. It is one at all, we perceive it with the language in education, in communicating with each other. No need to ask, what is the truth, it is also not expressible in words, like freedom. But we know her sense of justicethat each of us feels when life goes really. And everyone suffers when justice is violated — when the truth is trampled. Conscience, the sense of a purely internal and at the same time the public tells us what is right and wrong. Conscience makes a man stick to the truth, that is, to live with the truth of justice. Free people strictly obey conscience — but only her. The teacher, whose purpose is the education of the free man must support a sense of justice. This is important in education.No vacuum there. No state order for education is not necessary. The goal of education are one at all times is the inner freedom of man, freedom for the truth.
 

Free childthe Upbringing of internally free man begins in childhood. Inner freedom is a natural gift, a special talent that can be muted, as any other talent but you can develop. This talent in one way or another to everyone, just as everyone has a conscience — but a man or listens to it, tries to live according to conscience, or it is muffled by the circumstances of life and education.

The goal is to promote free — defines all forms and methods of communication with children. If the child does not know oppression and learns to live according to conscience, to him come all by themselves everyday, social skills, about which so much is said in the traditional theories of education. In our view, education is only to develop the inner freedom that we have in the child in its support and protection.But the children are obstinate, Moody, aggressive. Many adults, parents and teachers seem to give kids the freedom dangerous.Here is the border of the two approaches to education.

The one who wants to raise a free child, accept him as he is, loves his liberating love. He believes in the child, this faith helps him to be patient.





One who is not thinking about freedom, is afraid of her, does not believe in the child, the inevitable oppresses his spirit and even destroys, suppresses his conscience. The love of the child becomes the oppressor. Such proprietary education and gives the public the wrong kind of people. Without freedom all targets, even if they seem high, they become false and dangerous for children.
 

Free teacherfree To grow, the child needs to see a free people, first and foremost — free teacher. Since inner freedom is not directly dependent on the society, just one teacher can make a big difference on the talent of freedom, latent in every child, as is the case with music, sports, artistic talents.

The upbringing of a free person possible for each of us, each individual teacher. Here is a field where one is the warrior, where one can do everything. Because children are drawn to free people, trust them, admire them, thank them. Whatever was going on at the school, internally free, the teacher can be winners.Free teacher takes the child as an equal person. And that it creates an atmosphere, in which alone can grow a free man.

Maybe he gives the child a taste of freedom — and even rescues him, teaches him the value of freedom, shows that to live as a free man possible.
 

Free schoolTeacher it is much easier to take the first step towards free education, it is easier to show their talent to freedom, if it works in a free school.

In a free school — free children and free teacher.

These schools not so much in the world, but still they are, and so this ideal is feasible. The main thing in a free school is not that children are provided to do whatever they want, not the liberation from the discipline, and the teacher's free spirit, independence, respect for the teacher. In a world of many very strict elite schools with traditional practices that give the most valuable people. Because they are free, talented, honest teachers, devoted to their work, and because the school is supported by the spirit of justice. However, in such an authoritarian schools, not all children grow up free. Some, the weakest, the talent of freedom is muted, school breaks them.

A truly free school one in which children go with joy. It was in this school, children acquire the meaning of life. They learn to think freely, stay freely, to live freely and to value freedom — their own and each person.
 

A way to bring freeFreedom is the goal, and the road.

For the teacher it is important to embark on this road and follow it, not too Dodge. The road to freedom is very difficult. not pass, but will stick to the goal.

The first question the tutor available: don't oppress if I have children? If I constrain them to something — for what? I think that for the sake of their use, but not if I kill kids talent freedom? Me class, I need a certain order to teach, but if I don't break baby, trying to bend it to common discipline?

Perhaps not every teacher will find the answer to every question, but it is important that these questions were asked yourself.

Freedom dies wherever there is fear. A way to bring free — possible, complete freedom from fear. The teacher is not afraid of children, but children are not afraid of teachers and freedom itself comes up in class.

Liberation from fear is the first step on the path to freedom in the school.

It remains to add that a free man is always handsome. To raise spiritually beautiful, proud people — whether it is a teacher's dream? published Author: Simon Soloveichik

P. S. And remember, just changing your mind — together we change the world! ©

Source: izbrannoe.com/news/mysli/kak-vospitat-svobodnogo-cheloveka/