See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313933512 INTEGRATION AND DIFFERENTIATION IN EDUCATION IN THE EPOCH OF GLOBALIZATION Article * January 2012 CITATIONS 0 READS 26 1 author: Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: Ontologization of education in the network society View project Linguistic means for representation of the professional worldview in the modern English prose View project Sophia Polyankina Novosibirsk State Technical University 29 PUBLICATIONS 3 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Sophia Polyankina on 24 February 2017. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. 7 I. ТЕОРЕТИКО-МЕТОДОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ И ПРИКЛАДНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ ГУМАНИЗАЦИИ ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ INTEGRATION AND DIFFERENTIATION IN EDUCATION IN THE EPOCH OF GLOBALIZATION S. Yu. Polyankina Novosibirsk State Technical University, Novosibirsk, Russia Summary. The purpose of the article is to consider the socio-cultural aspect of the processes of integration and differentiation in the development of the system of education in Russia that undergoes changes in a globalized society. Key words: globalization; dialectics of integration and differentiation in education; polycultural mutual understanding. Globalization is a natural process, another wave of integrative processes that, together with differentiation processes, are the motive forces for evolution of any system. If we have a look at the Earth history and history of a mankind on a global scale, we'll see that the evolution of these systems represents a spiral of fluctuating contrary processes in one of which a unity separates out partially or completely into its constituent parts, i.e. differentiation, and combining or adding parts to make a unified whole, i.e. integration. The development of a system is accompanied with differentiation: the number of the elements constituting the system is growing, the inner and outer connections are multiplying, and the system acquires the net structure and new functions. However, the complication and fragmentation of the system threatens its unity. To balance the system, the integrative processes come into effect, and strengthen the living unity of this system. For instance, the origin of all the contemporary continents from the super-continent Pangaea, and all the ethnic groups from the small initial group of ancient people in Africa illustrate the process of differentiation and complication of geologic and social systems. Today these systems are so complicated that integration took place in order to stabilize them. The continents unnoticeably move towards each other according to Alfred Wegener, and will form new Pangaea in 300 million years. So do different societies by uniting their economies, creating international organizations, intensifying migration, and destroying cultural boundaries. The world is going to become a 'global village', so they say. This means that it is an objective process we just can't stop. But we should never forget about the humanistic aspect of all the economic and political processes 8 bearing in mind that eventually the process of differentiation will overtake again, as already can be seen these days in the European Union. Education is the main institute that can form adequate attitude towards global processes. Within this institute, differentiation and integration of its elements contribute to efficiency and modernization together with preservation of the best traditions for the modern-day education. When investigating integrative trends, Russian scientists mention: a) the integration of the domestic educational system into the international educational space in the frameworks of the Bologna Accords to increase the level for students' professional mobility; b) the establishment of interdisciplinary linkages to form the comprehensive outlook; c) integration of humanitarian and natural-science constituent of scientific knowledge in education; d) integrative education for disabled children to adapt them to living together with all the others: c) integration of migrants with help of education. The opposite process shows itself in personal differentiation that takes into consideration student's age (elementary, secondary, high, higher, postgraduate and continuing education), sex (boys-only, girlsonly or mixed schools / forms), interests and gifts for some disciplines (profilization), IQ-level (schools or forms for gifted, average students or mental deficients), psychological types and health abilities (special needs education), social differentiation according to ethnic identity (monoethnic and multi-ethnic schools and forms), religious identity (the conflict of secular and religious education), social and property status of students' parents (elite and mass education), openness (selective versus comprehensive education). The dialectics of integration and differentiation reveals itself when consider such type education that would meet the needs of all the ethic and socio-cultural groups within Russian society, and, on the other hand, would unite our disintegrated after the loss of socialistic ideology society in multicultulal unity sharing common human ground and values peculiar to all these ethnic and socio-cultural groups. Special attention there must be paid to the balance of social integration and differentiation as well as on the categories of universal and particular related to this processes. In the epoch of globalization, it has become obvious that humanity is the unity, interrelated members of which are nevertheless unique individuals. Each and everyone is the representative of some socio-cultural group of people, sharing their peculiar traditions, stereotypes and ways of seeing. There are almost no mono-cultural societies left in the world. Hence the question of harmonious and peaceful relationships among the different nations, cultures and social groups is a burning one in the framework of today's reality. I've already pointed out in the previous article that "education becomes one of the major integrating factors and conditions for the personal development, while integration processes in education systems act as the means to master the world culture, to 9 transmit social and individual experience, to provide for designing common world-view based on the principles of humanism, to organize humanity into one interrelated system" [1, p. 383]. One of the school students from the Soviet film "We'll Live Till Monday" wrote in his essay on happiness only one phrase saying that, 'Happiness means to be understood'. Can understanding therefore become the basis for international and intercultural peace? The answer is 'yes', because the source of xenophobia, racism, nationalism, sexism, ageism and other forms of discrimination lies in the lack of knowledge, understanding and consequently respect to the otherness. It is hard to respect the unknown and incomprehensible. We are afraid of what we don't understand and protect ourselves in aggressive ways. Such behavior sows discord and flames the conflicts. To reach harmonious and respectful interaction with others it is necessary to understand their point of view and motives. But is genuine mutual understanding among the representatives of different socio-cultural groups possible at all? Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object. All the human beings share the same human nature. We are mortals in search of goodness, truth and beauty as the aspects of satisfying existence, trying to avoid everything painful. That is why the key concepts of our conceptspheres are the much the same. To make it easier to reach this mode of living, people joined together in groups and societies. To become a human, to be safe, learn how to speak and to acquire all the other necessary skills and know-hows to satisfy one's needs, one must interact with others and be a member of conventional relationships. Social integration implies some agreement which would have been impossible without the ability to speak the same language, to understand the other party. In contrast, the historical evidence shows us that humanity couldn't do without wars and conflicts. That is because the universality of humanity manifests itself in a variety of ethnic groups, peoples, cultures, subcultures and styles of life. Because the peoples of the world face vastly different circumstances and opportunities, goodness, truth, and beauty can have meaning and practical efficacy only as incarnated in a myriad of different ways. Even language spoken by a group of people might influence their outlook, according to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity. Genetically close nations as Russians, Ukrainians and Byelorussians can fight each other because of misunderstanding on some principal questions from their historical past or aspects of foreign policy. This examples show us how painful the inevitable processes of social differentiation might be. As Claes G. Ryn puts it, "movement toward a more than perfunctory and short-lived unity in diversity is indeed possible and that working toward this goal is fully compatible with cultures, societies, and individuals retaining their selfhood and developing their own distinctiveness. 10 Unity can be achieved through diversity." [2, p. 132]. This means that universality and particularity as well as the processes of social integration and differentiation are not incompatible and in fact present the dialectical unity of the opposites. To balance this unity, genuine mutual understanding among people should be reached. In order to do so, in the education programs the elements of hermeneutic approach should be implemented, and the preconditions for understanding, i. e. philanthropy, empathy, polycultural mutual understanding, and critical thinking should be cultivated from the very childhood. Bibliography 1. Bulankina N., Polyankina S. Philosophy of Contemporary Polycultural Education // International Journal of Academic Research. – 2011. – No. 1. – Vol. 3. – Pp. 383– 385. 2. Ryn C. G. A Common Human Ground. Universality and Particularity in a Multicultural World. – Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2003. – 148 p. МИССИЯ И ПРИНЦИПЫ ПРОСВЕЩЕНИЯ В ПРОЕКТАХ ГУМАНИЗАЦИИ УНИВЕРСИТЕТСКОГО ОБРАЗОВАНИЯ В ОБЛАСТИ ЕСТЕСТВЕННЫХ НАУК Б. А. Медведев Саратовский государственный университет им. Н. Г. Чернышевского, г. Саратов, Россия Summary. In connection with global spiritual crisis of the modern civilization moral mission and Enlightenment principles in projects of a humanization of university Еducation in the field of natural sciences are discussed. Key words: XXI Century; technogenic civilization; global spiritual crisis; mission and principles of the Enlightenment. XXI век. Техногенная цивилизация на наших глазах превращается в миф прогресса и благополучия. Глобальный духовный кризис, подвергая угрозе макроэкономические и геополитические интересы субъектов мирового сообщества, бросает вызов всем системам современного образования. В связи с этим фундаментальная проблема университетского образования в области естественных наук состоит уже не только в формировании профессионала, но и в воспитании гражданина – выпуске специалистов с развитым чувством ответственности за результаты научных исследований, с культурой потребностей, и нравственно ориентированным, общественным поведением. Актуальность проблемы – в поиске идей, методологии и систем образования, способных противостоять духовной деградации человечества. View publication stats