Role, Place and Tasks of Civic Education in the Process of Formation of a Lyceum Student's Personality

Changes in the Ukraine's social life require a reform of the educational system, extending the existing list of basic disciplines taught at school new contemporary subjects aimed at the development of the youth's social and economic competence.

The unique character of the Civic Education course at school lies in the fact that the problems covered by the subject are new for lots of us. When I say "new", I do not mean we have not faced these problems before, but what I mean is the multifaceted way of tackling them. Gradually moving from the basics of market economy to the basic notions of social security, we were discovering a real modern world with all its positive and negative sides. The important thing is that the knowledge we have acquired can be used in particular life situations.

To successfully develop a full-fledged civil society and gain respect at the international arena, a young democratic state like Ukraine today needs not only a clearly defined internal and external policy of the government, but also a conscious nation that with its choice will help the country to achieve success. The nation's mentality includes such factors as individual's ability to analyse the situation, skills to estimate future possibilities, desire to understand a difficult sequence of different political and economic events, and at last, the ability to make the right choice in one's life.

If a citizen knows that he/she has the right to social security, education, housing, rest, privacy of correspondence or pension, he/she will not be in trouble when it comes to these issues of social life. Under the circumstances he/she will be able to prove he/she is right.

I am not going to name the advantages and disadvantages of the Civic Education course - I just want to stress that for a comparatively short period of time (one semester) we have covered a lot of information. The thing that yesterday seemed unknown, boring and difficult today has become understandable and unexpectedly interesting.

The course is characterised by a complex approach to the ways of mastering the chosen material. At one lesson you "happen to enter" an employer's office, and at another one you write a letter to the President with your proposals regarding these or those issues. This cannot leave anyone indifferent. Another interesting characteristic of the course is its extremely wide range of study material - from global problems of mankind to single communities.

I will not give any more examples, but I want the reader to realise that the idea of implementing civic education as a separate subject into the secondary school curriculum is wonderful, not only for expanding students' knowledge, but also for the growth of the new generations potential. Students acquire knowledge and prepare for an adult life.

Victor Smal,
student at the Regional Pedagogical Lyceum of the Nizhyn M.Gogol State Pedagogical University

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