EDUCATION AS A SOCIAL PHENOMENON AND PEDAGOGICAL ACTIVITY: CROSSING THE GAP (COMMEMORATING A.S. MAKARENKO)
The paper centers on a key issue of pedagogy, namely the interrelation between education and social life. In A.S Makarenko’s pedagogy, the interrelation is direct and is established through close cooperation between teachers and students, children and adults. However, the adherents of A.S. Makarenko’s theory focus not on cooperation between children and adults but on cooperation between children, hence lack of academic independence in children. Because of this misinterpretation A.S. Makarenko’s theory is criticized as authoritative and suppressing children’s individuality and is opposed to humanitarian education. The adherents of A.S. Makarenko’s theory state that education is aimed at organizing children’s activity within a community. The term pedagogy of parallel actions, which is a key notion of A.S. Makarenko’s pedagogy, is simplified by his followers and lacks binary oppositions.