Education and ideals. On the supreme values in liberal democracy

Abstract

Together with the collapse of the communist regime in Poland, the question about a new way of organizing social life arose. Almost the entire political class has opted for a return to the pattern of a liberal democracy. Under the new system, a number of important issues had to be tackled, including the question of the supreme values or ideals presented to students by state schools, including those of higher education. The author notes that putting forward these ideals results from the fact of handing down to the younger generation what in the development of society so far has proved to be most valuable. A model of such education was proposed in the 1960s by the British philosopher of education Richard S. Peters. Since societies develop, their ideals change as well. On the basis of the example of the last hundred and fifty years of development of the Anglo-Saxon culture, the author shows the tension between the two ideals of civil society organization, the first coming from John Stewart Mill and other from John Rawls. Understanding what is most valuable in social life must be reflected in the content and forms used by public education. This is what seems to be the key justification of the need to communicate values and ideals to pupils and students by schools and universities. Concluding, the author poses a number of important questions regarding the specific understanding of a liberal democracy by states such as Poland, which are returning to this economic and political system after decades of enslavement.