The world of values of modern youth vs. classic literature – testimonies of reception of reading material at school

Abstract

The following text emerges from the need to research student’s current world of values and the image of such world should be treated as the foundation for educational reflection and the organization of teaching process. The first point of reference for the issue mentioned above was referring to research on the axiological image of young generation, which was conducted within the last thirty years. The second point of reference are the experiences regarding the reception of classic literature at modern school. The issue mentioned in the topic has been discussed in reference to the exemplifying material, which constituted the record of student’s opinions gathered during Polish language classes regarding the very first reception of a literary text chosen for discussion. The analysis of those opinions revealed a significant shift in the area of students’ values, i.e. a clearer devaluation of moral values, relativization of ethical principles, as well as stronger domination of pragmatic values connected with material and tangible interest of an individual. This text also shows a clear withdrawal of young generation from the objective consideration of values. At the end, the author emphasizes that the awareness of such state of things could be of utmost importance to a proper organization of educational processes, as it allows to prevent naïve and inefficient activities and makes it possible to take adequate actions in order to diagnose the state of things and implement appropriate didactic strategies.