Ежегодная международная конференция «Еврообразование – 2006: интеграция европейского опыта»

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Let me start with my sincere thanks to the organizers of this outstanding international gathering. It is my great privileges and honor to participate in "EuroEducation- 2006" and to address my thoughts on challenges and opportunities of Education in XXI century to my distinguished colleagues from different parts of our Common World.

It gives me a special honor to make my statement here, in St. John`s College , Oxford University, as we in a "developing" part of the World have a special respect to this most honorable Educational Center. Speaking on education and its goals in serving human societies I would highlight five general principlesof an approach which we have to apply to in our requirements for a proper educational system for the XXI Century.

The first principleurges us to reclaim and reconsider the basic elements of Education practiced in the past, during a whole Human History – and to bring back the main values and concepts which the Humanity has accumulated during previous centuries. Any kind of New Education is to be built not only in accordance with new challenges the World is facing, but also should be born by the World History).

My second principleis based on an understanding that there can be no global national or international problem which do not have its own root in an existing educational system and there can be no single problem which does not have its specific solution within the educational system. The education is not only the basis for all our historical achievements, but also is the basis for all the mistakes which we made in the history and unfortunately are continuing to make now.

The third principleis based on my strong conviction that the challenges and contradictions the new Technological Era generates require the creation of a new way of thinking and a new way of acting. So we have a great need for a new Renaissance, and this approach is also driven by the historical truth that to enter the Modern History from Middle Ages the Humanity found the shortest way – and this way was a way to the back, reviving the antique culture and adopting its main values. I`m sure that for nowadays we have to make this trip to the back again.

The fourth principleis actually not mine, it has been brought up by one of the founders of the antique mind - the great Socrates, and the principle sounds as "The true knowledge inevitably leads to the Morality". Socrates supposed that the human being cannot be bad by its origin and is not capable of immoral actions, and in case he acts immorally, it is just the result of poor quality or lack of the knowledge he has. Indeed, as we can prove from our reality any kind of immorality we face – be it terrorism, the violation of democratic rules and freedoms, corruption, manifestations of social injustice – we can definitely place under the "jurisdiction" of Morality.

And we should strongly do it! – and this is the only way to address the challenges we face and to prevent tragedies we get condemned all the time by many reasons.

The morality is the only key to achieve the justice triumph, international peace, as well as the internal peace – the values which the Humanity definitely deserves!

And the last, but not least – the principle of global thinkingwhich will allow people to clearly distinguish the primary from the secondary. I strongly believe that the global thinking is a key to the true knowledge, and hence, to the Morality. It serves us to find a bound where our responsibility ends and God`s responsibility starts!

And, may be, this is the most important thing which we need to consider, because the profit-driven economy and the worldwide dominancy – driven policy are more and more making us unable to withstand the alarming ecological, political and economical challenges of Today – without being based on human aggregative intellect – the sphere which exclusively belongs to us, University leaders and intellectuals of the XXI century.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

In some fifteen to twenty years from now the world will be governed by our followers, and WE ARE THE ONES who should understand the necessity of conceiving of a new Renaissance and THEY ARE THE ONES who will profit by its wonderful offspring.

Thank you.