General knowledge

General education refers to the formation and development of personality common to all men in their spiritual and thus above all ethical and aesthetic dimension. This idea comes from the time of the Enlightenment, the classical period, the New Humanism ( Schiller, von Humboldt ) and of German Idealism ( Fichte, Schelling, Hegel). This concept of education is closely associated with a particular cultural understanding and a philosophy that sees each person as a spirit in which something "higher " shows or disclosed.

The concept

The idea is that man is by his reason and freedom as opposed to mere things bearers of meaning and therefore an end in itself. Therefore, he can not and must never be only a means for Other (Kant). Schiller takes this to ( in the announcement of the Horen 1794), in that in a time of political oppression " a general and more interest in what purely human and all the influence of the times is exalted ", is necessary in order " to the Ideal refined humanity " to contribute.

So education is the idea and realization of the common people, together as possible in ethics and aesthetics, and is part of the character, personality development in a comprehensive sense.

Today, this term is often used as a synonym for the educational canon. Wolfgang Klafki has interpreted this development from a comprehensive understanding of education as " educational canon " as the expiration of the original classical education idea.

In contrast to the humanistic education term " general knowledge ", which is often understood as synonyms, a basic stock of knowledge, which is often equated with the mere information that every person should learn: what you should know about the world. This includes, as it corresponds to the modern understanding of knowledge acquisition and testable knowledge, in contrast to the humanistic understanding of education does not have to be personality- relevant.

A similar contrast is also reflected in the concept of pair formation ( professionally usable special knowledge and skills) and education ( general education ).

The concept of general education or knowledge comes from a time in which it was aware of the people that all mankind knowledge could not be summarized in a few books. Then there was the realization that the knowledge quantity is relatively independent of the quality: There is a ton for the individual man senseless and worthless knowledge ( specialized knowledge ), but only a limited basic set of experiences, insights, values ​​that are important in shaping the individual and only the sensible use of specialized knowledge allow.

From here a mechanistic redefinition of general education is possible: general education is what you need in order to develop as a person and to make sense to purchase and use special skills. General education is therefore the framework and foundation of specialized knowledge.

Criteria are more

General knowledge can be defined as the knowledge, in contrast, everyone needs to orient himself in the world.

The two areas overlap. There are contextual knowledge (eg traffic rules ) that has no educational value, on the other hand, formation of values ​​( responsibility ) that do not belong to the average orientation of knowledge and can not be purchased through knowledge processes.

History

A first approach to a comprehensive general education (in terms of general knowledge ) formulated John Comenius, with the aim of all to teach everything. Similarly tried Encyclopaedists in the Enlightenment to collect all knowledge and to make available to the public. This idea was revolutionary in so far as (nobility and clergy) was reserved at that time education only certain population groups or stalls.

While the introduction of compulsory education in the 17th and 18th centuries was aimed primarily at the disciplining of subjects attempted Neuhumanisten as Wilhelm von Humboldt in the 19th century with their school reforms to allow the time required for emancipation in the sense of Kant's general knowledge of broad layers - and failed. From this period the idea of ​​general education to educational canon comes as equal, as particularly the epigones Humboldt created an exclusion thesis that certain educational goods are impure. It developed a concept of education, which meted out the classic content Latin, Greek and German in comparison to science and action-oriented knowledge, an excessively high importance. Today's high school is, despite several reforms, still looks to this idea, which is expressed about the fact that at high schools less directly relevant professional knowledge is presented as at vocational school types.

General education as a synonym for educational canon

What is defined as general knowledge, as a synonym for the educational canon, is highly dependent on country / culture, time, social environment or individual knowledge. In our culture, the general knowledge related to language, literature, musical talents (music, art), social studies, geography, history, natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) and mathematics. After Wolfgang Klafki general education includes not only knowledge but also pragmatic act, ethical assessment skills, social action and aesthetic orientation.

With the development of the information society or the modern information technology education gets a new significance: Since information is available quickly, for example to the Internet in large quantity, it's now about mastering techniques of research to be able to evaluate information and make connections between information can ( media literacy ). This corresponds developed by Wolfgang Klafki substantive concept of epochaltypischen key issues such as peace, environmental protection, democratization / human rights, a world technology impacts in a special way. Then it goes in the general education necessary to understand the key current problems of humanity and act critically.

Criticism

Adorno speaks of today mediated general knowledge as " half-education ," which remains abruptly and superficial. A true education must, however, convey the critical reflection of the social conditions and their own reality of life and aim at maturity. However, this is due to the fact that the knowledge that exists today, has risen excessively and still increases, the need for capacity " reserved" for the necessary knowledge for the profession first and foremost.