UNESCO PARIS

Exactly forty years ago, in the year 1968, there arose a crisis in pedagogy that made itself manifest in all its various aspects. During this period the value of the school system as the principal venue for education, socialization and consensus was debated; as a result, this has spread out to the entire universe of education. But this debate unfortunately did not produce a pedagogical model capable of addressing the criticisms. Since then pedagogy has been characterized by excessive fragmentation and a new dispersion of non-epistemologically founded intentions. Sectorial knowledge in the field of pedagogy is making it increasingly difficult to re-adopt an overarching approach to education. At the UNESCO venue in Paris on 13 June 2007, a debate was held regarding the ontic In-itself as the order constituting the nature identity of the subject. Pedagogy therefore rediscovered the episteme upon which it could be founded in order to educate the future leaders of this generation.  Thank to an initiative by the International Ontopsychology Association, the International Informatization Academy and the Slavonic Association of Ontopsychology, the 3rd international conference on pedagogy took place at the UNESCO venue in Paris. The Conference was entitled Contemporary pedagogy: responsibilities and training of leaders for the society of the future, with the participation of over three-hundred professionals from various fields (psychology, pedagogy, culture, art, business) and nationalities (Russians, Italians, French, Germans, Brazilians, Arabians, Ukrainians, from the Baltic States).  The speakers at the Conference were: Acc. Prof. Antonio Meneghetti (President of the International Ontopsychology Association - Ontopsicologia), Acc. Prof. Ludmila Verbitskaja (Chancellor of the State University of St. Petersburg), Prof. Larisa Tsvetkova (Dean and Professor in the Pscyhology Faculty at the State University of St. Petersburg), Prof. Mohiaddin Mohammed Salik (Vice-President of the International Informatization Academy), Dr. Vittoria Dmitrieva (President of the Slavonic Association of Ontopsychology), Dr. Koshues and Prof. Petrova (Imaginology Academy of the University of Moscow). This was one of the most important events organized since 2000 in various countries around the world, to address the current problems of contemporary society1. Never before have young people seemed so aggressive, apathetic, lacking in interests and eradicated from the fundamental pre-eminent qualities of mankind. As Prof. Larisa Tsvetkova affirmed: “Pedagogy is not only a science, but it is especially an art-form”. She went on to specify that this is in line with the ontopsychological view within the pedagogical field. She continued: “But often parents are unprepared in this field, since there isn’t any school where they can learn how to educate their own children.” Tsvetkova then added that the study of Pedagogy and Psychology is mandatory in all the faculties in Russia. Moreover, many students of the Psychology Faculty at the State University of St. Petersburg request to write their dissertations on Ontopsychological Pedagogy.  Prof. Ludmila Verbitskaja pointed out that an individual is formed over his lifespan and there is not one moment in which one can say: “Now I know everything. Now I no longer need anything”. Verbitskaja continued by underlining the fundamental task of the educational system, namely that of creating within the individual the capacity and the necessity to continuously broaden the forms and manners of his activities, so as to acquire new social technologies.  During the conference of 30 May 2006 Antonio Meneghetti had introduced the subject of the child-society relationship, whereas in his speech this year he delved into some of the particularly serious specific problems of today’s reality that is dominated by technocracy and market consumerism: 1) the increase of attention deficit disorders and hyperactivity in today’s children and adolescents; and 2) the future power of mobile telephony. Regarding the first item, Antonio Meneghetti emphasized the worrisome increase in the use of psychopharmaceuticals such as Prozac, Ritalin and Strattera. At present, these are compulsorily prescribed to “treat” even very young children, from the ages of 3 to 8, depending on the countries, and he defines them “tranquillizers of the psychology of young people, of whatever origin”. Applications of the Ontopsychology method have been carried out for decades, demonstrating that results in the pedagogical field may be obtained especially through dialogue aimed at the identity of the child – constituted by the child’s ontic In-itself. Pharmaceutical treatment nearly always rules out dialogue and increases the communication gap between adults and children. This lack of communication often leads to drug addiction2 which is presently involving (i.e. in Italy) youngsters as young as twelve and a half who have to be hospitalized to overcome their addiction to a new form of heroin called brownsugar, which can be sniffed or inhaled on aluminium paper (ref. “L’Espresso”, issue of 10 January 2008). Another danger for young people is that represented by the future preponderance of cellular telephones, causing children and adolescents to be raised in an unreal world of images that are totally disconnected from nature. Their constant interaction with computers and the digital world in general, where there is no reversibility, creates a false consciousness that is severed from the real world since it is founded on the non-concrete.  Meneghetti has therefore outlined the problems of young people, explaining the process leading to their loss of identity. A form of overgratification occurs during early childhood, when the child is motivated to achieve material pleasures, thus developing habits that objectify him and arouse that slothfulness of character that later leads to frustration, aggression and depression.  The young individual is no longer able to get respect, or to do something on his own that deserves to be praised and rewarded. He lives his life as a failure and feels humiliated, a process that manifests itself through aggression, depression, suicide and self-sabotage as the youngster attempts to exact revenge against society.  This frustrating situation arouses fear. The youngster feels inadequate and hides the fear determined by this feeling behind an infinite array of ruses later described by physicians and psychologists in their medical case histories. Meneghetti stressed that the solution lies in the re-establishment of pedagogy for the individual-person that is intrinsic to society, insisting upon ontopsychological integration: “They speak about civil rights, children’s rights, the rights of foetuses, but the first right is the ability of being oneself, ability to exist exactly as one is and with this I mean conformity of the social Ego with the ontic In-itself. Starting from this, one can take up his proper role in society. Hyper-protectionist superimposition kills this fundamental and transcendent right of every child on earth”.  When Meneghetti speaks of nature or being, it is necessary to specify that he has differentiated the elementary criteria that concretely represent the principle-instinct of nature (or order of nature). He has defined it as I.S.O. – In Sè ontico (ontic In-itself). This principle has been singled out, isolated and described within the technical methodology of the Ontopsychological School and it is originated in the roots of the unconscious. It differentiates itself from the many indications and is the primary cause of biological health, psychic well-being and information in the self-realization of the individual in his multi-faceted existence. Every period, every society needs its heads, its leaders; populations are rescued by these intelligent individuals who are able to create functions, developments, progress and confirmations.  Today’s leading societies reveal a lack of leaders in every field, in every sector, since they do not possess the support of capable young individuals ready to work for those people, for that population from which they want to be admired. It should be noted from the outset that it is necessary to start all over again with children by using a suitable pedagogy, even one that is more direct, more explicit than that used at present, since it is useless to overgratify young people if we then go on increasingly with such restrictive practices as prisons, wars, diseases and hospitals. Meeting in an official venue, such as UNESCO, and before such a distinguished audience is a fresh pleasure. Something positive stated in that venue finds immediately its way to intelligent individuals who are constantly struggling to identify ways to improve our existence as human beings on this planet.