Ideological Problems of Marxist Pedagogy

Some representatives of pedagogical sciences in our country became protagonists of revisionist and opportunist destructive ideas in the critical years 1968 and 1969. The class and ideological sources of these destructive views emerged from the analyses which have since been made in our country. It has become evident that the influences of neo-positivism, existentialism, pragmatism and neo-Kantism made themselves felt in pedagogy in the same way as in the other social sciences. Therefore even in this area a divorce of pedagogical theory and practice from the building of our socialist school was called for. The lesson to be drawn from the analyses of the past is that it is necessary to adopt a far more critical attitude not only to individual publications and studies which appeared in the area of non Marxist pedagogy, but also to entire systems of some scientific disciplines, such as social psychology. It is necessary for further scientific work to be linked, as closely as possible, with the construction of the socialist school, and to be based on Marxist-Leninist methodology. Comprehensive and collective working teams must proceed, as far as this aspect is concerned, with criticism and self-criticism. This is the only way to make the theses free from positivist residues, which are still to be found in some of them. As regards the choice of subjects it is desirable to abandon marginal subjects and those which are insignificant for the construction of our socialist school or are not topical or of current interest. Such themes are sometimes characteristic of some theses presented by individuals with the aim of obtaining various scientific or pedagogical degrees. In this respect it is also desirable to lead the students in the right direction and make them participate in team work on basic subjects within the framework of state plans or departmental plans. It is also necessary to enrich pedagogical theory in such a way as to make it serve the requirements outlined by the 14th Congress of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and by the plenary session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia in July 1973. Therefore pedagogical theory, too, must be orientated primarily to the problems involved in Communist education and the education of young workers.