Legal behavior and moral standards are some of the components of education, about which there are some controversial discussions. Some authors declare themselves in favor of this formulation, while others turn to moral education and civic education separately. We choose moral education, moral behavior of a person, taking into account the numerous obstacles established between the moral phenomenon and the social phenomenon of public life.
Community values
The connection of moral and civil behavior is not accidental. Moral law behavior is what children should be taught from birth. Obviously, the two behaviors are related to each other and depend on each other, because you cannot have moral behavior without observing the laws, traditions and values of society. You cannot have civic behavior if you do not follow the values, norms, rules governing the life of the community in which you live.
Moral and civic education is an extremely complex component of education, because, on the one hand, its consequences are reflected in the entire state of the individual, and on the other hand, moral behavior is represented by moral standards and legal requirements. They subordinate all other values (scientific, cultural, professional, aesthetic, physical, environmental, etc.). Morality and civilization are thus fundamental aspects of a harmonious, genuine and holistic personality.
Moral ideal
A good understanding of moral education requires some clarification regarding morality and civilization. Moral behavior is a social phenomenon, a form of social consciousness that reflects the relationships that are established between people in a social context, limited in time and space, with a regulatory function for living together people, stimulating and directing human behavior in accordance with social requirements. Its content materializes in the moral ideal, values and moral rules that make up what is called the "structure of the moral system."
Moral behavior is a theoretical model expressing the moral quintessence of the human person in the form of an image of moral perfection. Its essence is manifested in moral values, norms and rules.
Prototypes of morality
Moral values reflect the general requirements and the requirements of moral behavior in the light of ideal regulations with an almost infinite range of applicability. We remember, for example, some of the most significant moral values: patriotism, humanism, democracy, justice, freedom, honesty, honor, dignity, modesty, etc. Each of them corresponds to a good-bad, honestly-dishonest, heroism - cowardice, etc. Moral standards are also moral requirements developed by society or a more limited community, which set out prototypes of moral behavior for specific situations (school, professional, family life).
Expressing the requirements of moral values, they have a more limited scope than those that take the form of permits, bonds, prohibitions, which lead to certain forms of action. The moral form of public consciousness is the source of the moral content of education and a reference base for its assessment.
The moral aspect of social and individual consciousness belongs to the ideal sphere, while morality belongs to the sphere of reality. Morality implies effective normative requirements of morality, moral position, translated from ideal to reality. That is why moral education seeks to turn morality into virtue.
Human formation
Civil law points to an organic connection, vital between a person and society. More precisely, education contributes to the formation of a person as a citizen, as an active supporter of the rule of law, militant human rights for the benefit of the homeland and the people to whom it belongs. Moral behavior is the goal of education, which consists in the formation of a person as a full-fledged cell that feels, thinks and acts in accordance with the requirement of public morality.
This requires knowledge and observance of moral ideals, values, norms and rules on which public morality rests. Knowledge of the structure and functioning of the rule of law, respect for laws, the study and upholding of the values of democracy, rights and freedoms, understanding of peace, friendship, respect for human dignity, tolerance, non-discrimination by ethnicity, religion, race, gender, etc. are also required.
Civic conscience
For the purpose of moral education, the main tasks of this component of education are: the formation of a moral and civil conscience and the formation of moral and civil behavior.
It should be noted that this separation between theoretical and practical tasks is made from didactic considerations, somewhat artificial, because the moral and civil profile of the subject develops simultaneously from both sides, taking both information and action, feelings, beliefs and facts.
The formation of a moral and civil conscience
A moral and civic conscience consists of a system of morality, moral standards and knowledge of values, laws, and norms governing a person’s relationship with society. This includes the commandments that the individual uses in his position and within the many social relations in which he participates. From a psychological point of view, moral and civic consciousness includes three components: cognitive, emotional and volitional.
Positive actions
The cognitive component involves the child's knowledge of the content and requirements of values, moral and civic norms. Their knowledge is not limited to simple memorization, but involves an understanding of the requirements that they imply, an understanding of the need to comply with them. The results of this knowledge are reflected in the formation of moral and civic ideas, concepts and judgments.
Their role is to bring the child into the universe of moral and civic values, to make him understand the need to comply with them. Without knowledge of moral and civil norms, a child cannot behave in accordance with the requirements that arise in society. But, despite the need for moral and civil behavior, moral and civic knowledge is not associated with the mere presence of rules. In order for them to become a motivational factor for starting, guiding and supporting moral and civil behavior, they must be accompanied by a series of emotional positive feelings. This leads to the need for the emotional component of consciousness of the formation of moral behavior.
External obstacles
The affective component provides the energy substrate necessary for conducting moral and civic knowledge. The subject’s emotions and feelings for moral and civic teams emphasize that he not only accepts values, norms, moral and civic rules, but also lives and identifies with them. It follows from this that both moral standards of behavior in society and affective attachment are necessary for moral and civil interaction. However, they are not enough, because often when performing moral and civil actions, there may be a number of external obstacles (temporary problems, adverse circumstances) or internal (interests, desires), which require effort or, in other words, the intervention of the volitional component is required.
Spiritual needs
From the fusion of the three components of moral and civic consciousness, beliefs arise as a product of cognitive, affective, and volitional integration into the human mental structure. Having formed, they become “true spiritual needs”, the core of moral consciousness and create the conditions for a person to jump out of motivated external behavior and consolidate his social and moral behavior.