A world locked in simplistic oppositions. The interpretive statements of lower secondary school students

This article considers the consequences of rejecting axiological ambiguity in the sphere of human experiences and reflection, as observed in statements made by lower secondary school children as part of a study Teaching language and literature in secondary school in light of the new core curriculum. The negative consequences are indicated of interpreting the world as one locked in the values of extreme opposition, based on an analysis of students’ interpretations of Balladyna by Juliusz Słowacki and Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising by Miron Białoszewski. The risks may include alienating the student from reality, as well as the reformulation of values into a set of anti-values, which excludes the possibility of reaching interpersonal agreement. Constructing a personal axiological system on this basis can occur only at the cost of discrediting the values of others, who are denied the right to have them from the outset. In such a world, there is no place for dialogue about values differing from those already held.

http://www.edukacja.ibe.edu.pl/images/numery/2017/2-8-tomaszewska-world-locked-in-simplistic-oppositions.pdf