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MOSCOW, April 12 Member of the Human Rights Council (HRC) under the President of the Russian Federation, Russian national teacher Sergei Rukshin called for a return to the school curriculum for the study of astronomy, since it has a lot of aspects relating to modern human life.
Every year on April 12, World Aviation and Cosmonautics Day is celebrated, dedicated to the first manned flight into space.
In a conversation with Rukshin, he noted that astronomy is still being studied in most Russian universities — in the programs of physics and mathematics , Mathematical and Mechanical Faculties.
“This, of course, is not only observational astronomy, it is also (a subject) related to mathematics, celestial mechanics, and it constitutes an essential part of the knowledge, that cultural heritage, which Valery Fadeev, chairman of the HRC, spoke about at the opening a week ago of the International Petersburg educational forum. A person who does not have a culture, I repeat, not details, not subtleties, but does not have a culture of knowledge about the world, will always be open and accessible to falsification, imposing other people's opinions, and so on,» Rukshin emphasized.
In addition, speaking about the heritage, the professor noted that as such the right to teach it in schools was given to mankind not easily and not immediately. So, the official Vatican recognized that the Earth revolves around the Sun, and not vice versa, only in 1992.
“Not everyone even realizes how late it was, and that those who were burned for a nasty point of view were burned in vain. So, the very right to teach astronomy is also a cultural heritage of mankind, and astronomy as a science, and not as a legend about creation of the world in various religions is also part of the education of every cultured person,» Rukshin said.
“Therefore, I certainly feel close to the times when I went to school, our parents went to school when a person received basic astronomical knowledge,” he added and noted that this knowledge was not limited to the romance of ancient centuries, which gave beautiful mythical constellation names, but covered aspects of astronomy that relate to the life of modern man.
And there are a lot of these aspects, according to the expert: from satellites that humanity uses when establishing telephone and Internet communications, to launching missiles, to maintaining the combat readiness of troops, using astronomical satellites in navigation, and so on.
“Therefore, if you answer according to the yes/no system, it would be useful, it is an integral part of the cultural heritage,” he stressed.
He also noted that astronomy, starting from ancient times and the Middle Ages, was extremely important for practical activities, for completely different aspects in human life. Even the church, which struggled with science in the Middle Ages, needed astronomy and mathematics, since Christian holidays, in addition to the constant ones attached to the date of the calendar, are also transitional, tied to Easter.
«Easter is a purely astronomical phenomenon: the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox,» Rukshin added.
Before introducing this subject in schools, it is necessary to discuss in detail the extent to which astronomy should be taught, the professor believes.
«»Every good teacher must agree with himself, with his conscience and with colleagues teaching other subjects, about what is the place of this subject in the student's worldview, in his future knowledge, which may be required when acquiring a profession, well and at the same time so that the student is not overloaded,» Rukshin said.
According to him, if each subject is declared the main and necessary, then the school week and homework will exceed the volume that a student is able to do without psychological trauma and loss of health.
«And this is the question that needs to be discussed: what is the fundamental core of knowledge in astronomy that we should give to everyone,» he concluded.
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