The urgency of implementing purposeful and effective legal education of citizens, which is premised on the formation of humanistic and democratic legal culture of the personality, is chiefly determined by the needs of the state, society and individual. In this respect, it is directly related to the processes which are typical for Kazakhstan and which constitute its long-range programme of development.
The Address of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev to the nation “Kazakhstan’s way – 2050: common aim, common interests, common future” indicates that our forthcoming direction is intertwined with the creation of new opportunities to realize all potential of Kazakhstani citizens. The definition of a developed country in the twenty-first century connotes active, educated and healthy inhabitants. The head of the state has outlined long-term priorities and strategies, one of which puts forward the creation of the atmosphere of fair competition, justice, observance of the law and high legal culture [1].
In the law “About education” one of the main principles of state policy in this particular realm is to respect human rights and freedoms (ch. 1, art. 3). The development of modern society has a dynamic character; accordingly, the essential factor of the education system (ch. 3, art. 11) is educating the person to exercise active citizenship, creating the necessity to participate in political, economic and cultural life of the country, and constructing a conscious attitude of an individual to his or her rights and responsibilities [2].
Primary school is endowed the function of initial legal educator and, therefore, pays great attention to setting down the fundamental basis for the legal culture of residents. This constitutes a significant component of the state’s policy.
Legal education and training are closely interrelated with one another. Training encompasses purposeful formation of the individual consciousness characterizing a law-abiding citizen, including legal knowledge, moral ideals, legal settings and value orientations. Legal education and training perform one part of the whole process of the spiritual formation of a person, which is impossible to dispense when implementing the idea of building a democratic state.
Fairy tale is one of the most effective means in raising the students’ legal consciousness and forming elementary representations of their rights and freedoms. According to I.V.Dubrovina, the attractiveness of fairy tales for the development of a child’s personality is based on the following:
1. The lack of direct moralities and edifications. The events of a fairy tale are logical and natural. They follow sequentially and the child internalizes the cause-and-effect relations that exist in the world.
2. Through images, a child comes in contact with life experience of a previous generation. Fairy plot includes some situations and complications which any person can encounter in life: separation from parents, life choices, mutual aid, love, struggle between good and evil. The triumph of good in fairy tales provides psychological protection: no matter what happens in the story, – everything comes to a good ending. Severe tests that befall the heroes help them become smarter, kinder, stronger and wiser. Consequently, the child understands that everything that happens in a human’s life promotes internal growth.
3. There is no specified name of the protagonist or the designation of certain places of fairy events. The protagonist is a collective imagery; a child can easily identify himself or herself with a hero of the tale and become a member of the fabulous events.
4. An aura of mystery and magic, an intriguing plot, an unexpected transformation of heroes allow perceiving the information contained in fairy tales lightly [3].
Pedagogy responds to the tales not only as educational and training material, but also as a pedagogical tool or method. So, an unknown author of the article “The educational value of fairy tales” in the monthly pedagogical paper “Education and training” (№ 1, 1894) writes that “if you repeat a thousand times the same moral maxim to the children, it will remain a dead letter for them, but if you tell them a story, imbued with the same idea – the child will be thrilled and excited by it” [4, 121].
Any fairy tale is oriented toward a social and pedagogical effect: it teaches, trains, warns, educates and encourages the activity. The story is simple, mysterious and from the first words “There was once...” “Once upon a time...”, “There once lived...”, “Long time ago...” has a magnetic force which conduces for the child to dream and fantasize; at the same time, it broadens the scopes of simple life and in available ‘fairy’ form introduces him or her to an adult world of feelings and emotions.
Social (legal) norms as well as knowledge about society can be fixed in the children’s memory via tales. The legal options of behavior are installed along with the norms of moral (what is good and what is bad), instill the concept of what is sure to be done (“obligation”), what is allowed to do (“possibility”), what is forbidden to do (“prohibition”) and what is indifferent to society, that is giving one a right to decide on his or her own. The contents of legal and moral norms, comprised in fairy tales, impact the students’ mentality and influence their behavior.
The process of instructing the foundations of the lawful behavior for primary students must pass purposefully and systematically through the gradual mastery of the basic concepts of law. During the extra-curricular activities, the teacher introduces his or her students to the human rights – the right to life, the right to liberty, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the right to education, the right to rest and leisure and others – while making a move through the wonderful fairyland, he or she relies on the theoretical foundations such as international acts: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights [5], The Declaration of the Rights of the Child [6], The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [7].
Fairy tales serve as illustrative examples representing this or that right or notion. A teacher passing the content of articles of legal documents to students should rephrase the language of legal texts in accessible language for their clear perception and understanding. Therefore, hard work of the teacher is required to adapt and interpret legal information for small students. These examples of fairy tales can be effectively used as illustrations of the declared human rights.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child proclaims that children have the right to live a full life (art. 6) and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights announces that everyone has a right to life, liberty and security of person (art. 3). Little children can better appreciate and comprehend the meaning of legal articles, namely, that nobody has a right to encroach on human life and health by the example of the heroes of the following tales “The rolling roll” (“The Gingerbread Man”), “The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids”, “Three little pigs”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by the Brothers Grimm, “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Puss in Boots” by Charles Perrault, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by A.S. Pushkin.
The tales “The wooden house”, “Hare’s small hut”, “Cat’s house” by S.Marshak acquaint children with the right to inviolability of residence (art. 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 16 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). The contents of the stories A.N.Tolstoy’s “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino”, P.P.Ershov’s “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, Charles Perrault’s “Puss in Boots” exemplify the right to own property (art. 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
After reading the tales “Cockerel and the Beanstalk”, “Doctor Powderpill” by K.Chukovsky, a teacher can tell the students about the human rights to the provision of necessary medical assistance and health care which are enshrined in art. 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 24, par. 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The human right to education (art. 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, art. 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child) is reflected in such works as “The Tale of Lost Time” by E.L. Shvarts, “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino”, “About a kid who knew how to count to ten” by A.Preysen, “Adventures of Cipollino” by J. Rodari.
The main characters had a nickname in the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen “Thumbelina” and Charles Perrault “Cinderella” and, in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 7), the child has a right to a name.
The article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child proclaim that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. The heroes of the tales “The Golden Key, or the Adventures of Buratino”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, “Three little pigs”, “Adventures of Cipollino” and others expose these problems.
The violation of the right to rest and leisure (art. 24 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) is well illustrated in the story “Cinderella”.
The heroes of “The Town Musicians of Bremen” by the Brothers Grimm, “Frog traveler” by V.M. Garshin, “Thumbelina”, “The Rolling Roll” (“The Gingerbread Man”) used the right to freedom of movement and residence (art. 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
The articles 1 and 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights say that it is necessary to educate students a sense of justice and kindness to other people. They also state that all human beings are born free and equal in their dignity and rights, and all people should treat each other as brothers. However, the fairy tales portray an opposite scenario when in “The Ugly Duckling” by H.Andersen the dwellers of the poultry yard offended the ugly duckling, and the brothers ill-treated Ivanushka in the fairy tale “Sivka-Burka”.
I. Volkov’s work “The Wizard of the Emerald City” can serve as a brilliant example of the human right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association (art. 20 UDHR). Written in the genre of the fairy tale, it traces how friendship (union) between different creatures helps to resolve numerous problems and struggle against difficulties and dangers. A similarly parallel can be drawn in the fairy tales “The Turnip” and “Different wheels” by V.Suteev and others.
The teacher should use the episodes from the book of Astrid Lindgren’s “Karlsson-on-the-Roof” and Russian folk tale “The frog-Princess” in which Ivan Tsarevich has burnt the frog’s skin to study the rule laid in the article 12 of the UDHR. It highlights that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his or her privacy and family.
In the fairy tale written by H.Andersen “The Emperor’s New Clothes” the boy was not afraid to tell the truth to the king, thereby expressing the right to his own opinion. The child may express aloud, write and even print what he or she thinks (art. 13 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child) but there are some restrictions, i.e. he or she must respect the rights and reputation of other people.
The Queen of the tale “Alice in Wonderland” by L.Keroll ordered “Off with her head! Let them pass the sentence, if she is guilty or not – then we shall understand!” According to article 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights “everyone has the right to be presumed innocent until he is proven guilty according to law in a public trial”. Any person in the court must have the defender (barrister), who ensures the protection of the human rights. Art. 37 par. d of the Convention contains the rule stating that “Every child deprived of his liberty ... has the right to challenge the legality of the deprivation of his liberty before a court”.
Among the following fairy cases, that is when a big green toad kidnapped Thumbelina in the tale written by H.Andersen or the Snow Queen abducted the boy Kai, or when the crime was committed by geese in the tale of the same name, having stolen Alyonushka’s brother, the art. 35 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child is vividly violated, given that it proclaims that “the State shall take all appropriate measures to prevent the abduction of children”.
Parents play a primary role in the life and education of their children. Consequently, they have great responsibility for them (art. 18 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child). Every child has the right to appropriate conditions for his or her full development, upbringing, education, health promotion and preparation for independent life in the family and society. Responsibility of the family for the child is illustrated in the works of D.N.Mamin-Siberian’s “Grey Neck” and S.V.Mihalkov’s “Feast of disobedience”.
Mowgli and Kittens, the characters of the tales (“The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling, “Cat’s House” by S. Marshak) who were left without parental care, should be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State (art. 20 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child).
Tales exciting the children’s mind, heart and imagination will help them understand complex situations, boost their sensitivity to good and bad and encourage finding the right answers to difficult ethical questions.
Every tale ends well, good triumphs over evil, human rights violations are eventually punished because there is always a defender or a hero who advocates his or her rights himself or herself or looks for protection from the strongest. Students should be aware that they are entitled to special care and assistance from parents, schools, guardianship authority and state.
Thus, fairy tales are the real encyclopedia of the past, present and possibly future, they are an effective tool in the education of citizens of the legal, democratic state, who are capable to socialization and respectful of the rights and freedoms of the individual; who have rectitude and show ethnic tolerance and profound regard for languages, traditions and cultures of other nations.
Библиографическая ссылка
Odintsova S.A., Sarsekeyeva Z.E., Odintsova E.A. FAIRY TALE AS EFFECTIVE MEDIUM FOR LEGAL EDUCATION OF STUDENTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL // Международный журнал экспериментального образования. – 2015. – № 3. – С. 6-8;URL: https://expeducation.ru/ru/article/view?id=7794 (дата обращения: 11.05.2024).