European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

64 EUROPEAN IDENTITY. INDIVIDUAL, GROUP AND SOCIETYThe conclusion to be drawn from this critique is that the overridingpurpose of Europe appears to constitute a significant task for an entiregeneration.Secularity as a device for transmitting European culture.The State school systemThis paper on the meaning and motive of Europe would not becomplete unless I addressed the question of what concrete measuresshould be taken concerning schooling, as a response to both thesignificance and the overriding aim of Europe, and to the challengeswith which our young people are faced. In other words, we mustreflect on how to include the arguments I have mentioned within theschool syllabus. I will have to make do with noting the need to carryout this task, which must be performed by teachers themselves.I do, however, hope that you will allow me to make two observationsconcerning the issue.Firstly, the State school system and its secular nature. The stateschool system was originally conceived as part of the French revolution,as a vehicle for putting the ethical and political ideas of the Enlightenmentinto practice. These were, namely: to provide a secular environmentin which to exercise freedom of thought; and a way of usingrational and scientific means to train independent minds, people whowould then be capable of being morally autonomous and who wouldbecome diligent citizens.Before becoming a political project, public education was a moralproject whose foundations lay in the idea of freedom andEnlightenment: as a rational subject, man is able to make choices and iscalled upon to be self-governing. If correctly educated, he can exercisewhat Kant named the self-regulatory conscience. Moral autonomy istherefore the ethical ideal of State schooling. For it is reason, enlightenedby the brilliance of knowledge, that guarantees not only correct use offreedom, but also progress as a consequence of the constant quest fortrue knowledge and the free exchange of opinions.In order for the republic to be a valid entity, it must be constructed bylibertarian citizens, who are prepared to both claim and defend theirfreedom. The school itself must be a forum for free thought if it is toeducate such a lineage of emancipated men and women; pupils mustparticipate fully in the enlightenment process, which will allow them tomake rational and unconditioned use of their freedom. It, therefore, turnsout that maintaining this free-thinking environment, which generates