Ancient tradition of physical improvement: impulses for determining the priorities of modern education

Abstract

The idea of the all-round harmonious development of individuals being the basis of effective education has been around since ancient times. The article explores a practical understanding of the transhistorical meanings of the phenomenon of Olympism and ideals and values related to this term through an excursion into antiquity and the analysis of the realities of modern education.
 The work aims to determine the potential of the ideal of an individual’s all-round harmonious development in the problematic area of modern education. To meet this purpose, we used a systemic and sociocultural approach, a complex of philosophical and general scientific methods in the context of interdisciplinary research.
 We conceptually defined and characterized the terms ‘ideal’ and ‘value’. A modern vision of the ‘ideal of Olympism’ is proposed. A certain deficit of ‘ideals’ in pedagogical structures of contemporary education, particularly in physical education, was revealed. In the context of the implementation of the individual life cycle, the benchmark of a comprehensively harmoniously developed individual with permanent self-improvement and evolutionary prospects of our biological species is defined.
 The following conclusions can be drawn from the present study:
 
 The Olympic ideal (and the values that form its inviolable core) have universal cultural and pedagogical significance, mobilizing a person for permanent self-realization and self-improvement.
 In the pedagogical context of Olympic education, the ‘ideal’ or ‘ideals’ are the basis of the humanistic educational
 
 tradition.
 
 In the individual perception frame, an ideal is the highest standard to which it makes sense to commit throughout
 
 the entire life cycle.
 
 The history of the Olympic movement illustrates the ideal and values of Olympism as a complex sociocultural and sports phenomenon.
 The ideal of an individual’s all-round harmonious development has a permanently sought-after potential in society, as it is connected with the further improvement of human nature.