Tomasz Wysłobocki

The role of old literature in shaping self-awareness and social skills of students

The role of old literature in shaping self-awareness
and social skills of students

Tomasz Wysłobocki

Institute of Romance Studies

University of Wrocław, Poland

Abstract

My speech aims to emphasize the role that the university can and should play in shaping the self-awareness and social competencies of subsequent generations of citizens. What may seem surprising, classes on old literature can play a huge role in this respect. I would like to tell you about it using the example of lectures on French literature of the 18th century that I give to second-year students in Romance philology at the University of Wrocław.

In today's world, where – as it may seem – only exact sciences and specific skills that students acquire from their studies count, we forget that the University is definitely something more. It is, above all, a meeting place for people from different places, different backgrounds and cultures, with different life experiences and ambitions. It is at the University, in an atmosphere of equality and openness to arguments and differences, that students learn to discuss and make difficult compromises. They develop soft skills, so important in today's globalized and unstable world.

At the same time, students, for whom parents, school counsellors, and teachers were previously responsible, become independent individuals who personally create their careers and take their lives into their own hands. From now on, they are the only ones to decide for their future. The University is the time when they go through this process – it is a place where children transform into adults.

I would like to share with you my experiences and observations about how literature classes from a seemingly distant and forgotten epoch can, in a sometimes surprising way, give young people much more than knowledge of IT tools and specific technical skills.

Keywords: university, old literature, social skills, democracy, citizens

References

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Biodata

Tomasz Wysłobocki, assistant professor at the Institute of Romance Studies at the University of Wrocław; specialist in literature and culture of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution; author of two monographs: “Citoyennes. Women in the public space in France at the turn of the 19th century” (2014) and “The Enlightenment, what is the point? Ideas and selected texts” (2016), as well as several scientific papers and translations, co-author of the book “Panorama of the French literature – writing and war” (2020). His research focuses on the history of women during the French Revolution, links between literature, art and politics during this period, the history of philosophy of the Enlightenment, as well as the history of the 18th-century French theatre.