SCHOOL AND RELIGION IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN RUSSIA AND IN THE USA

The urgency of the topic is stipulated by importance of the problem of spiritual-moral education of the youth in modern multicultural society. One of the substantial factors, which influences the level of spiritual-moral development of the youth is religion, moral values of which can serve as the basis for elaboration of the principles of spiritual-moral education of the youth.The purpose of the research is to reveal common and peculiar characteristics in the approaches of Russian and American scholars to the identification of the role of religion in modern secular school. The problem is studied in the context of multicultural education.The results of the research showed that secular character of education is fixed by legislation inRussia as well as in theUSA, but religion may be studied at school as a separate subject. Adherents of multicultural education inRussia and in theUSA support religious pluralism in the content of education concerning this problem. Scholars in both countries are sure that only a professional teacher should teach at school and not a priest. This belief sets a new problem of personnel training, which should be solved on high scientific and educational level.Practical implications of the results. The results of the research allow to define the strategy of modernization of spiritual-moral educational practice in educational institutions. The results of the comparative analysis of the problem of interconnection of school and religion in scientific works of Russian and American scholars broaden the range of problems of comparative education and can serve as the basis of further practical research in the field of multicultural education.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12731/2218-7405-2013-6-42