Abstract
“The article analyzes the results of interdisciplinary research that includes exploration of similarities and differences in the systems of values of school students in two rapidly developing countries, which have identical problems and achievements in the field of education. The purpose of research is to determine the extent of collectivist and individualistic traits in the public consciousness of schoolchildren between the two countries, taking into account the influence of developmental trends of modern society and the system of general secondary education. Topicality of addressing the problem of increasing the level of spiritual development of young students is raised by a wide range of domestic and foreign experts. It often focuses attention on objective inevitability of channeling the work of school facilities towards practical activities of school teachers that in the eyes of young people restores traditional values that define the continuity of people’s culture, play central part in shaping humanistic qualities of a person of the younger generation. The article highlights the main trends in the formation of the system of values of modern school students, their likes, and cultural preferences, indicating a ratio of individualist and collectivist culture features at a particular stage of development of society, the similarities and differences in the value consciousness of school students in the two countries. The authors support the idea of the development by modern school of a communitarian personality type that combines essential quality of individualist and collectivist culture”. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n6s1p380