Comments on the Course
My Journey in Life: A Student Textbook
for Developing Loving Relationships
(formerly My World & I: The Way of Love)

"The most valuable idea, which permeates the whole book, is the idea of chastity. It is a message that our young people, bombarded as they are from all sides by the media and society that chastity is no longer a value, need to hear now more than ever."
A group of parents
St. Petersburg

"This book deserves the most positive evaluation. The authors are high-level profes sionals. More importantly, they have an acute feeling for the importance of the family and the preciousness of children. This combination of high professionalism and emotional concern is wonderful. In fact, only such people can be trusted to prepare children and teenagers for family life."
Vladimir Arkhangelsky
Senior Researcher, Scientific Research Institute on Family
Russian Ministry of Social Protection

"This book is extremely important. As a textbook focused on the young generation, in its reflections about the value of family and its role in the life of a person and in society, this edition is unique. The urgency of the textbook is underscored also by the crisis of the family in the modern world. Delicately and with taste, the text promotes the idea of the unification of cultures, of which family relationships are meant to be the prototype. It is written in a beautiful style that blends the traditional with the contemporary, combining material of different cultures into a harmonious whole.
"Although not mentioned directly, the book represents an attempt to counteract anti-family values and lifestyles that are current in modern society in a way that is free from the didacticness typical in many textbooks. The authors conduct a conversation with the student, engaging him on various themes in a way that encourages the student to think. The book encourages reflection and discussion in a workshop type of atmosphere. By offering guidance in family relationships through the skillful use of author-student dialogue, My World & I: The Way of Love teaches us the ABCs of family life."
A.I. Antonov, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Department of Family Health & Social Policy
Moscow State University

"Including subjects about human life based on universal values in the school curriculum is one of the most urgent needs of the contemporary age. At the same time such subjects should be careful not to carry too direct and declarative a message, but be sensitive to the needs and interests of teenagers in the context of their day-to-day experiences. In my opinion the textbook My World & I: The Way of Love fits these ..... requirements exactly. The moral and spiritual problems of family relationships are presented through the prism of love, the greatest of all values, but about which we are often embarrassed to discuss with our children.
"The preciousness of love, the ability to tell true love from false love, the responsibility of love, understanding what masculinity and femininity means, the nature of the love relationship between a man and a woman in marriage, the nature of the love relationship between parents and children - all these are in the circle of topics that this textbook discusses.
"Especially interesting and significant is that universal values along with marriage and family traditions are presented in the context of different world religions: Confucianism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. On the one hand it broadens the horizons of our youth, helping them to understand the culture, religion and tradition of other people. On the other it demonstrates that, different as they are, all cultures regard love, fidelity in marriage, the responsibility of marriage partners for each other and for their children, and mutual respect between parents and children, as the highest values."
S.A. Belicheva
Ph.D. President of the consortium "Social Health of Russia"

"This course is extremely valuable as it is devoted to an eternal problem: the preparation of young people for marriage and family life. The nucleus of this problem lies in a contradiction: the desire for personal freedom is confronted with the competing desire to experience close, loving relationships in the context of a family. The creation of a successful family is based on a spiritual and moral unity, a unity of ideals. The authors aspire to present a system of values that young people should pay attention to while planning their life and creating their families.
"The structure and contents of the course are well thought out and logical, worked out around a core set of ideas. After beginning with a general conception of the purpose and meaning of life, the lessons turn to a discussion of issues connected with the physical and social development of the person and then to the question of relations among family members, where the value of cooperation is emphasized. At the end of the book further issues concerning marriage, sexual development, moral choice and love are explored. The book is permeated with the general idea of moral choice based on values."
A.S. Belkin, Ph.D.
Chairman of the Department of Pedagogics & Pedagogical Technology
Urals Pedagogical Institute, Russia

"The course is deeply humanitarian, addressing itself to questions concerning the meaning of life. The teaching methodology developed by the authors of the program is effective in encouraging the development of the student's character."
I.V. lofina, Ph.D.
Senior Teacher
L.V. Uzlova
First Deputy Director
Institute for the Regional Development of Education
Ekaterinburg, Russia

"Great attention in this textbook is given to the role of the family in the spiritual growth of a human being. The family is presented as a "university" of human relationships. The authors succeed wonderfully in combining traditional understandings with a serious discussion of modern problems in the areas of communication, love, marriage, friendship, responsibility and mutual understanding.
"It is important to mention that the textbook stresses and promotes interreligious and intercultural understanding, which has become vital if we are to maintain peace and stability in our world. The authors delicately show that the norms and values of different cultures do not contradict each other but are fundamentally in agreement and complement each other in many ways."
M. Lutfulloev, Ph.D.
Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Pedagogical Science
Dushanbe, Tajikistan

"This course is urgently needed by today's teenagers. In fact it should have appeared long ago. It fills a desperate need in the context of modern school education. In Russia, where serious changes are taking place, it has special relevance for it provides a counterbalance to the negative trends perceived by students during our current period of social instability. It presents an alternative system of values, the awareness of which will help children to form healthy relations with other people."
A. Mudrik, Ph.D.
Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Science

"Teaching this course in the Gymnasium fostered the philosophical understanding of the meaning of life, self-awareness, character development of the students and broadened their worldview."
A.A. Munkueva
Director of the Linguistic Gymnasium Ulan-Ude, Autonomous Republic of Buryatia, Russia

"I have been working with children for more than ten years and can confidently say that everything connected to love is very interesting for them. That's why the teacher who takes responsibility to help them to go through life with the fewest number of mistakes has to choose material very carefully. In my opinion My World & I: The Way of Love effectively addresses the most pressing questions of today's young
people."
Svetlana Smirnova
St. Petersburg teacher

"Despite the fact that the textbook contains material which reflects the spirit and principles of different cultures, both traditional and contemporary, connected to the issues of love, family, sexuality and human relationships, it is able to achieve a unity of feeling by expressing a clearly articulated viewpoint. In reading and working with this book, one receives a great uplifting and inspiring influence. Even I, as one who has been working in the field of education, social philosophy and ethics for more than thirty years, upon reading this book came to a new understanding on several important spiritual and moral points.
"This is not only a textbook on questions of marriage and family, but also instructs us in the acceptance of people of other cultures by seeking to comprehend their values. The authors help us to see them, not as people of "heresy" and deviation, but as those who have chosen a different path to spiritual perfection, corresponding to their place, time and conditions of life."
Y.V. Sokolov, Ph.D.
Professor of Theory & History of Culture
State Academy of Culture, St. Petersburg

Students' comments

"I understood that the quality of my love, my friendships, and my relationships with people finally depends on me."
Maria Aniskina
7th grade student, Ryazan, Russia

"This course helped me to solve many problems, to understand myself and to gain self-confidence. It helped me to change my relationship with my parents for the better. It made me think about my past behavior and about the meaning of life."
Mikhail Crigoriev
7th grade student, Ryazan, Russia

"I am sure that the knowledge I gained through these lessons will help me to create a strong loving marriage and family, to live respecting my parents, to more confidently express my love and to become a person needed by others."
Yevgeny Kuznetsov
7th grade student, Samara, Russia

"These lessons differ from our regular lessons so much. In other classes we are given knowledge, which serves to develop our brain. Here the knowledge we receive helps us to develop our spirit and heart. In these lessons we are taught kindness, understanding and love towards others, which are so much needed in our society now."
Anastasia Zakirova
7th grade student, Kazan, Autonomous Republic of Tatarstan, Russia