TWO APPROACHES, MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS:
MAKING DEMOCRACY COUNT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS
If you are reading this, we assume that you are a concerned, engaged, compassionate citizen striving for educational reform in an effort to equalize opportunities and access to education for all students. For that we commend you. In browsing this website, you are going to run across numerous ideas, hopefully all of which are valuable. The amount of information may be a little overwhelming, but we think it is helpful to consider these ideas within a larger framework.
The title of this course is “Re-envisioning Education and Democracy.” What is education for democracy? In our view, it is a system that emphasizes the meaning of individuality within the context of a larger society. It encourages students to think for themselves, to develop their own values and ideas, and to articulate these ideas with both conviction and compassion. The concept of democratic education touches upon all aspects of public schooling from decisions that are made about school governance to the material that students learn in the classroom. Cultivating minds with unique visions for society and the abilities to make them a reality is a monumental task that requires a thoughtful and holistic approach to education. Within this larger framework, however, it is necessary to develop comprehensive solutions to specific issues facing schools. For this reason, we have decided to explore two examples of how this paradigm of democratic education can be applied.
In a paper entitled, When Your Democracy Isn’t My Democracy: Civic Education and Political Ideology, Michael Gelardi discusses the impact of cultural tensions on the development of civics curriculum, asserting that toleration of difference is necessary for democracy. Attempting a synthesis of views from the Left and the Right, he argues for a focus on critical thinking and student deliberation of controversial political questions in order to prepare students for citizenship in democratic society. In addition to the importance of curricular content in democratic education, the structure of school institutions is a pivotal component of reform. In Learning Through Doing: Reviving Democracy Through Revising Student Government, Rachel Becker addresses the lack of preparation for citizenship that students receive in schools today. Becker contends that this is a direct result of the lack of emphasis placed upon student involvement in decision-making and the undemocratic nature of school structure. She posits that student government is a valuable mode with which civic education can be implemented because, when run effectively, it will engage students in the difficult process of confronting ethical and value-based dilemmas, encourage students to speculate, think critically, and make personal and civic decisions based on information from multiple perspectives.
We believe that these essays work together to demonstrate the multi-faceted approach necessary to create a truly meaningful reform of public schools. Although they represent only two aspects of the larger picture, we hope that they can serve as models for integrating democratic ideals into other facets of education.