Professional Documents
Culture Documents
What is the connection between education and democracy? How has this connection
been understood in the US? What is thought to be appropriate education for the citizens
of a democratic society?
In answering the above questions for this week’s readings, I have arrived at the
oxymoron. The ideal or idea of democratic education can be equally parallel to the term
“plastic silver wear” – the two cannot exist simultaneously. Alan Griffin, I believe,
captures this concept in his work, Teaching Authoritarian and Democratic States. The
ideological institution, the school, he/she cannot possibly be truly democratic. Teachers in
the classroom, in particular social studies teachers, are not neutral purveyors of
information. The social studies/civic teacher, Griffin argues, is therefore, merely the
medium by which a set a pre-approved doctrines and beliefs are communicated. Because
Within the social studies classroom, democracy can exist only if the student
willfully and unquestionably, accepts what it is taught. Democracy, in the social studies
Griffin argues there is very little difference from the totalitarian classroom and the
any such distinction, since they are common enough as between two dictatorships.
(Walker, 92)”
In the United States, the relationship between democracy and education seems to
be nearly non-existent. The democratic classroom should try to “educate children in such
a way as to fashion them for the demands of an increasingly diverse society. (Walker, 2)”
Americans who were and are schooled in this nation are, in most cases, taught to be
aware of, and appreciate America’s diverse social landscape. But that noble and truly
democratic ideal seems rarely practiced schools. Typically, in both path and present,
schools have never truly been willing to be inclusive or truly democratic; but rather
Concepts of Citizenships, states, “Too often curricula treat all students as if they were
The fact that curricula in schools across the country are largely aimed toward one
also, the fact that most students across the country are taught the same pre-screened, pre-
approved lesson attempts to accomplish a goal of socializing individuals for life in this
American society. As Griffin suggests, widely accepted, common beliefs can unite people
and streamline acceptance into American and, for that matter, any society. “Social
coherence and unity are guaranteed by instilling preferred values and beliefs, holding
these values as above or beyond question, keeping out of people’s experiences which
been, and remains to be, one that stresses acceptance of widely held beliefs and that of
submissiveness and assimilation to those citizens within that society. Dewey stresses the
need for people to view themselves as part of a larger, grander mosaic. He argues that
democracy and vision of a unified society breakdown when people choose deviate from
through socialization. Those who choose not to accept those confines contribute to the
breakdown of society. Dewey stresses the need for citizens to be educated in a way that
considers the “broader public, the bigger public for a commonwealth.” The problem with
citizenship has a heavy focus on compliance. (Billings, 76)” She goes to comment that
even some higher educated students have a narrow view of democratic citizenship. A
sample of college students polled by Andrzejewski and Alessio believed “saluting the
pseudo-patriotism is not democracy at all. True democracy, as the readings suggest, is the