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The importance of education on democracy
The relationship between education and democracy
The importance of education on democracy
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According to the article “A Review of Healing the Heart of Democracy: The Courage to Create a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit” written by Brace L. Mallory, Parker J. Palmer's teachings and writings are the primary understanding of the connection between education and knowledge, heart and mind, and individual and expert. He describes Palmer as the same one who invokes the spirit, words, and challenges of political leaders. Also, Mallory discusses Palmer’s book titled “Healing the Heart of Democracy” that it is an important document that shows the tensions among and capacities created by the private domain, political systems, and the public platform. Besides, Mallory talks about Palmer’s concern about the general passive pedagogies found
For example, “as Americans, we have quite a proud tradition of being represented by ignorant high-ranking officials.” Moore states students no longer have the information nor the skills needed in their libraries because of the budget cuts, despite that, “the ultimate irony in all of this is that the very politicians who refuse to fund education in America adequately are the same ones who go ballistic over how our kids have fallen behind the Germans, the Japanese, and just about every other country with running water and an economy not based on the sale of Chiclets.” Moore explains instead of helping the future of the United States and making school first, Americans are gaining knowledge that is useless to this society, such as facts about sports, he states, “Why on Earth am I retaining that useless fact? I don’t know, but after watching scores of guys waiting for the ESPN show, I think I do know something about intelligence and the American mind” nevertheless, they lack the information such as facts about own country. In addition, he mentions this nation has an obsession with testing, for example, resorting to testing and believe their problem would suddenly be fixed because of the test results improved. Although he claims Americans are obsessed with testing, he wants the, “so-called political leaders” to be tested the same way they test others in this
Adding this all up, I have concluded that the United States democracy is unhealthy, yet I still believe there is hope. If I had to give the current condition of democracy a letter grade, I would give it a C. I got this grade because even though the United States maintains many civil right and liberties, a strong number of interest groups, and diverse political parties, it just isn’t enough to carry the poor conditions of ideologies, voter turnout, education, economics, and media. Democracy is surly not thriving in America, but at this point, there is still hope.
...roductive, and responsible citizens that a proper civic education should teach basic principles of government, provide insights into representative institutions, and generally from good citizens.” Once again, he believed that in order to build a society that has responsible citizens, the fastest way is to have a good civic education to equip the children with such values. Since they do not have the definite worldview, it is easy to manipulate them in a good way. Lastly, he wanted the common school to do “a delicate political balancing act to cultivate a general political consciousness but not indoctrinate students in partisan political ideology” by believing that the school could perform “its civic, political, and cultural roles in a nonpartisan way.” So once again, he believed that common school has and is able to be a foundation to change the society after all.
Democracy has been a topic discussed for hundreds of years and a general idea of the topic would be the “governing of people by the people”. Many people have attempted “to sketch characteristics, or outcomes or preconditions, because democracy itself” (4) has been seen to be a difficult concept to define. In John L Anderson’s ‘What is Democracy?’ (2004) he takes an alternative approach to understanding democracy. Anderson explains that there is no “tidy set of ideas”, but rather “an indirect approach to defining democracy” (4) in order to understand and teach the concept of democracy. He states that there are four notion to achieve this: seeking the public interest helps us develop a morality based upon concern for others; governing others
America's Democracy The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system.
Throughout the course of history, mankind has been recorded to corrupt itself. Men have grown tired of simply surviving; they have had to take and conquer others. Absolute monarchies control wealth, land, and even lives of men. The conditions of the people were solely dependent on the conditions of the one who was in power in that particular place and time. History has proven that most men rule unwisely in their kingdoms. To avoid tyrannical rule, some make an attempt to set up a government in which the people ruled themselves. This form of government is called a democracy, or “rule of the people.” History has also revealed through the Greeks and the French Revolution, that a democracy that gives complete power to the people, “absolute democracy”, is nothing more than a short prelude to tyranny.
Kyi Suu San Aung. "The Quest of Democracy." Reading The World: Ideas That Matter, edited
Political apathy and the fact that less and less people, especially young people, vote affects the country and its state of democracy greatly. When more people do not believe that their right to vote can actually achieve something and make a difference the voter outcome will decrease. The united states pride itself on the fact that all citizens over the age of 18 have the right to vote and change what they do not like about our government. The people of the united states were given the right to vote because the founding fathers did not want the people of the united states to be oppressed by one leader and gave the people the right to change the government by electing someone new. The whole idea of the united states being a “representative democracy”
Democracy's Biggest Fan Speaks Democracy effectively means that we, the people, get to choose who runs our country on our behalf. The role of a monarch as Head of State, embodying rule by inheritance, is, therefore, anathema to the purest concept of democracy. So, with this in mind, events in June 2003 caused a certain degree of amusement to me. Democracy 'The worst form of government-except for all the others. ' Winston Churchill Increasing democracy is by far the most important and powerful reason to ditch the monarchy.
One example of government is a regime ruled by democratic ideas. A government under this type of rule has specific qualities that distinguish it as a democracy. For instance, many people can have an impact to a democracy; they can possess some power. "It is true that we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few" (Benjamin Jowett). However, when one citizen among the people stands out, it can be a positive aspect towards public service. As stated in The History of Thucydides, "when a citizen is in any way distinguished, he is preferred to the public service, not as a matter of privilege, but as the reward of merit" (Benjamin Jowett). A citizen that is different from the rest should not be taken as beneficial towards public service, but as a gift of excellence. A democracy allows citizens to have this ability. In addition, a government under democratic rule consists of laws that create an equity among citizens. "But while the law secures equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, the claim of excellence is also recognized" (Benjamin Jowett). Conflicts and issues can occur in a society, but laws play a role in taming them. This is a reason as to how people are granted the same amount of justness and fairness among each other. Two characteristics among a democracy include having a unique citizen that is right for the public, and allowing laws to protect everyone's fair play.
Lastly Mills highlights how a truly democratic state can be achieved. There is a need for a public that acts a medium for true political change, skilled men who form the higher powers of the state and have no vested corporate interests, dependable parties that debate openly and lucidly the problems faced by the world and finally liberated institutions between the public and the elite that act as proponent for the public opinion.
...iefs to their elected leaders. To disregard the vital role the public plays in the decision-making process is to disregard the very institution of a democracy. Representatives have recognized the incredible power wielded by the public, and, as a result, have developed the system of the permanent campaign, in which they are constantly listening and responding to the will of their constituents. It is important to understand that the public has a voice, but is even more important to understand what it is they are saying. By studying political participation, the way people vote, the rallies they attend, the organizations they boycott and the speakers they gather around, political analysts can better gauge the mood of the public and respond according to the will and desires of this conglomerated mass of individuals that collectively form the United States of America.
Within democracies there is great dilemma between security (keeping the country and citizens safe) and liberty (honoring individual rights and freedoms). Many would attest that having both is vital to having a democracy. However, during specific periods, the government may value security above liberty or vice versa. In the particular scenario where a country goes to war, the true significance of the debate between security and liberty unveils. More specifically in a situation where a country orders a draft and enacts laws ordering those who protest against the war to be thrown in jail. In this situation, the government is placing the value of security above the value of liberty. Security is necessary, especially in times of war, but ignoring liberties jeopardizes the principles in which democracy was built. In addition, a lack of liberty can cause a country to be divided and citizens to become disloyal. All of which is a recipe for disaster during wartimes. While at the same time, it is important to respect people’s liberties, giving to many liberties threatens the security of the country by allowing citizens to protest and rebel against the government. Thus, a society must decide the right amount of both. People in a society with restricted liberties might begin to feel fear, anger, and resentment. This leads to protest, revolts, and mutinies such as it did in the scenario. Therefore, while security is imperative, undermining citizen’s liberties threatens the structure of democracy by restricting freedom, creating chaos and generating disloyalty in citizens.
The idea of an ideal democracy is not a particularly obtainable idea, considering the different in culture and history of countries this could be a dramatic change to previous authoritarian regimes. Although we can work towards this idea of an ideal democracy reaching this goal will be a much harder task. The attributes that contribute to having an ideal democracy are free and fair elections, their capability to implement policies, political participation of the masses and universal adult suffrage, and a multiple party political system.
In today’s world, democracy faces everyday challenges. These challenges affect each and every country. Each country has a particular way of encountering these challenges in order for the citizens to have some type of voice. The voice of the people makes a stronger impact on using democracy as a means to challenge the government of their country. As we take a look at the countries in the world today, we will see the path towards the challenges to democracy.