Is democracy essentially utopian?
In arguing with Mike Petrilli on Bridging Differences (you can get there by clicking to your left) on the centrality of democracy as the function of Public Education (and ideally of independent ad private schools too) I’m perhaps presenting a marginal viewpoint. Yes, there is a time and place, for preparing oneself for a articular vocation. But most of the habits of work and mind (and heart) that democracy rests on will go along way to making people good at their jobs too. So I’m not worrying abut that.
The idea upon which modern democracy rests–that we’re all members of the ruling class–is a shaky idea. It needs to be explored in many ways, and the governance of schooling is itself one place for exploring it. Ditto for every subject we teach. Math is important–but if we worry just about it’s employment repercussions we are ignoring its central function — to get us through daily life and to prepare us to contemplate the big issues that as citizens we need to be knowledgeable about. So we’re not so dumb when it comes to millions vs billions vs trillions, for example.
But–how iffy is it that we can persuade our fellow citizens about democracy. We’ve somehow confused it with
The idea upon which modern democracy rests–that we’re all members of the ruling class–is a shaky idea. It needs to be explored in many ways, and the governance of schooling is itself one place for exploring it. Ditto for every subject we teach. Math is important–but if we worry just about it’s employment repercussions we are ignoring its central function — to get us through daily life and to prepare us to contemplate the big issues that as citizens we need to be knowledgeable about. So we’re not so dumb when it comes to millions vs billions vs trillions, for example.
But–how iffy is it that we can persuade our fellow citizens about democracy. We’ve somehow confused it with
