Education for Democracy - Essay Example

Education for Democracy Introduction: In the modern educational scenario, education for democracy assumes primary importance as the major aim of education today is to prepare students for competent career development rather than preparing them for life- to make them responsible citizens who would be rendering selfless services for the good of the nation and for the fellow beings. Education for democracy is based on the democratic principles of equality, liberty, justice and fraternity. Education for democracy ensures that every student is provided equal participation and opportunity to unleash his/ her inner potentialities and one of the major aims of education for democracy is to make students to take decisions for themselves. In this respect, it differs drastically from the present day authoritarian education where only a few people take decisions on what and how students should learn and where education has become a monopoly of an elite minority. This is very well observed by Peace Pledge Union: “In democratic education students have the power to make decisions about their learning, because power is shared rather than appropriated in advance by a minority of people. Education, in its various forms, is basically authoritarian, since one person, or small groups of people make decisions about ‘what to learn, when to learn, how to learn, how to assess learning, and the nature of the learning environment’.” (Education for Democracy). The purpose of this paper is to deal with the basic concepts regarding education for democracy with a special reference to Don Lorenzo Milani and his educational reforms. Don Lorenzo Milani’s Views on Education: It is necessary to have a clear cut understanding regarding the type of education propagated by Milani. Don Lorenzo Milani, regarded as one of the greatest Italian educational reformers, believed that the school system needs improvement and he stood for the freedom of individuals to choose the sort of education they needed. He brought about revolutionary changes to the educational scenario and it was he who brought about drastic changes in “the role of educator, denouncing the class nature of the educational Italian and proposing new goals and new tools that could actually meet the needs of the less privileged classes.” (Don Milani). Milani was against all sorts of discrimination in schools and believed that everyone has a right to learn. He held that education should not be something imposed upon students and he advocated voluntary participation from the students in the teaching –learning process. He was a great visionary who insisted that education should be learner centred and it should be related to learner’s life and daily problems. Therefore in the Babriana School, the focus of learning “was on the study and understanding of problems directly significant to the lives of the pupils: the young people themselves decided what they were to learn and how, and obtained the resources and equipment they considered most appropriate to achieving these goals, ignoring the methods of the state schools.” (Botsford). Another specialty of his school was that there were not any professionally trained teachers and most of the lessons were transacted by elder students to younger ones. The Letter to a Teacher written by eight students of the Babriana School was a revolutionary critique of the Italian compulsory educational system that had far reaching effects in the educational systems globally. Education for Democracy versus Discrimination and Lack of Equal Opportunities: Education for democracy aims to provide equal educational opportunities for all without showing any sort of discrimination based on caste, colour, creed or linguistic differences. Milani understood that there was a clear distinction in schools based on the linguistic capability of learners; students who were backward in languages were considered as inferior to others. The working class children in the state schools were discriminated against as they did not have good mastery over standard Italian. He raised his voice against all sorts of such linguistic barriers. The Camebridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture (2001) acknowledges this great effort made by Milani: “Towards the end of 1960s, voices began to be raised in condemnation of the linguistic barriers which the education system seemed to set in the path of many who did not have a command of standard Italian. The Lettera a una professoressa (‘Letter to the Schoolmistress’, 1967) by Don Lorenzo Milani accused schools of discriminating against working-class children because they could not express themselves correctly.”(p.76). He could never tolerate the social distinction between the poor and the rich, the oppressed and the privileged and he makes this clear in his letter to the Military Chaplains: “ Non discuterò qui lidea di Patria in sé. Non mi piacciono queste divisioni.””I do not like these divisions. Se voi però avete diritto di dividere il mondo in italiani e stranieri allora vi dirò che, nel vostro senso, io non ho Patria e reclamo il diritto di dividere il mondo in diseredati e oppressi da un lato, privilegiati e oppressori dallaltro. If you but you are entitled to divide the world into Italian and then I will tell you that in your way, I did not complain homeland and the right to divide the world into oppressed and dispossessed on the one hand, privileged and oppressors on the other. Gli uni son la mia Patria, gli altri i miei stranieri. Both are my homeland, my other foreigners.” (Don Milani). Thus, he envisioned an educational system that promoted respect and equal consideration for others. Being a priest he opposed the Church’s policy of allowing only wealthy people for certain religious ceremonies and he strongly believed that true education can “empower people to change their lives for the better, and believed that all children should have the right to the same education, not only those from rich families.” (A Visit to One of the Routes on Rower way 06, 2006). Education fostering Equality, Justice and Freedom: Sharing of Responsibilities and Freedom: Equality, justice and freedom are considered to be the three pillars of democracy and democracy for education should be based on all these three factors. The educational curriculum should be designed in such a way as to promote these democratic principles. Such a carefully designed education system of a country can eradicate all sorts of social inequalities that prevail in the nation. “E se voi avete il diritto, senza essere richiamati dalla Curia, di insegnare che italiani e stranieri possono lecitamente anzi eroicamente squartarsi a vicenda, allora io reclamo il diritto di dire che anche i poveri possono e debbono combattere i riccThe social inequalities reproduced by the education system were denounced.” (Holmes, 1997, p.314). By Don Lorenzo Milani and he believed that the only solution to get rid of social inequalities was through meaningful and productive education. J I Cohen is of the opinion that education for democracy should presuppose fundamental justice and the sharing of responsibilities and freedom: “it demands simple, fundamental justice. It demands a form of society based on justice, not on privilege, in which responsibilities and freedom must be shared by all. It demands freedom: freedom for the fulfilment of the biological, psychological, and cultural needs of every individual.” (Cohen, 2007, p.xvi). Don Lorenzo Milani considers freedom of thought and expression as the essential factor for the molding of responsible democratic citizens who can value the freedom of others too. He states: “It seems clear to me that consciousness cannot flower without freedom, but this does not in any sense mean a sort of delusion of omnipotence.” (Innocenti, 2007). Cohen conceives Educating for democracy to be the best form of education as he does not consider either conservatism or radicalism as suitable educational approaches that can bring about the over all development f the learners. For him the conservatives produce “the crushed child, who can see no view but that of his parents and teachers; the radicals offer us the spoiled child, who can see no view but his own; what we want is the child who will neither be crushed by nor struggle against our conventions, but will just grow through them.” (Cohen, 2007, p.54). Preparing Students for Nation Building: Fostering Critical Thinking, and Learning through Interaction, Participation and Sharing of Knowledge: Education for democracy should ensure meaningful participation from the part of the students. As Robert F. McNergney, Edward R. Ducharme & Mary K. Ducharme observe, “Successful democracy depends on education that enables informed participation- a kind of democratic teaching and learning.” (McNergney., Edward R., & Ducharme, 1999, p. vii). The classrooms should be interactive rather than being authoritative lectures and their should be interactive sessions not only between the teacher and the learners; instead, there should be opportunities for children to interact each other so that students benefit from sharing of knowledge, peer evaluation and group work. The objective of teaching should be to develop free and critical thinking in students. As Cohen suggests, “The object should then be to develop in the child a critical attitude of mind, and this can be achieved by not asking him to believe anything that he learns in his lessons” (Cohen, p. 53). Learners should also be trained and encouraged to think divergently and ask questions. Only then students can be trained to be good citizens who are able to think on their own and contribute successfully to the process of nation building. Education for Citizenship: Decision Making and Participation in Community and Civic Affairs: Democracy becomes effective and meaningful only when the citizens actively participate in the democratic affairs of the state. Macedo, et al (2005) while dealing with the risks in democracy point out the non-participation of citizens in the civic affairs and observe that “Citizens participate in public affairs less frequently, with less knowledge, and enthusiasm, in fewer venues, and less equitably than is healthy for a vibrant democratic polity.” (Macedo, et al. 2005, p.1). And in order to ensure the active participation of citizens in civic affairs, education for democracy has a key role to play. Children should be taught at schools to participate in social and governmental issues and express their views on them. Cindy Graff Hobson & David R. Zack (1993) suggests the necessity of active involvement and they consider Close Up programs as an effective means to increase civic participation: “Democracy is a dynamic process that requires continual involvement, questioning, and dialogue. Close Up programs provide each individual with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to participate in the American democratic process.” (p.193) In Educating for Democracy: Case Method Teaching and Learning (1999), the authors consider participation in community life as an effective means to get learners initiated into the process and functioning of democracy. Training children for decision making and problem solving is yet another important device to ensure better involvement from the part of learners. According to Robert F. McNergney, Edward R. Ducharme & Mary K. Ducharme (1999), “Some teachers understand the challenge of helping people learn to participate in community life, the corner stone of democracy. They know students must practice making decisions and living with the consequences if they are to do the same when they grow up. Young people, some teachers argue, need opportunities to tackle large, unwieldy problems outside themselves, fail, try again, and win once in a while if they are to participate in the larger society. The opportunities to participate must be genuine; the decisions must have meaning.” (McNergney., Edward R., & Ducharme, 1999, p.4). One should always keep in mind that today’s children are going to decide the destiny of the nation and therefore all efforts should be taken to guarantee that they grow out to be responsible and patriotic citizens. Importance of Value Education and Character Moulding: Value education plays a pivotal role in the education for democracy as students who have sound value system can only be honest and responsible citizens. Character building and personality development are two factors that are associated with value or moral education. Students should both cherish humane and moral principles in their lives. As Westheimer (2003) observes, “Character traits such as honesty, integrity, and responsibility for one’s actions are certainly valuable for becoming good neighbours and citizens.” Only an individual who has acquired good moral, cultural and personal values can discern good from bad and take what is good for them, the community and the nation as a whole. For Westheimer (2003), an ideal citizen would be a ‘personally responsible citizen’, ‘a participatory citizen’ and ‘a justice oriented citizen.’ Milani, Education for Democracy, and the Catholic Youth Organizations: It is unanimously agreed that the youth need to be trained in the right track so that they will be enabled to contribute for the welfare of the community and for the nation as a whole. Education for democracy should thus be focussing on the youth; for this the government should provide “a very intimate setting for the cultivation of democratic ideas among youth. Within the school curriculum, the history, principles, and practice of democracy may be treated as a distinct course of study or integrated into a number of other disciplines, such as history or politics.” (Teaching Civic Education in School and Out, 2006). Milani also understood the role of youth in the process of nation building, and being a devoted Christian he always asked the Catholic Youth Community of his time to participate actively and meaningfully in the process of making a true Christian world. Milani believed that everyone was equal in the eyes of God and so everyone should be given equal opportunity for education. Milani and his school wanted to reach the young people who were devoid of education; he was against the official church’s policy of discriminating against the poor underprivileged class and strongly believed that Catholic faith considers all people the children of the same God. Milani thus embraced the true Catholic faith and provided a number of training programs for the youth that were thoroughly based on democratic principles. In a way, his novel training programs like identifying the problem areas of the students and preparing students to find solutions for them, preparing students for community living, encouraging peer learning and critical thinking are equally applicable for modern youth’s training for democratic way of life. Rational, objectives & principles in the development of a training needs programme for Youth: Having seen the importance of modern youth’s training for democratic way of life, let us now consider the rational, objectives and the basic principles in the development of a training needs programme for the youth:- Rational: The rational behind the development of a training programme for the youth is the fact that adolescence is a time when the “youth are establishing a sense of personal identity”, “developing a commitment to a system of values” and “are learning to make more decisions and take on more responsibilities.” (McNeill, 1995). Therefore it is mandatory that youths and adolescents are provided with the best type of education that are conducive for their personality growth. Objectives: The major objectives for the development of training programmes for the youth are:- 1. To mould socially committed responsible citizens. 2. To ensure active civic participation from the youth. 3. To prepare the Youth for decision making, leadership, and sharing of responsibilities. 4. To cultivate sound cultural and value systems in the Youth. Principles: The basic principle for any training programmes for the Youth is that they should be learner centred. All such programmes should be accessible to all the youth irrespective of one’s caste, colour, creed or social status. All the training programmes should be so carefully designed keeping in mind the above stated objectives. In this regard, the Council of Europe identified ‘human rights education and intercultural dialogue’, ‘Youth participation and democratic citizenship’, ‘Social cohesion and inclusion of young people’ and ‘Youth policy development’ as the four major educational programmes for the Youth. (Programmes and Objectives of the Youth Sector of the Council of Europe, 2006-2008). Training for Youth Leadership should be the basic principle to be followed. Commenting on Youth leadership training programmes, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung observes that “good leaders are crucial for good governance and development in every society and that they can be empowered through education and training” and good leaders are people who promote “participation and democracy in order to achieve good governance and development.” (Selles & Haussler, 2000-2003). Thus, it can be rightly concluded that education for democracy should be the basic goal as far as the development of training needs for the Youth are concerned. Conclusion: Thus, a discussion on education for democracy with special reference to the educational vision of Don Lorenzo Milani convinces one of the facts that there is much in common between the two. Milani was a pioneer educational visionary who envisioned a sort of education for democracy in the olden times. The radical teachings and outlooks of Milani were strongly opposed by the civil and religious authorities of his time. But his views on education withstood the test of time and later the same authorities recognized the value of his views after his death. His educational reforms were thoroughly Christian as he believed that everyone is equal before God and that he should stand with the underprivileged to bring them also to the main stream. The modern Schools of education for democracy should always keep in mind Milani’s objective of education – “to make the student capable of analyzing, with a critical spirit, phenomenon and events in order to face life without delays or fear, to solve personal and collective problems with determination and consciousness” (Don Lorenzo Milani. A Brief Biography) and should try to mould responsible citizens for the good of the nation and for the humanity as a whole. Reference Education for Democracy, Learn Peace. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.ppu.org.uk/learn/peaceed/pe_democratic.html Don Milani, Google. 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Educating for Democracy, Read Books. p. xvi. McNergney, Robert F., & Ducharme, Edward R., & Ducharme, Mary K. (1999). Educating for Democracy: Case Method Teaching and Learning, London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. p. vii. Macedo, S., Alex-Assensoh, Y., Berry, J. M., Brintnall, M., Campbell, D. E., & Fraga, L. R., et al. (2005). Democracy at risk: How political choices undermine citizen participation, and what we can do about it. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. p.1. Westheimer, Joel. (2003). Citizenship Education for a Democratic Society. Teach Magazine. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.democraticdialogue.com/DDpdfs/CEDS_TeachMag.pdf Baranski, Zygmunt G., & West, Rebecca J. (2001). The Camebridge Companion to Modern Italian Culture. Camebridge University Press. Hobson, Cindy Graff., & Zack, David R. (1993). “Educating for Democracy: the Close Up Story”. & Social Studies. Vol. 84. Iss. 5. Teaching Civic Education In School and Out: Whats Being Done On . . . Civic Education for Democracy?, (2006). World Movement for Democracy. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.wmd.org/wbdo/jul-aug03/school.html McNeill, Diane D. (1995). Designing Youth Leadership Training Programs: Leadership for Youth, Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/4h_y2/mf2147.pdf. Programmes and Objectives of the Youth Sector of the Council of Europe, (2006-2008). Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://209.85.175.104/search?q=cache:gjZFWF94AGMJ:galadriel.coe.int/forms/Priorities%2520Youth%25202006%25202008%2520E.pdf+objectives+in+the+development+of+a+training+needs+programme+for+the+youth&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=in Selles, Valeria., & Haussler, Peter (Eds). (2000-2003). Youth Leadership Training Program YLTD, Retrieved May 26, 2008, from http://tanzania.fes-international.de/doc/yltp-2003.pdf Read More