A democracy is a nation ruled by the people. Once adulthood is reached—at the ripe age of eighteen—we, as American citizens, have the power to elect the officials who will dictate the rules by which we are expected to live by. Being an American citizen also gives us the right to an education. A free one at that. This public education gives each individual the power to conceive her own ideas and opinions.

In my opinion, public schooling is the epitome of all democratic ideals. Unfortunately, it is not a commodity that everyone on this planet gets to enjoy. In places like Somalia and Afghanistan, a good education is a luxury. A luxury, I find, that Americans tend to take for granted. In countries like North Korea, I'm sure that there are many children  who would give anything to go to a public school where socialist politics isn't a core subject. Brainwashing students with socialist policies is not democratic. Because of this (no matter how Kim Jong Un tries to spin it) North Korea is nowhere near obtaining democracy status. The citizens are fed an endless stream of propaganda and have little to no knowledge of the what's really happening in their nation.

In the words of Kofi Annan, "Knowledge is power." And dictatorships like North Korea want their people to have as little power as possible. The complete opposite is true here in the States. Not a week goes by where you don't hear about attempts to tune up the public school system. While I disagree with many aspects of the system, I cannot deny that it really is something remarkable. Each and every morning youngsters commute to their designated schools with the expectation that they are going to learn. And learning leads to thinking. And thinking leads to forming opinions. And opinions are what worry the power-hungry dictators of countries like Syria, Egypt, and (you guessed it) North Korea.

Education gives people the power to think for themselves. Protests, strikes, and boycotts are all started by someone with an opinion, someone who wants to make a change. Being able to voice your opinion and not have to worry about being hunted down by the government should, like public education, be a right—not a luxury. For Americans, freedom of speech is right there in the Constitution. But what would be the use of that right if we were indoctrinated from a young age to think a certain way? The public school system empowers students to take the information they've learned and form their own opinions with it. Without public education, we would be brainwashed zombies with no original thoughts in our heads.