To
be honest, I wasn’t sure what the exact definition
of a “democracy” was. Of course, the words “freedom” and
“equality” crossed my mind, but I couldn’t write a whole
response with just a vague notion of what the main topic was. So, I
pulled up my good friend Dictionary.com, and found that “democracy”
meant: “government by the people; a form of government in which the
supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them
or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” To
rephrase the original question, what is the purpose of public
education in a government governed by the people?
I
hate to go around referencing a history text book*, but this question
requires it. So, let us flashback to early colonial times. Eligible
voters were “white male property owners”, basically, rich, white
men. Now, guess which children received education? The sons of rich,
white, families. Hmm… Later on, in the nineteenth century, the
right to vote was extended to all white men. Almost immediately
following this, the public education reform movement was started,
motivated by “the fear for the future of the republic posed by
growing numbers of the uneducated poor.” Then, after the
civil war, the fifteenth amendment was passed, authorizing blacks to
vote. At the same time, the freedmen’s bureau created over three
thousand schools for freed blacks. Is anyone else seeing a pattern?
I
have proven that education and voting rights go hand in hand, but
that doesn’t answer the question. What is the purpose of
education in democracy? Why did reformers like Horace Mann feel the
need to bring education to the people?
When
I was eleven years old, I really wanted a dog, but I didn’t know
anything about dogs. The first thing I did was find out everything I
could about dogs in general. In the end, I narrowed my decision down
to a few breeds and found out everything possible about them. All the
information that I had learned about the dogs helped me make my
decision. I realize that this is a really bad metaphor, but please
bear with me. Imagine that I am the people of America, and that the
dogs are issues in the government/politics. Now, imagine that my
research is education. I couldn’t just pick a breed randomly, just
like people can’t pick a side on an issue, or vote, without being
educated on the subject. This is the purpose of
education. It gives people the tools to make their own decisions in a
democracy.
Today,
in my group, we talked about the passage in Brave New
World where John visits a "civilized" school. He
asks whether or not the students read Shakespeare, and the Head
Mistress responds that the only books available are for reference.
This passage made me think about this prompt. Why is it that we read
Shakespeare in school? It's because Shakespeare, like Dickens, or
Homer, or Huxley even, gives us words to express our opinions. And
isn't that what democracy is about, expressing our opinions? Voting
is just a way for us to express ourselves. This led me to thinking
about how, if I remember correctly, in dictatorships, books were
burned. Why? Because, and I like what Shannon said here, "Knowledge
is power," and education gives us that.
*I was really scared by that plagiarism speech on the first day so:
Works Cited
Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History. New York: Amsco, n.d. Print.
Com, Dictionary .. "Democracy." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2013.
Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History. New York: Amsco, n.d. Print.
Com, Dictionary .. "Democracy." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 02 Sept. 2013.
Oceane, everything in this post is outstanding, except the dog analogy. Let me address that first. The dog analogy detracts from your credibility. You have demonstrated that you are a very capable thinker in this post - VERY capable. People want to trust you. When you rely on a lazy (in my opinion) analogy like the dog, you introduce skepticism about your ability to present big ideas. I think you should have taken some time to think of a better way to present the idea of decision making. I am just one man, however. Another reader might have liked it.
ReplyDeleteNow to the crux of your argument. I think it is fantastic. You are correct and wise to trace parallels between voting rights and the extension of public education. Be careful about one thing, though. Women did not "win" the right to vote until 1920, yet girls have enjoyed a seat in our public schools since the mid 19th century. In fact, girls in the 19th century often received much better public educations than males. This is one exception to the relationship between education and voting rights.
Finally, your final paragraph particularly strikes me. I could write a book in response. I am actually. Did you add this paragraph retro-actively? I find it ironic, because the conclusion that you come to about Shakespeare, Dickens, etc. - don't forget Harper Lee - is exactly the reason that I assigned this question. I see a similar relationship between literature instruction and democracy. That you make this connection makes me ecstatic. I obviously have a bias opinion, but more than any other class, I think high school English has the potential to prepare students to thrive in a democracy.
Anyway, good job. This post is also well-written. I love the reference to Shannon's post by the way.