Importance of Quality Education to Democracy

The purpose of this research is to examine the importance of quality education to democracy. It is argued here that a welleducated society not only helps a democratic order function more effectively, a well-educated society is a pillar necessary to the very survival of democratic institutions. In order to address this issue, the nature of democracy will first be defined, followed by a discussion of how education is an imperative for the maintenance of popular government.

There are many forms of democratic institutions, but all are based on some common premises of popular governance. Foremost in the definition of democracy is the concept of tolerance or, as Robert Dahl once described this set of democratic values, the concept of the "Open Universe" (Dahl, 1956). The Open Universe consists of a set of social values that draw the line of demarcation between democracy and autocracy. In short, it is the belief system of: (i) the primacy of equality among all individuals; and (ii) since individuals are more or less equal, no one individual or group has a monopoly on t

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t society and engrains it into the national consciousness. Awareness of the authority of the individual, as opposed to deferring to the authority of others or tradition, is necessary but not sufficient for a democratic political culture. While the conflict of individual self-interest is a powerful force for overthrowing despotism, the maintenance of a stable democratic order also requires a level of sophistication among the populace in which citizens respect the needs and viewpoints of others. Individuals throughout society need to become familiar enough with competing schools of thought to question assertions of absolute truth. Democracy requires that society be sufficiently welleducated to understand that there are alternative sets of beliefs, and to learn tolerance of opposing views. Democracy can only function in a culture of individuals willing and able to negotiate and compromise their differences of opinion such that a workable consensus can be forged. A society well educated in the values of tolerance is the precondition for democracy. John Dewey accurately captured the educational importance of the Open Universe for democracy when he said: "It is the individual's responsibility to engage as an autonomous and prese
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Approximate Word count = 1737
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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