Democracy in education: the choice of ideals.
Conservatism approach: Students should follow the ideals already created.
Modern approach: the society develops all the time and so do the ideals the level of which becomes higher every year.
Principles of education.
Non-repression – students can’t be forced to think or do they way the teacher wants.
Non-discrimination – students can’t be judged for having own ideas and thoughts.
Democracy in the educational process may be achieved through:
Deliberative thinking.
Communication.
The role of teachers and students in the studying process:
Both teachers and students have the right to participate in the process of making choices.
3.1. Teachers are more experienced.
3.2. Students are those who study and they do it for themselves and their own future.
IV. Democracy in education: private schools. Should those be allowed?
Private schools create the differentiation between children.
Private schools divide pupils into rich and poor.
Private schools are the usual representation of social classes which have been existing in all the stages of humanity development.
2.1. The fact that all people are different and have different financial opportunities is not something new. If some parents can afford spending more money on education of their kids it is their private choice and none can interfere.
Extra-curriculum activities are the way of implementation of democracy into the educational process.
VI. Aims of democratic educational process.
A. Achievement of fundamental knowledge based on the curriculum.
B. Personal development of an individual.
C. Ecological education of a pupil.
D. Civic education of the young generation.
Reflection
Education is a difficult process and it presupposes participation of many sides. That’s why it is hard to adjust the principles of democracy to all its participants. One of the worst approaches to democratic education is the acceptance of idealized and fixed political theories as guides. On the one hand, this assertion seems weird because the next logical question arises: why students should not go towards the ideal? On the other hand, the author says that it makes sense to listen to what is said by the proponents of these theories. Only after doing some thinking I understood what the author meant: the ideal, no matter how beautiful it is, is always stable. It cannot be changed. The ideas, in their turn, can be developed, even if these ideas come from questionable people. We live in the society that always moves and changes, that’s why we cannot afford ourselves to follow the ideals that are already outdated.
According to the rules of democracy, every student has a choice so if he or she wants to get engaged into self-development, s/he will do this and he will try to find the answers to difficult questions by her/himself or personally appealing to a teacher for help. If a student does not have any interest, why should the teachers discuss it during their lessons?
Extra-curriculum activity is an essential part of educational process and the way of implementation of democracy into it. During the educational process, students do not always have a possibility to feel themselves as a part of a democratic system. This possibility is given in extracurricular activities because only then individuals can work together and do the things they are interested in, set common targets and achieve them, elect officers (Noddings, 2013).
One of the most acute questions of this part is a quite provocative one: Should a democratic society permit private schools? If parents want and if they have such a possibility to give their child to a private school, then wouldn’t it be allowed? It is their choice. Liquidation of private schools would be a bad sign for the democracy as it would show anti-democratic attitude.
Should students be limited in making some choices in order to learn how to choose wisely as adults, or should they be just guided when the choices for them are made at every level? Both students and teachers have to make their choices as the members of the society they should be able to think and to analyze (Noddings, 2013). In that point I do not totally agree with the author. Students do not have enough of life experience and there is nothing bad if a teacher (of an appropriate level and who is respected by students) keep them away from doing it, if he knows that this ‘it’ will negatively affect the student. Sometimes it is better when a choice is made by a maturity and not by a youth.
The preservation of democratic values should be not only the students’ task, as the future representatives of these values, but it is also must be the task of teachers as their thinking should fit the values in order to show their students all the importance of this outlook. Finally, in spite of all the changes, the society in general should remain democratic and appreciate the thoughts of the youth that can be different from those representatives of society who are much older. In other words, the society does not have to impose to the students its theories and ideals.
Questions:
Have you experienced the features of democratic education in your educational establishment?
Existing of various colleges and the fact that some of them are more prestigious than others is the example of democracy. Do you agree or disagree?
References
