Introduction
Each and every education system in the world is designed to suit the explicit desires of the ruling class and regimes. Evidently, there are nations whose major goals that shape their education towards the pious person. This scenario could be the opposite for other nations whose main goal of education is geared to war-like informed individuals and graduates. Other governments concentrate their systems to produce the industrious man who loves quality in all dimensions that is, taste, character and knowledge.
In reality, Socrates identified four regimes that are revolutionary and dependent on each other with time. These are Timocracy, Oligarchy, also referred to as plutocracy, democracy and tyranny (Plato et al., 239). A timocratic structure of the regime is characterized with the power, rule and honor. People in this regime are strictly observant to the rules stipulated to govern the land. The few ruling class exercise complete power to the majority citizens. Civil wars often emerge and the ruling class that values victory and honor prevails. The education system in this type of regime is shaped more on physical training, hunting and warfare capabilities.
As the types of regimes are dependent on each other, timocracy leads to Oligarchy form of regime. This type focuses on economic status and wealthy rather than honor or wisdom. Economic disparities divide the society into three social classes namely the rich, poor and the stings - beggars and criminals. Between the rich and poor, each class will be plotting against the other. The stings normally take an advantage of this situation to protests in favor of the two. This would lead to a revolt that will result to a democratic form of a regime. A democratic regime will be full of socioeconomic tensions. It is guided by the love of equal opportunities especially more of the interests of the poor majority than the well-off individuals. There is freedom to all citizens. The opinion of the majority prevails. Furthermore, people are not distinct in what they do. Rulers are not vetted through the overview of their past but only through the will of many. This creates an environment people are easily persuaded by unnecessary pleasures rather than deal with the real things and concern that affect the common citizens.
The unnecessary desires include all those that the rich strive to achieve. Normally, such struggles are guided by individual interests, pleasures and single minded opinions of freedom. This happens to the expense of other very important things that occur in the daily living of the common citizens. Money desires, honor and physical pleasure are often the wrong desires characterized with Socrates’ democratic regime (Plato et al., 257). The real things of about the truth, harmony, order and the common good of the larger society are given less priority. In this case, the current rules of democracy tend to fix in and practice much of the inevitable concerns. This leads them to doing many mistakes in the long run. As a result, the future generation becomes inferior and inferior compared to the previous. The rulers will increasingly be lacking full control due to increased tensions among the members of the society.
In this democratic regime, Socrates suggests that laws of the land are mathematically defined as any other mathematical formulae. All believes, and aspects of reality in the endeavors of a human being can be mathematically determined. Due to the lack of priorities and order for a long time, democracy generates into Tyranny. This is a situation where the society is filled with indiscipline and chaos. This is as a result of the lawless desires exhibited by members of the society. People live in fear of revenge and sometimes they run away from their homes leading to a miserable and self imprisonment kind of life.
The kind of education system the democracy would need.
The democratic city as defined by Socrates requires a unique system of education. A system that will equip all citizens with the knowledge and skill that is supportive to the regime. Evidently, this democracy is mainly featured the love of quality. Men and women in the society are shaped accordingly to become individuals that are easy to govern in accordance to the desires of the ruling class. As mentioned earlier, desires that do not care for the concerns of the common man. Mostly, they have a common call but are guided by unnecessary pleasures that come out to destroy the society in the future.
There are distinctions that determine the fate among various members of the society. The basic feature that categorizes the extent into which an individual marvels or do not prosper in life is the social classes produced by the democratic atmosphere. The upper/ruling class acquires more skills and knowledge compared to the lower and the stinging drones. This is because the upper class has the resources to take them through the education system. They are the first to occupy the high status schools and levels and colleges available in the city.
Although in some similar manner, the lower class and drones are left struggling in suburbs of the city. In most cases they do not complete all levels and defined in the land’s educational system. This is because the lower class is characterized with inadequate resources. They cannot afford to go further and compete with the rulers and owners of capital in occupying the available opportunities in the city. Therefore, the ill-driven drones take an advantage of the situation between the upper and lower classes to presents and satisfy their interests. This situation results into an atmosphere whereby the current rulers shift their decisions to accommodate the protests of the majority. Soon enough, the wrong people occupy power positions to focus on virtue and the good of the larger majority. This happens without a properly defined procedure and misguided direction.
As discussed above, the suitable system of education to Socrates’ democratic city is more of misguided priorities. People are shaped and well equipped towards the ease of ruling. They are educated and equipped to serve the interests of the upper and ruling class and not the interests of the society at large. The society is induced with the supportive characteristics of a democratic regime to comply with the virtues of the ruling class. The level of skill and curriculum is observant to the major issues that would keep the current regime in power and control for a long period. Evidently, the system teaches the morals and virtues of obedience, honor and accountability with a call to serve the society while the reality is serving the minority holders of power.
The educational system I participate in
Although the Socrates democratic city and system of education have some similarities with the democratic system I am currently involved in, there are some various remarkable distinctions. The existing differences occur in the part of the tastes and knowledge that members of the society are equipped with. This is because, in the United States of America, democracy is the call and ideology exercised by the current regime. As a federal democratic government, the regime focuses to instill the values of nationhood and patriotism as well as equipping her citizens with the right skills that would enable them explore and utilize their full potential. The interest of the US education system is for the bigger majority rather than personal or grouped directed interests.
In some bigger margin, the first remarkable difference is the taste. Unlike the Socrates’ system, the tastes of the US system include the aspects of compulsory type of education. This is to allow all youths and individuals acquire some level of knowledge that is minimum required so that they can take some responsibilities of accountability in the society. Education is offered in both public and private schools. This is geared to create a competitive atmosphere so that all individuals are equipped with a quality education. The role of the private centers of learning is to raise the standard education.
The other difference is that, as further as the American regime could wish to extract the goodness of her citizens towards a national severity, individual interests and talents are also raised in equal measure. It is common for people to have different abilities, and it becomes the role of the government to shape their people in the best possible manner that will make them prosper in life. The US system of education takes care of individual actualization. It provides an environment to tap each and everybody’s talent so that people can utilize their abilities to live a quality life. For example, after the elementary education, a person is entitled to attend college and university level of education where they can major in their areas of strengths in abilities. Quality becomes the priority unlike the Socrates democratic city where the taste of education is towards producing men and women who are only supportive to the regime.
Works Cited
Plato, G M. A. Grube, and C D. C. Reeve. Plato Republic. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co, 1992. Print.
