The importance of democratic education (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Not Much
Mains level: Define the democratic education and its significance

Context

• A persistent concern exists about democracy’s failure to fulfil our expectations.
• While our votes are forceful ‘paper stones’, effective in getting rid of governments we dislike, they are powerless to give us effective, efficient, good governments.
• Why tolerate those who strive to do more good for themselves than for the people, who have neither vision nor wisdom? Why have mediocre politicians who shun contact with people with ability and talent?

Better, wiser governments

• Some cynics may respond to this crisis of democracy by arguing the following: to achieve our national goals, we must assemble the best team to govern.
• Such a team cannot be elected by popular mandate but instead by those who have the intellectual wherewithal to select those fit for it.
• To such people, democracy which is committed to the principle of one person, one vote, and which extends franchise to all regardless of ability can never produce the best team.
• They might draw an analogy from cricket where we play to compete at the highest level and win something not possible if the best cricketers are not selected.
• But this is not achieved by popular vote. Instead, we rely on experts a selection committee consisting of experienced cricketers.

To reiterate the conundrum

• Democratically elected governments in our times are neither efficient nor wise.
• They show a propensity to fail at achieving their national goal a high quality of life for all people.
• Then why not abandon democracy?
• Or at least introduce an eligibility criterion, restricting the vote to those with formal education?
• Won’t education help in identifying the best political representatives?
• A democrat need not reject this argument. She may respond that this need not entail abandoning universal adult franchise but the distribution of education to all.
• This seems a decent solution. Sustainable democracies require a high rate of literacy. The more educated we are, it might be claimed, the better we become at choosing the best people to run our government.

A flawed argument

• Literacy and education by themselves do not create good citizens or yield mature democracies.
• Many are formally illiterate but are politically astute and even possess qualities of good citizenship.
• Conversely, many educated people are prone to being self-obsessed, undemocratic, and even authoritarian.
• Primary, secondary or even higher education by itself does not guarantee good citizenship.

Solution

• The solution then is not just education per se, but universal education of a certain kind, one that is focused on improving the quality of our democracy.
• Our current education system does not focus on education in democracy or what we might call democratic education.
• Nor does it build on elements of democratic culture embedded in our traditions.

Core elements

• What then are the core elements of democratic education?
• It requires the cultivation of democratic virtues. For instance, the ability to imagine and articulate a minimally common good.
• This requires that we distinguish what is merely good for me from what is the good of all. And since each of us may develop our own distinct idea of the common good, to find an overlapping common good.
• An ability to handle difference and disagreement and to retain, despite this difference, the motivation to arrive at the common good through conversation, debate, dialogue and deliberation.
• The ability to imagine and conceive a common good is inconsistent with what the Greeks famously called ‘pleonexia’, the greed to grab everything for oneself, to refuse to share anything, to not acknowledge what is due to each person, to have no sense of reciprocity or justice.
• It follows that the idea of the common good cannot be developed without some sense of justice. Democratic education requires training in not succumbing to pleonexia.
• Also crucial is a spirit of compromise, of moderation, and a willingness, within acceptable value parameters, of mutual give and take.
• None of this is possible without other general capabilities such as listening patiently to others, being empathetic to the plight of others, and having a commitment to continuing a conversation with people despite disagreement.

What then is democratic education?

• Conceived broadly, it is a historically specific enterprise, determined by the inherited vocabulary of specific political languages and the terms of debates in a particular community.
• It is designed specifically to enable conversation on issues central to a particular community, to strive for agreement where possible and to live peacefully with disagreement where it is not.
• In short, it involves social and historical awareness and key democratic virtues.

Conclusion

• Many of these understandings and virtues can be inculcated by a good liberal arts education.
• The 2019 National Education Policy recognises this but alas insufficiently.
• So, it appears relatively innocent of the more specific requirements of democratic education.
• Without proper democratic education, I am afraid we will continue to perpetuate bad democratic practices, allow unhealthy scepticism about democracy to grow and eventually imperil it.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With reference to the Earth Alliance, consider the following statements:
1. It is an initiative spearheaded by the UN Climate Change secretariat.
2. It will provide grants, educational opportunities and fund campaigns and films, as well as work with grassroots organizations and individuals in places most affected by biodiversity loss and climate change.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both
D. None

Answer: B
Mains Questions:
Q.1)Why do we have to put up with corrupt rulers with criminal records qualities that obstruct good governance?