Stephen Downes

This article is very U.S.-focused, though of course there are many other democracies in the world. In all of them, education is seen as central to democracy, and the reasoning runs something like this: "science teachers who teach scientific inquiry must be conscious, while teaching the periodic table of elements, that they are also teaching students how to challenge, test, and dispute; to be open to proof and to findings that are counterintuitive; and to act on evidence-based conclusions - all of which are essential skills for democratic participation." Now I won't dispute the utility of that approach, but on reflection after reading this article, it occurs to me: if democracy depends on education, then democracy (as a form of government) has been designed with a serious, and possibly fatal, flaw. All it takes to eliminate democracy is to eliminate education, and in a society governed by (say) billionaires and corporations, that could be very easy to do. I think we should be very wary of this argument - and to educate as though it brings numerous and diverse benefits, and to strengthen democracy so it does not depend so critically on the political will of the day.