Participatory Democracy

All schools serve the societies in which they're embeddedauthoritarian schools serve authoritarian systems, apartheid schools serve apartheid society, and so on. Practically all schools want their students to study hard, stay away from [Page 631]drugs, do their homework, and so on. In fact, none of these features distinguishes schools in the old Soviet Union or fascist Germany from schools in a democracy, and indeed those schools produced some excellent scientists and athletes and musicians and generals. They also produced obedience and conformity. In a democracy, one would expect something different and something morea commitment to free inquiry, questioning, and participation; a push for access and equity; a curriculum that encourages independent thought and singular judgment; a standard of full recognition of the humanity of each ...