Friday, November 1, 2024

Democratic Education: A Cure to the Problems of Democracy

It is an indisputable fact that the growth of democracy breeds some problems, especially if the citizenry becomes conscious of their socio-economic and political circumstances.

However, in order for citizens to be conscientized about their conditions, education should be the cornerstone of the advancement of democratic principles which should positively nurture sustainable human development. An unprecedented number of countries, Botswana included, have trailed towards the achievement of the so-called democratic governments and yet the masses remain largely apathetic when it comes to active participation in the day-to-day functions of the democratic process.

Unfortunately this problem emerges because of the fact that democracy is often equated with voting. The truth though is that the operations of a democracy go beyond just voting. One of the foundations of democracy is the ability to accommodate differences and be in a position to respect power sharing without the display of authoritarian tendencies.

I, therefore, argue in this piece that the ailments of our democracy emerge from the fact that we do not educate for democracy nor do we conscientize the citizens enough about the relationship between democracy and education. Most of our citizens hold the myopic view that democracy is about elections and that holding a different view from those in positions of power is an action of rebellion.

Botswana has grown as a nation and probably now is the time to rethink democratic education and an empowerment measure for the citizens so that they can be intellectually emancipated, so that they can consequently play an active role in the metamorphosis of the democratic process.

The growth of Botswana’s democracy calls for the educators’ pedagogical imperative to teach for emancipation and empowerment. Theory in school should be dialectically interrelated so as to enable the learners to have deepening critical understanding that after receiving a certificate from an institution of learning, they do not have to await the government to design their road of socio-economic survival, but rather should be thinking critically and pragmatically about things that one can do independently in order to make a living.

Making reference to John Dewey’s philosophy of democratic education, Henderson observes that democracy is not only about casting a vote during the elections but should rather be understood as a way of life where every individual has the consciousness to shape their future and have the freedom to agree and disagree with others without holding hard feelings or linking disagreements to enmity.

Our society needs critical democracy in order for the government to become productive in delivering its leadership mandate.

The 2011 Public Service Strike has definitely planted a lot of lessons in our democratic process more so instead of the government stretching out an arm to the other warring factions to resolve the conflicts during the strike, it decided to critically label the Unions as entities whose goal is to make the country ungovernable.

Well, today when we evaluate the episodes of the strike, especially the dirty talk which was made against the Unions, one can confidently declare that all this finger pointing and dirty-talk was perpetuated by the fact that our leaders have really never gone through democratic education or learnt any lessons regarding how the democratic process should run. If anything, most of them are stuck to the mentality that leaders are supreme in their own right and should not be publicly criticized since doing so is misinterpreted as an action of disrespect.

Let it be noted that democracy survives through critical conversations and it is for this reason that I propose that from the embryonic stages of learning, our curriculum should teach about democratic deliberation and rules of democratic engagement so that as people continue to climb the educational ladder, they can develop the intellectual power of engaging in critical democratic conversations without losing their emotions and wishing others death.

The problems of democracy have become more glaring in our recent parliamentary engagements whereby some leaders have resorted to insulting and name calling others and yet those very leaders are supposed to be leading by example in cherishing the principle of Dignity as outlined by Botswana’s Head of State.

Given the latest developments in parliament, sooner we will hear of incidents where our leaders will be throwing punches in parliament rather than civilly engaging in deliberative dialogic process which should produce positive results in terms of socio-economic and political development of the masses. Through the introduction of a curriculum which preaches civic engagement, tolerance, social structures of cooperation, diversity and multiculturalism, productive differences in opinion, natural give-and-take and collaborative discussions, our democracy can continue to mature as people would be trained to accommodate differences.

As Paulo Freire mentioned in his famous read, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, education is suffering from the narration sickness as evidenced by the fact that the teacher is regarded as the supreme figure and a fountain of knowledge. The same argument could be made for the process of democracy in Botswana that it is suffering from the sickness of hating other people’s opinions, whereby those in power want a situation whereby those in power want their voices to be the only ones that matter and that whoever ushers in a different opinion is an enemy.

If an education system fails to teach about democracy, then the dominant elites will continue to oppress the masses and indoctrinate them to follow only one route of thought. Democratic education has the potential for educating for liberation and empowerment. Freire shares that education should be the practice of freedom, as opposed to education as the process of domination. When we educate for domination, chances are that the elites will continue to frown at those who hold different opinions to theirs and that on its own is not healthy for the democratic process. Noddings has pointed out that:

Democracy is not the outcome of a set of words and customs. Rather, it is an achievement ÔÇôone that depends on the desire to communicate and the goodwill to persist in collaborative inquiry…to achieve a democracy we must try things, evaluate them without personal prejudice, revise them if they are wanting, and decide what to do next through a process of reasoned consensus or compromise in which the authority or expertise is consulted but not allowed to impose its views with no discussion of how, why, and on what grounds.

On the basis of the above, it could be argued that a democracy is a public space of dialogue where free speech should be allowed to flourish at the same time promoting tolerance and the freedom of mind as contested by Dewey. As such, for us to positively forge forward as a sustainable democracy, our education system should contribute positively to the curing of the ailments of democracy by educating for democratic engagement and empowerment. So let us rethink democratic education.

*Mcedisi Soly Rodger is the Treasurer of Botswana Teachers Union

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