Student Participation & Democratic Education

MODERN life means democracy, democracy means freeing intelligence for independent effectiveness-the emancipation of mind as an individual organ to do its own work. We naturally associate democracy with freedom of action, but freedom of action without freed capacity of thought behind it is only chaos. (Dewey, 1903, p. 193). 

Democracy for Dewey means freedom of mind in discovering and proof; it is a free capacity to think for one’s self. For Dewey, democracy entails finding conditions to “the development of individual mental power and to adequate responsibility for its use” (p. 194). Students’ meaningful participation in their learning sets up the conditions for freedom of thought. Dewey argued that the growth of freedom of thought entails that students participate in determining the conditions and the aims of their own work; Dewey explained:

Until the emphasis changes to the conditions which make it necessary for the [student] to take an active share in the personal building up of his own problems and to participate in methods of solving them […] mind is not really freed. (1903, p. 201) 

Accordingly, students’ meaningful participation in their learning is another fundamental principle of democracy (Dewey, 1903; 1938). When it came to democratic education, Dewey (1938) was clear about students’ active participation in their learning. Dewey emphasized participation as the point at which democracy and learning meet in the classroom. For Dewey, participation is democratic when students construct purposes and meaning, carry out plans, and evaluate results. For Dewey, learning material supplied by others is a denial of democracy. He argued, “To subject mind to an outside and ready-made material is a denial of the ideal of democracy, which roots itself ultimately in the principle of moral, self-directing individuality” (Dewey, 1903, p. 199). From Dewey’s perspective, the external and ready-made material “tends automatically to perpetuate the very conditions of inefficiency, lack of interest, inability to assume positions of self-determination” (p. 198). In other words, by creating the environment and learning experiences that bring student to actively participate in making decisions in the learning process, faculty can develop the skills needed to make democracy a reality with their students. Dewey (1903) asserts that the process for reaching democratic education principles should be participatory and inclusive; the student has “a share in determining the conditions and the aims of his own work” (p. 179).

Mariam Abdelmalak's Blog: Student active participation in learning

Mariam Abdelmalak's Blog: Student active participation in learning: Higher education institutions should not be merely training sites that provide students with the technical expertise required to f...

Democratic Education

Throughout my life’s journey, from my childhood to adulthood, I have constantly struggled with undemocratic relationships in Egyptian society. People have power over other people. At home, my father has power over my mother, my sisters, my brother, and me. My brother has power over my sisters, and my older sisters have power over me because I am the youngest one. At my schools, from elementary school to university, teachers had power over me and other students in the class, and the school administration had power over my teachers. Even among students, some students had power over others because of class, gender, or religion. I learned that the world is hierarchical; there is always a group that has power over another group- one group rules, controls and exploits another. I always wondered how to change undemocratic hierarchical culture in my country to a more equitable and just society. Does education have a role in transforming my country to a democratic one? How can education develop people as citizens able to participate and influence democracy? What educational values can develop people as citizens who act democratically?

Coming to the USA as a doctoral student, I searched for answers to my questions. Taking courses in the field of critical pedagogy and reading Ira Shor’s (1992/1996) ideas about empowering democratic education answered many of my questions about how to create a democratic society. I learned that “education is more than facts and skills. It is a socializing experience that helps make the people who make society” (Shor, 1992, p. 15). I realized the important role that higher education can play to develop a democratic culture in society. Students need to practice democratic habits in the classroom, so that democratic habits become a way of living.  Democratic habits cannot be cultivated by listening to lectures about democracy. Rather, democratic habits must purposely be cultivated through democratic educational practices. Creating a learning environment that invites students to actively participate in designing the course curriculum is an example of a democratic educational practice. As a teacher educator in process, I have been inspired by these ideas. I wished to explore educational contexts in which democratic education is encouraged and supported. It is important for me, for Egyptians, and for others to envision a practical example of a kind of democratic education, a new way of being as a teacher, and new patterns of relationships between students and teachers.

Student active participation in learning

Higher education institutions should not be merely training sites that provide students with the technical expertise required to find a place within the workplace. Rather, higher education institutions should also be places where students learn the knowledge and skills necessary to live in a democracy. Higher education institutions should develop active citizens in a democratic society, citizens who can effectively participate and influence a democracy. Developing active citizens who think critically and act democratically cannot be achieved by lecturing about democracy; rather it can be achieved by introducing opportunities for students to practice democracy in their education.

In order to prepare students to be active participants in a democratic society, students should meaningfully participate in their own learning. The critical educator Ira Shor (1992) asserts that only by active participation in their learning can students develop democratic habits rather than becoming passive consumers waiting to be told what things mean and what to do. Students’ active participation in their own learning can change students’ lives and through this transformation they may become active and critical citizens who can change their communities. Encouraging students’ meaningful participation in their own learning can prepare students to be active citizens who can efficiently participate and change their communities.