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.