Learning Democracy (Part 1)

Part 1 | Part 2

We love the idea of democracy, of being free to choose our own path and forge our own destiny. We enshrine the ideals of liberty and celebrate as heroes those who fight and lay down their lives for its survival. Yet, a lot of people do not know how to handle their freedom. They think that freedom is license to do whatever they want, even if what they do already curtails or restricts another person’s freedom. They do not understand that the price of sustaining a free society is for individuals to think and act responsibly, to create a space of mutual respect, only then can people in that society be truly free.

I have recently been watching videos of traffic apprehensions by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and it is both funny and sad how people caught violating the rules seem to think that they have a special privilege for breaking the rules. They do all sorts of things to escape the consequences — they try to run, they try to reason, they threaten, they appeal to the “unfairness” of the law, and so on. Expand this to different facets of our political and economic lives and you see the same thing — people try to cheat on paying taxes, they try to evade import tariffs, they aim for special exemptions from the rule because they have connections in this or that office.

We love the idea of democracy but don’t know how to live in one.

I believe one of the fundamental reasons why is that we were never taught how to live in a democracy. In fact, our school system, which is supposed to “educate” us and prepare us for life, is one of the most autocratic institutions around — and we spend our formative years there. We spend our teenage years, and even our early adult years there. And then when we’re done and get thrown out into the “real” world, we are expected to know how to handle democracy?

What do children really learn in school? Why do I say it is an autocratic institution? Let’s count them off:

1. Children learn from early on that their choices don’t matter. Little Johnny wants to play with dolls. “No, Johnny, dolls are for girls,” says the teacher.  “You can’t play with them.” Little Annie wants to spend all day drawing. “You can’t do that, Annie,” says the teacher, “You have to learn your Arithmetic first, and then Reading, and then some Science.”
   “But I want to learn how to make cartoons,” says Annie.
   “No,” says the teacher. “You have to learn the more important things first.”
2. Children learn that a lot of power resides with the authorities. If you want to control that power, you either have to challenge the authorities, or you have to suck up to them. So kids learn never to express their true opinions about a matter, but to say what the teacher wants to hear. They learn that they can sometimes circumvent rules by sweet-talking a teacher, or by using intimidation tactics like, “You can’t touch me. Do you know my uncle is the head of the school board?”
3. Children learn that their lives are mostly controlled by other people, whether it’s the teacher, the principal, or their parents pressuring them to get high grades. They learn to shut down their dreams, to not care, to go through the motions of “learning” just enough to pass the tests and move on to the next level.

By the time they’re done, we wonder why so many young graduates are unfocused and don’t know what to do with their lives. Look again at how they were “educated” and you need not wonder any more.

Originally published in Sunstar Davao.

Email me at andy@freethinking.me. View previous articles at www.freethinking.me.