Democratic Education: How a Lack of Faith in Education Contributes to a Weaker Democracy

Introduction

In the majority opinion of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Chief Justice Warren ruled the notion of “separate but equal” schools for children of different races unconstitutional by the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Justice Warren leveraged that “separate but equal” schools were not, in fact, equal, and that American public education, a cornerstone of American democracy, should offer equal schooling to successfully foster a shared American identity among students to sustain American democracy. Scholarly writing on American education had emphasized the role of public education in encouraging participation in American democracy since before the time of Brown v. Board, but the Brown decision revolutionized public education by highlighting social equality as a necessary aspect of public education. Since Brown v. Board, however, the perceived efficacy of public education declined over time as Americans increasingly came to believe that they had lost influence over school curriculum and operations. As such, many Americans lost faith in the American education system, which in turn has had detrimental effects on American democracy through consistently lower voter turnout and decreased civic participation.

To begin, I will first provide a theoretical background of the legal and democratic underpinnings of the public education system in the United States up until the late 19th century. I will then analyze how the ruling of Brown v. Board officially interpreted education to be a public good with the purpose of supporting America’s democracy, thus ruling “separate but equal” schooling unconstitutional. I will discuss how this decision marks a radical shift in American educational theory by considering social equality a necessary component of democratic education. I will then highlight how 21st-century perceptions of public schools have contributed to a broader lack of faith in the competency of public education and encouraged a competing interest in the privatization of education, undermining the efficacy of education as a public good. Finally, I conclude with the implications of these concerns on the participation and maintenance of American democracy.

Background of Education in America

Historically, education has been a primary means to support American society since the mid-19th century, with early scholars claiming that public education had the potential to support the entire nation. In the Twelfth Annual Report (1848), one of the foundational documents of American public education, Horace Mann highlighted the upwardly mobile value of education and leveraged that “nothing but Universal Education [could] counter-work [the] tendency to the domination of capital and the servility of labor” [1], suggesting that equal public education granted citizens the opportunity to prosper economically by granting them a more even playing field for future successes. In turn, Horace Mann suggested that knowledge through education enabled citizens to engage fully in society and contribute to the economy, thus supporting the maintenance of the public good.

As American public schools continued to develop, legislators during the late 19th century focused increasingly on education as a means of promoting a shared identity and American culture among citizens. According to New York Education Vol. 1 No. 3 in 1897, a book illustrating American ideals for education at the end of the 19th century, “the fundamental object of democratic education [was] to lift the whole population to a higher plane of intelligence” [2]. The book also prescribed that all schools should instill in children a sense of “vigor and loveliness of character” [3], thus calling upon public schools to create a shared identity among students and raise citizens of good character who understood their social responsibilities. These early ideals fed into commonplace school activities such as the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, first recited by students at a public school celebration in 1892 to cultivate a sense of shared American culture [4]. Early efforts to foster shared American identity in public schools ultimately provided a theoretical basis for Justice Warren’s concern with racially segregated schools as an obstacle to this shared identity.

Education for the Public Good in Brown v. Board

Brown v. Board of Education (1954) was monumental for its elimination of racially segregated public schools. The Supreme Court's decision defined education as a public good necessary for the support of American democracy and culture, thus building upon the theoretical pillars of public education originally leveraged by Horace Mann and other educators. The Court claimed that proper education was necessary for “our most basic public responsibilities” and served as the “foundation of good citizenship” [5] as well as the necessary structure to nurture “the political competence of our fellow citizens” [6]. Education was further described as key to “awakening the child to cultural values” [7]; in this case, “cultural values'' were in reference to common public school standards, such as work ethic, collaboration, and respect for authority and the nation. As such, according to the majority opinion in Brown, education served as a public good because it taught younger generations how to fulfill citizen responsibilities necessary to uphold American democracy.

By viewing education as a public good, Brown endorsed a radical belief for American citizens at this time by leveraging that a sustainable and unified American democracy demanded equal educational opportunities for all American citizens. The Court claimed that educational opportunity was “a right” that should “be made available to all on equal terms” [8]. In doing so, the decision highlighted the tension between political equality, achieved via the “one person, one vote” rule established in the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment [9], and social inequality, which was ever-present through the racial segregation of students [10]. In Brown v. Board, the Court found that the racial segregation of Black Americans in public schools violated the notion of political inclusion stipulated by the Equal Protection Clause and argued that the presence of social inequality fostered a cultural divide among citizens, ultimately weakening the sense of unity or shared identity among citizens [11]. The Court believed that social equality should align with political equality to maintain a strong democracy [12]. The Warren Court specifically highlighted the ways in which racial segregation in schools would affect political equality in America. In this way, Brown v. Board transformed public education by stipulating equal access to education and desegregation as a necessary step to political and social equality, as well as the promotion of a unified American culture and democracy.

Modern Democratic Equality and Competing Goals

In the following section, I employ the terms “democratic equality,” “social efficiency,” and “social mobility” from historian DF Labaree’s Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle Over Educational Goals, as these phrases accurately define American educational goals over time. “Democratic equality,” in the context of public education, describes the goal of public education to provide schooling in an equal manner and create citizens that sustain American democracy and cultivate a shared American identity. “Social efficiency” refers to the ability of schools to train professionals who will eventually contribute to the American economy. Lastly, “social mobility” refers to the use of higher private education to distinguish oneself from others and climb the socioeconomic ladder [13]. I invoke Labaree’s terminology to provide a theoretical framework to assess the manner in which perceptions of American public education and the resulting efficacy of the system have changed over time.

Citizens currently feel a lack of influence over the public schooling system and have expressed dissatisfaction with public education standards. Modern expectations of schools have led to citizens perceiving that American public schools have fallen short of their goals, ultimately resulting in a loss of faith in the school system’s ability to prepare students for professional life [14]. In 2016, for instance, an alarming 27% of citizens “[gave] the nation’s public schools an overall quality rating of D or F” [15]. Increasingly distrustful of the standards of public education, citizens began to lose faith and collectively abandon efforts to improve aspects of the school system that they had disapproved of. In this manner, public schools have increasingly struggled to keep up with the demands and preferences of rising citizens.

Besides a loss of faith in the individual citizen’s ability to influence and change public schools, the competing private good for education has also undermined the role of public education as a public good necessary for the sustenance of American democracy. Although democratic equality remains a prominent educational purpose in the United States to this day, its relative importance has diminished over time as compared to other goals such as social efficiency and social mobility [16]. Social efficiency describes education as a public good for economic motives, such as the professional training of students to encourage their future contributions to the United States workforce. Social mobility, on the other hand, emphasizes that students can use education to climb up the social ladder and improve their socioeconomic position in society [17].

In recent years, the notion of social mobility has been increasingly paired with private education. As higher levels of education become necessary for well-paying jobs, students have to spend years learning and competing against their fellow classmates for positions at top schools and jobs. Because higher levels of education are becoming more and more necessary to succeed, citizens have increasingly perceived education as a means for individual upward mobility and have thus turned increasingly towards private institutions to secure a stronger competitive advantage. In doing so, many citizens have consequently lost focus on the purpose of public education in terms of the goal of democratic equality. The shift towards private education marks a decline of faith in the public sector and thus contributes to the erosion of the shared American identity and civic participation that present as unique benefits of public education.

Conclusion

Public education is essential in sustaining American democracy and cultivating a strong sense of shared identity. In Brown v. Board, the Supreme Court offered its radical interpretation of democratic education, leveraging that absolute equal access to education was obligatory, for unequal educational opportunities could encourage social inequality that undermined political equality. In the decades since the monumental Brown v. Board decision, however, we have witnessed increasing doubt in the American public education system from citizens as their expectations have consistently been undercut.

Losing sight of the benefit of equal, public education in our society has led to a decline in the prioritization of civic education. Instead of focusing on education as a means of supporting American democracy and raising competent citizens, education has been increasingly perceived by citizens as a way to secure independent competitive advantages to define the socioeconomic futures of students early on. With less of an urgency placed on inculcating civic virtues and much more of a prioritization placed on securing independent competitive advantages, citizens have increasingly shifted towards private education as the solution. The lack of investment and attention towards America’s public education system, in tandem with the decrease of emphasis on civic education in public schools, could be key factors contributing to the recent decrease in civic participation and lower voter turnout measured in younger generations today.

Bibliography

[1] Horace Mann, The Republic and the School, 12th Annual Report (New York: Teachers College Press, 1848), 84.

[2] New York education: devoted to New York state educational work and interests (1897), 129.

[3] Ibid., 130.

[4] "History of the Pledge," Rethinking Schools 13, no. 3 (Spring 1999), 1.

[5] Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

[6] David Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle over Educational Goals," American Educational Research Journal 34, no. 1 (1997), 42.

[7] 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

[8] Ibid.

[9] Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods," American Educational Research Journal 34, no. 1 (1997), 42.

[10] Ibid; 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

[11] Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods," American Educational Research Journal 34, no. 1 (1997), 45.

[12] 347 U.S. 483 (1954)

[13] Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods," American Educational Research Journal 34, no. 1 (1997), 42.

[14] Sarah M. Stitzlein, American Public Education and the Responsibility of Its Citizens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2017), 1.

[15] Ibid; Joan Richardson et al., "The 48th Annual of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools," Kappan Magazine, Supplement, September 2016, 1.

[16] Labaree, "Public Goods, Private Goods," American Educational Research Journal 34, no. 1 (1997), 43.

[17] Ibid., 50.