A very interesting and articulate comment to the previous posting brought to mind an experience I had as a guest teacher in a 6th grade class a few years ago in Brookline, Mass.

The kids were doing a unit on Ancient Greece, so I thought that democracy might be a nice topic of discussion. I started with some talk about pecking orders. Drew a dinosaur with another dinosaur standing on its tail. Said (in some words or other) that animals establish dominance heirarchies, and in traditional civilizations, that’s how it worked with people too. Aristocrats on top, etc. Every kid grasped this concept easily.

Then we come to democracy. Why did the Athenians establish a democracy? Why do we have one? Why do we think it’s good and worth defending? The kids looked totally blank. Without exception, in a class of 20-25 bright 11 year olds. The discussion that ensued was so painfully difficult that I can barely remember it. It was deeply unsettling. They clearly had almost no vocabulary for this subject. If anything, in fact, these children of prosperous, liberal Brookline leaned toward an aristocratic position: why should the weak be able to dictate to the strong?

Moral: Democracy is a sophisticated concept. Talking about it in school has fallen out of favor. Kids, if they’re to become citizens, need to learn about it.

By the way, the answer to the question is: because it’s better than any of the alternatives.