The Possibility of an Educated Public: Educating Students to Think in a Democracy

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Abstract

Educational theorists like Neil Postman suggest that the ills of contemporary education result from the lack of a shared narrative which prevents the construction of community or what Alasdair Macintyre called “an educated public.” In his works on education, John Dewey attempted to construct a model of education that would achieve that specific end. By training student to “think scientifically” and teaching them how to practice thinking with a "democratic spirit", Dewey envisioned schools as training laboratories where students learn how to participate within and thus constitute an educated public. Though Dewey’s vision might be difficult to practice on a large scale, contemporary teachers might practice Dewey’s model in their classrooms helping their individual students and impacting the larger society.

Author

• John Thompson, Texas Tech University