A Quick Story on Why Democracy Sucks and Introduction to a New Series
Sorry guys for not posting in forever, but I am back. Today I want to talk a little bit about why democracy (in this case, the classroom) doesn’t work and also introduce a series of posts that I’ve been working on.
Recently my school has bought many books that I can use in class, including Dr. Seuss books, which I have found to be a great tool for teaching the kids concepts as well as new words. What I’ve been doing in order to give the kids at least some choice is have my students vote on which book they want. For obvious reasons this plan has completely backfired. What ends up happening usually is that about 60 to 70% (and sometimes more but not usually) of the kids will want one of the books. This is great, but of course the other 30 to 40% of the kids are upset about this. I do try to compromise with them and offer to read the other book the next day. For the rest of the time though the kids whose book I am not reading are usually upset.
I think that my students show the inherent problem with democracy and that is that 51% are capable of deciding for the other 49% of people want to do. Oh thank you democracy, 51% of people have voted to kill the other 49%, well it was democratic so it’s fair, right? Anyway, I really don’t know what to do because I want to offer the kids choice but I don’t want to upset 30 or 40% of them in the process. Compromise helps, but especially with the inability to really communicate with my students (they don’t really speak much English) it is much more difficult than if I were able to tell them what the compromise is. Any ideas or help with this issue would be greatly appreciated.
I also want to let you all know that I am going to start a new series on forward thinking. In it I will address the problems that our placement company, Anderson’s school, and people in general have. I think that it will be around 3 or 4 posts so look for that to come. So, look for those posts, coming soon and once again thank you all for the support.
User Comments
fructoric
07/06/10
Well, the problem of democracy in the classroom begs several questions . . . but should children be there in the first place? Is ignoring, denying, or patronizing their preferences in any way how you want to cultivate future adults?
The “Democracy” that you are referring to is what I would consider “Direct” or “Explicit” Democrat whereby individual votes are considered. All leadership/rule/human ownership, however, is “Democratic,” i.e. it would not exist where it not allowed to exist. Theocracy or Dictatorships are “Indirect” or “Implicit” Democracy in my opinion. Still the will (and voice?) of the people.
I am exited about the upcoming posts you are talking about.