What does it mean to live in a democracy?

What does it mean to live in a democracy? I started to write more about little kids being suspended because on the face of it it seems so harsh, and so early in the year. However the situation has to be examined in context. This happens less and less in our culture because television does not lend itself to a nuanced examination of issues. The teaser might be "Kindergarteners kicked out of school" and people will form an opinion before even hearing the two minute treatment that it might get on the news. That doesn't help anybody. Unfortunately this way of thinking or rather, not thinking is seeping up through every level of our society. We are all dumbing down. We use brand names as a shorthand for description. I've heard people, adults, who describe themselves in terms of the brands they identify with. Not their religion or ethnic heritage but where they shop. And politics is not immune to this phenomenon. I'm surprised the Clinton's haven't tried to trademark their name. "Clinton-a brand of governing you can trust! New and improved with 2 X chromosomes, that's twice as many as last time!"

Oh dear I think that was a rant. Let me get back on topic.

Democracy. Let's compare Sudbury to a typical public school. Sudbury is a true democracy where all members have a say in how their community is run. Everyone is expected to work together to maintain it and to abide by its rules. The children are trusted and given the responsibility of making decisions about their school in a meaningful way. Power is shared.

Our public schools are authoritarian dictatorships. A system where a few people at the top are telling everybody else what to do and controlling every aspect of their members lives, while they are a part of that system, is a dictatorship. It doesn't matter how pretty they make it or how fun it seems, that's what it is. Children are not trusted to make good decisions. Power is concentrated in the hands of a few people.

Now let's look at discipline against the background of these two systems.
When a child enrolls at Sudbury they sign a contract that says I want to go to school here and I agree to abide by the rules. Children entering public school usually go because their parents tell them to. At Sudbury everyone is expected to follow the same rules and to aid in their enforcement. At public school students learn the rules and follow them and if they break them and get caught they get punished by a teacher or other authority figure. When you get written up at Sudbury you have to answer to the staff and the students.

There is a difference in behavior when people feel invested in the process, when they feel that they have a say. And when they feel like they will be listened to. It's huge. Look at our own society. A complaint by African Americans is that there are two sets of rules, one for whites and one for everyone else. Now, I'm not going to explore the validity of that argument right now but I will say that historically, people of color have not a large formal role in the shaping of our country and its laws, so is it any wonder that they might still have an Us vs. Them mentality? Taking it back to the public schools, for some kids doing the wrong thing becomes more of a risk-reward calculation than a consideration of the merits of the act itself and this comes about because they have fewer options for reaching their goals.

At Sudbury, if you don't like something you can try to change it. It might not work but people will listen to your ideas and debate the merits of it. If you break the rules you have to answer to the community.

Back to the five year olds. These kids had been written up numerous times for not doing their cleaning jobs and I think some other rowdy behavior, I think the general complaint was that they didn't respect the school. They aren't mean, they weren't bullying anyone or lighting fires or anything like that so my instinct is to say "Give them a break, they're still little." But they are not so little to take advantage of the freedom that Sudbury affords them so maybe a one day suspension after repeated write ups is not so harsh. They are saying "hey, if you like it here so much, respect the customs and rules that make this place possible. Contribute to its upkeep." Maybe they won't fully understand the why of it all right now but it may help them get into the habit of being a responsible member of a community.

So, what does all of this have to do with living in a democracy again (I remember the words of a social studies teacher :"It is not a true democracy, it is a representative republic!")? The whole idea of a democracy is that people can govern themselves but that is not what is being taught in the public schools. They are not being taught to make their own decisions,or to experiment with different ways of doing things to find out what works best. Often times questioning the status quo earns you the label of trouble maker (just like questioning the school budget earns one the label of "anti-education"). Sending my kids to Sudbury has made me realize that democracy is messy and groups can definitely make mistakes but you have to trust people and people have to trust themselves to make it work.