Democratic Education and Critical Pedagogy

Abstract

Critical pedagogy wraps itself in the mantle of democracy, but in six generally accepted attributes of democracy (equality, important knowledge, nature of authority, inclusiveness, participatory decisionmaking, and rights and a seventh, not normally considered but one that has been the essence of the democratic dream—an optimum environment for everyone), critical pedagogy offers no direction. In fact, critical pedagogy, despite its unrelenting assault on the oppressiveness of schooling, may be guilty of diversion, division, illusion, and confusion, which are the major thrusts of oppression in a “democratic society.” Unlike critical pedagogy, a general theory of education informed by the seven aforementioned attributes of democracy provides multiple avenues for initiation of significant and realistic educational reform in existing public school sites.