Question

Essay on democracy is failure without education 300 words

Answer 1

An educated electorate is important to a well-functioning democracy. Education helps in a number of ways:

An educated public understands the importance of voting and participation in the electoral process. While ‘procedural’ democracy can exist in a society by formal laws, ‘substantive’ demoracy requires that the voting public accept the legitimacy of the democratic process and both the formal and informal mechanisms and processes that make the democracy effective.

In a well-functioning democracy, elites also understand that democracy requires acceptance of the results of a democratic process, and do not seek to undermine or disturb the results, even if they do not agree with them. Educated, informed elites do not trample over laws and do not seek to dismantle democratic processes.

Education plays a role from both sides by instilling an understanding and an acceptance of the legitimacy of the democratic process. Democracy is meaningless if the public and elites- those with political and economic power- do not accept or understand how it functions. An ill-informed public is less likely to vote, less likely to participate, and less likely to oppose corruption when it occurs.

Voting, for example, does not confer any direct material benefits (save for, say, illegally getting paid to vote). A voter has to, in many cases, take time off from work, especially in democracies without a voter holiday (a day off for voting). The voter must also register to vote. He or she must travel to a polling place. Even if these costs are not high, per se, strictly speaking the cost is higher than the direct ‘benefit’: a voter among millions of other voters is unlikely to change the outcome. Thus, this ‘voter paradox’ will question why any voter would ever vote. If the likelihood that a single vote will change the result is nearly zero, but there is a non-zero cost to voting, then one will predict, mathematically, that no one will vote. In turn, this will result in a poor outcome, as low turnout may cause fringe or extremist candidates to win elections.

So why do people vote? Other than facing the possibility of a cost or sanction for not voting (some countries legally mandate that voters vote) there are non-material benefits. For instance, voters feel pride in having participated in their democracy and the electoral process. An ill-informed electorate will not understand such non-material values. For example, an individual who has never voted, nor has been taught about the value of voting, will simply not vote. On the other hand, an individual who was taught about the value of voting, and who understands that positive electoral outcomes depend upon a robust and active participation in the electoral process, is much more likely to vote.

Correspondingly, if and when a politician tries to erode democracy and a society’s democratic values- such as by limiting free speech or penalizzing the press- he or she will understand that protest, participation, debate, voting, and even, possibly, civil disobedience, will reduce or stop such efforts. A well-educated public is much more likely to ‘spot’ corruption and to oppose it effectively. On the other hand, an ill-informed public is likely to neither ‘spot’ corruption, nor to understand why it is harmful, nor to understand how to stop it.

HOPE IT HELPS YOU.