Fundamentación teórica y política de la educación democrática occidental contemporánea

Abstract

In the present work, the political and philosophical perspective of the democratic education will be explored. The limitations of western democracies are reproduced in the school, stuck at the crossroads between its potential capacity for progress and its apparent stagnation. The political basis of this educational ideal restricts its capacity to educate students within the framework of a democratic community. In order to reveal the origin of these limitations, we will go to the ideological framework that shelter democratic education, that is, liberalism, also considering its fit in the tradition of western thought. Other socioeconomic elements that have contributed to the development of philosophy and politics, as well as to the construction of the identity of contemporary citizenship, will also be considered. It is concluded that the tradition of Western thought has fostered a prejudice towards politics that has prevented a development similar to philosophy one. Such limitations have contributed to the paralysis of the political progress of liberal democracies, whose legitimacy is being questioned. Democratic education is, above all, a political education to enable citizens to participate and intervene in the public sphere. However, this sphere seems unable to support current participatory demands. As a consequence, the challenge is twofold: to prepare citizens for the exercise of democratic politics, and for the transformation of the public sphere through a praxis that combine both theoretical reflection and political action to make a significant change.