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118 Section 2 Commentary: The Grave Dangers in the Discourse on Democracy James Joseph Scheurich Numerous scholars and educators have given pride of place to democracy both for society at large and for schools and school reform (Glickman, 1993, and Raywid, 1990, among others). In emphatic contrast, I would like to suggest that this is a dangerous choice. However, in making my brief points I do not want to speak “against” any particular individual who privileges democracy in this way. Instead, I want to speak against the ways democracy, as a linguistic vessel of meaning, discursively circulates both in educator and scholarly discourses. I want to try to show those who participate in these circulations that they are involved in a complex, discursive enactment that has deleterious effects. I would like for us to think together, to consider certain dif¤cult problems in the discourse on democracy, to critically examine some serious dangers in this discourse. Speci¤cally, I want to discuss how the promotion of democracy as the principal underlying value in society or in schools and school reform is not only particularly harmful to national minority groups, like African-Americans or Mexican-Americans, but also, in the long view, harmful to everyone. This discussion, though, should not be taken as a comprehensive critique, archaeology, or genealogy of the discourse on democracy (certainly something that is needed); what I provide here is but a bare beginning. Before I can make my points, though, it is necessary to address and then move beyond the emancipatory claims for democracy. In this regard, democracy is appropriately taken to be a reallocation of power from a small elite to the citizenry at large; however, as everyone knows, in Athens, democracy, like the early U.S. democracy , was relegated only to certain citizens, like white, male property owners, so the application of democracy is not necessarily coterminous with the entire adult population. The most well known example of democratic emancipation in the United States is the revolution that overthrew British royal rule of the 13 colonies . Other subsequent U. S. examples are the expansion of democracy via voting rights to women and to people of color. In addition, internationally there are courageous movements whose principal goal is to establish democracy in their societies . One clear example would be the successful movement to end Apartheid in South Africa. Commentary 119 It is exceedingly important, therefore, that it be understood that, for the discussion that follows, I strongly support these efforts to develop and expand democracy in whatever context—from countries to corporations, from societies to schools. Democracy rightly holds a critical signi¤cance in any context in which relatively small elites subjugate or have subjugated majorities. I do not dispute that democracy , in this regard or context, is emancipatory; I strongly agree that it is. However, it is precisely when democracy has been obtained and implemented, precisely at this point, where the dangers arise and thus where we must begin our critical interrogation. More speci¤cally, when a democracy has been established in a societal context that encompasses minority groups along with a dominant majority , we have a context that is literally dangerous for minority groups. Said most directly, democracy is not equity, nor is it any guarantee of equity . This is the point that Glickman implies at the very beginning of the preceding discussion, but I think we need to consider this issue in more depth and centrality than he does. This point—that a society is democratic, no matter how democracy is de¤ned, does not guarantee that it is equitable—seems, on a kind of super¤cially logical level, an obvious point. However, at the level of human practices and their effects, at the level of how democracy gets discursively enacted and thus “materialized” as practices, such as in personal conversation, speeches, writings , school reforms, classroom pedagogy, administrative actions, laws and policy, etc., this point is not widely discussed and thus is not socially obvious. Indeed, the context that Glickman presents us with at the very beginning of his piece is instructive: Glickman gives a speech about keeping “education rooted in the spirit of American democracy.” The audience responds warmly, but a Native American woman approaches the speaker after the speech to suggest that democracy for her and her people has literally been genocidal. Her suggestion to the speaker is to be extremely careful about how democracy is de¤ned, a point Glickman addresses by discussing his de¤nition of democracy. However...

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