Why We Need to Teach Democracy Differently in Our Schools
I was thinking more about the Wal*Mart tragedy of last weekend and it reminded me a bit of the Kitty Genovese case—you know, the woman whose murder was famously ignored by thirty-eight witnesses:
Forty years ago, on March 13, 1964, the picturesque tranquillity of Kew Gardens was shattered by the murder of 28-year-old Catherine Genovese, known as Kitty. The murder was grisly, but it wasn’t the particulars of the killing that became the focus of the case. It was the response of her neighbors. As Ms. Genovese screamed — ”Please help me! Please help me!” — 38 witnesses did nothing to intervene, according to reports; nobody even bothered to call the police. One witness later explained himself with a phrase that has passed into infamy: ”I didn’t want to get involved.”
Recently, this account has come under fire. But it’s not hard to find cases like it. Like this:
A security video from an apartment hallway shows at least 10 witnesses ignored a woman’s cries for help for more than an hour as a man beat and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors in Minnesota said.
These cases remind me a little of the Wal*Mart tragedy in that people look for visual clues from the people around them to inform their actions. At Wal*Mart, presumably normal, decent people started sprinting through that door (and over the poor, deceased worker) because everyone around them was doing it, so it seemed like it must be okay. And when people ignore the plight of the Kitty Genovese’s, part of it is that the inaction of their fellow neighbors signals it isn’t necessary to become involved. In both situations, people align themselves with the crowd, believing (I think) that the crowd can determine propriety, and thus, that the actions of the crowd are okay.
But in these instances, the actions of the crowd are not okay.
I can’t help but think that the romance of Democracy has something to do with this. In school, we learn the virtue of Democracy … and it’s oversold. Democracy isn’t that great … it’s just the best form of Government we have. It’s the least rotten apple in a barrel of rotten apples. But we teach Democracy as if it’s something pure and lovely and beautiful. It’s none of those things. Democracy is mob rule, and while mob rule is better than oligarchy or monarchy or theocracy, that’s like being the best player on the Detroit Lions.
I wonder if the way we teach Democracy in schools affects other things too, like high school cliques. The popular kids have a high social status by virtue of their popularity, not because of their academic merit or artistic talent or kind nature. Individualism in school is not seen as a virtue … it’s a marginalizing factor. Kids try to conform to the musical and clothing tastes of their friends. Peers, Pinker and Judith Rich Harris tell us, have far more influence on kids than their parents, and I can’t help but think part of this is simply a numbers game … we have more peers than parents, and democracy wins.
I’d like to see schools teach Democracy as a necessary evil. As something deeply flawed. As something that often fails. I’d like to see more emphasis of objective morality and the power of the individual to effect change. I’d like to see schools honor and elevate the nonconformists. I suspect that this kind of shift in teaching might help avoid Wal*Mart stampedes and Kitty Genovese tragedies. And if not, at least they might make life a little easier for kids who aren’t part of the popular crowd.
