Does Democratic Education Have to be a Liberal Education? A Philosophical Assessment

Education has always been a significant topic of interest not only for theorists and practitioners of education but also for political philosophers. Philosophers aimed to describe the relation between education and democracy by referring to various functions that educational institutions can play for contributing the improvement of democracy since the time of Stoics in Ancient Greece and Rome. This paper aims to draw the conceptual and moral boundaries of what democratic education amounts to. When dealing with the meaning of democratic education, there is one significant matter that is the source of confussion for many of us: whether democratic education and liberal education are same, and if not, to what extent they are different. In line with this question, this paper argues that democratic education cannot be reduced to liberal education in the sense of promoting merely liberal values but it should be founded on the idea of creating autonomous citizens as a necessary minimum liberal requirement. Thus, it is claimed that, along with the value of autonomy, democratic education may promote various different values at the same time as long as these values are not unreasonable in the sense of disrespecting the equal moral status of every citizen. First, arguments regarding the concept of autonomy that are developed by political liberalism and classical/comprehensive liberalism are analyzed comparatively. Second, the significance of the promotion of autonomy as a moral principle in democratic education is discussed. Third, possible other values that can be supported along with autonomy are outlined. Since this paper is a theoretical analysis which aims to examine critically certain contemporary liberal theories on education, it does not intend to focus on the practical field of education.