The defense, preservation and advancement of democracy are priority issues for the countries of the Americas and, therefore, for the Organization of American States. The role of education in this effort has been emphasized in the declarations of the Summits of the Americas and, accordingly, by the Ministerial Meetings. The Inter-American Democratic Charter, approved by the OAS General Assembly on September 11, 2001, in the section dedicated to actions required for the promotion of democracy, states in article 27 that, “Special attention shall be given to the development of programs and activities for the education of children and youth as a means of ensuring the continuance of democratic values, including liberty and social justice.” Clearly, the Charter underlines the importance of education in strengthening democracy in the Americas and points to the strategic importance of youth.
Education is the most direct path for building a democratic culture. Such a path requires an education that views teaching and learning as part and parcel of the same process, that allows for consensus building with room for dissent, that presents reality with all its problems and fosters critical thinking. A democratic education is one that is anchored in facts and data, and helps form opinions based on a respect for diversity in beliefs and values without losing sight of the common good. Education for democracy is much more than educating young people on the merits of representative democracy, rather it is premised on the need to form civic and ethical values in order to allow them to become free, informed and critically-minded citizens, capable of acting responsibly to transform their environment.
The chapters in this report contain information about the civic knowledge, attitudes and activities of 14- and 17- year-old students, as well as the opinions of teachers who teach civic education. These data, in turn, were correlated with characteristics of the students’ households, the more or less democratic environment in the schools, use of mass media, and students’ participation in social movements. Based on the results, the researchers suggest policy implications in areas such as: curriculum reform; teacher training; design of teaching materials; mass media education; inclusion of economic related topics in civic education; and participatory processes in the classroom, the school and the community.
