Do we deserve our democracy?

We're used to hearing about voting rights in connection to women and minorities--but early in the history of the US, only (male) landowners were allowed to vote. There were a variety of reasons for this (such as social and economic class discrimination), but one of the more interesting ones was quality of education. Before the advent of public education, often only landowners were wealthy enough to afford a real education.

And education was important to the Founders. Public education was a topic close to Thomas Jefferson's heart--though universities were considered by some to be too elitist for true democracy. Without education, people were not good citizens.

This idea goes all the way back to ancient Greece, where full citizens were expected (albeit through the evils of slavery and grossly unequal classes) to have enough daily leisure time to educate themselves. If you were a farmer, for instance, you might not be allowed citizenship--because you didn't have enough time for the duties of citizenship.

Today, our schools are a ramshackle version of the Founders' ideals. Yes, we require the education of every child, no matter the race, class, or gender. But the quality of that education is seriously lacking, compared with the quality of education available in some other countries. It has degenerated even from when I was a kid, and not only allowed but encouraged to question the textbooks and teachers. At the schools I grew up in, for instance, you would fail the section on the literature assignment if the teacher caught you using Cliff's Notes. This was because you were supposed to come up with your own interpretation of the author's intent, and God help you if you couldn't think for yourself. These days? These days, they call them Spark Notes, and they are an official source for the officially accepted interpretation.

So my question is this: If education was so important to the founders, why is today's system so broken? (Don't even get me started on standardized testing!). Why do all of our candidates promise to fix education, while all of our legislators--once they're in office--do things like create mandatory standardized tests, not to mention cutting school budgets as often as possible?

I'm the last person to believe in conspiracy theories--but if you told me that the progressive lowering of our educational standards was deliberate, I'd be tempted to believe it.

Look at our political climate today. No one is really saying much of substance. We've become used to being fed sound bytes. Few people of any political leaning actually use critical thinking skills today. Why? Maybe we've lost the ability. Critical thinking is a skill that has to be taught. It used to be taught, but isn't anymore.

And that's a good thing for our politicians. Why stand on logic or real principal, when you can sway thousands of people with a few easily remembered catch phrases and tag lines? You don't need a good economic plan--all you really need are enough votes.

The Founders believed that education--good education--was vital for a healthy democracy. Why don't we, anymore?