This document discusses strengthening democracy in schools and education. It envisions what a truly democratic culture in education might look like in practice. As an example, it describes a proposed system where individuals could use a computer to connect with others interested in discussing the same books, films, or other works, allowing people to arrange meetings based solely on shared intellectual interests. The document argues this "radically simple" approach allows people to connect based just on a mutual desire for discussion, leaving the initiative to meet up to individuals. It acknowledges some objections to this "skeletal purity" but says addressing them highlights resistance to separating learning from social control as well as opportunities to use existing resources differently for learning. The document spans considerations of democracy as a way of

1. Constructing
Stronger
Democracy in
School and
Education
Matti Rautiainen
15.4.2021

2. Imagine the situation in everyday practice in
education reflecting strong culture of
democracy?
How does it look like?

5. “The most radical alternative to school would be a network or service which gave
each man the same opportunity to share his current concern with others motivated
by the same concern.
Let me give, as an example of what I mean, a description of how an intellectual
match might work in New York City. Each man, at any given moment and at a
minimum price, could identify himself to a computer with his address and
telephone number, indicating the book, article, film, or recording on which he seeks
a partner for discussion. Within days he could receive by mail the list of others who
recently had taken the same initiative. This list would enable him by telephone to
arrange for a meeting with persons who initially would be known exclusively by the
fact that they requested a dialogue about the same subject.
Matching people according to their interest in a particular title is radically simple. It
permits identification only on the basis of a mutual desire to discuss a statement
recorded by a third person, and it leaves the initiative of arranging the meeting to
the individual. Three objections are usually raised against this skeletal purity. I take
them up not only to clarify the theory that I want to illustrate by my proposal for
they highlight the deep-seated resistance to deschooling education, to separating
learning from social control but also because they may help to suggest existing
resources which are not now used for learning purposes.”

7. 2010s 1970s 1800s

9. Experiments in
education
Utopian education/pedagogy
Democracy as a way of living
Democratic competences

10. Minna Canth 1844-1897
”Freedom, equality, love – Will they
ever come true in this wretched
world?”

11. .
Read more
Freire, P. (1972). Cultural Action for Freedom. Harmondsworth:
Penguin.
Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of Freedom. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield.
Illich, I. 2000 (1972). Deschooling Society..
Männistö, P. (2020). The State of Democracy Education in Finnish
Primary School-Education. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto.
https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/72316/978-951-39-8359-
8_vaitos07112020.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Rautiainen, M. (Ed.) (2018). Towards a better democracy : Council of
Europe's competences for democratic culture in education and teaching.
University of Jyväskylä.
https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/63745/978-951-39-7734-
4.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Trumpa, S., Kostiainen, E., Rehm, I. & Rautiainen, M. (2020).
Innovative schools and learning environments in Germany and Finland:
Research and findings of comparative approaches. Münster: Waxmann.