Education And Democracy In Plato's The Republic

Education and Democracy are entangled in American history and thought. Each one shapes the other. Plato mentions the cycle of cities and soul. The best city is the aristocracy, followed by a timocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and tyranny. The type of souls to be found in the city are a philosopher, timocract, oligarchy, democrat, and a tyrant, respectively. Each form is a degeneration of the previous. Each one of these cities and souls has their own desires that reflects how they are ordered The desires and structure of a democracy are born out of the ashes of the oligarchy that came before it. An oligarchy is ruled by the few. These few have a great amount of wealth and power concertation. In the Republic, it is stated that an oligarchy turns into a democracy when “the poor are victorious, killing one of their opponents and expelling others, and giving the rest an equal share in ruling under the constitution” (557). The desires are engraved into the structure of the democracy. Democracy is about equality, freedom, justice, and empowerment. One does not need a certain amount of wealth or power to rule, only a voice. One can choose to live however they wish, such as they do not infringe on another’s’ rights or property. The constitution of a democracy allows all types of souls and person to live …show more content…
If everyone is not equal and free, no man is equal and free. It is of utmost importance that student of the democratic education be taught that we are all brothers and sisters. Race, class, and gender are just words and classifications. We all came from the Earth; we will all go back to the Earth. Because of this, it must be stressed that it is not moral to discriminate because on race, class, or gender. No one was the right to deny anyone the opportunity to succeed. However, only opportunity is guaranteed, not