Kamala Sarup: Education Is Important In Democracy

Education was promoted from the earliest times in the U.S. Since many settlers had strong Christian religious beliefs, a rudimentary education was necessary to read and understand the Bible. That education turned out to be useful in work and business pursuits too. Laws were passed that required some schooling and colleges were created early, most by religious leaders to become ministers to the people. These colleges later became secular as learning turned more to science, agriculture, technologies, art, literature, history, etc. Governments used taxes to install primary, secondary and college institutions.

Therefore, even education is a vast subject, so I can't get too much into it here but education enhances one's ability to get better work and become an informed citizen, which is important in a democracy and peace. If people are left uneducated, they won't know too much about a possible better life. I don't see how a democracy can function adequately unless the general population has at least the ability to read to know what is going on in the government so that they can choose leaders intelligently. If the people are uneducated in the democracy, then the minority of educated people will pass laws and elect officials who promote the interests of their interest rather than the general population. Also, scientific and technical work require high reading skills.

Many factory workers required some reading knowledge and some required knowledge of arithmetic and trigonometry too. I can't imagine how the U.S. could become so technically proficient and rich without considerable investments in education so that expertise could be disseminated throughout industries to people who work in them.

US Democracy

The United States of America has always supported the cause of democracy and human rights in South Asia, and particularly in Nepal, Shri Lanka, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. India is already an well established nation of more than a billion people, where democracy has taken deep roots with more than six decades of democratic exercises. Pakistan is a different story altogether. Pakistan has not been able to foster the growth of democracy and freedoms. It has been ruled by the army, sort of a military junta , during most of its history. Pakistan and Bangladesh are now Islamic Republics. Bhutan is a Buddhist nation, similarly Shri Lanka is a Buddhist nation.

Today, the United States is committed to fighting terrorism around the world. It is in the best interest of all of mankind to safeguard the freedoms and rights of the people. A Nepali scholar Pandey said " The United States of America is a nation of immigrants. This openness to accept all people from around the world is the beauty and strength of America. This humanitarian approach to life, liberty and the pursuit if happiness is the bedrock of the US nation".

So, I have seen see many connection between education and a democracy.

Journalist and Story Writer Kamala Sarup is an editor of peacejournalism.com. She is specialising in in-depth reporting and writing on Peace, Anti War, Women, Terrorism, Democracy, and Development. Some of her publications are: Women's Empowerment (Booklet). Prevention of trafficking through media (South Asia, Nepal Book) Efforts to Prevent Trafficking in for Media Activism (Media research). Two Stories collections. Her interests include international conflict resolution, cross-cultural communication, philosophy, feminism, political, socio-economic and literature. Her current plans are to move on to humanitarian work in conflict areas in the near future. She also is experienced in organizational and community development. A meeting of jury members held on 21 March in Geneva has decided to attribute Kamala Sarup, with a Honorable Mention of International Award for Women Issue. http://peacejournalism.com/

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