What do we democratic citizens need to know more about?

[WillJ]

An educated populace is an integral part of any democracy. The issues that confront modern governments are becoming more and more complex, and in fact I sometimes sympathize with the idea of making our society less democratic and more technocratic.

But as long as we respect the opinions of "the people," what specifically do you think the people need to be more educated about? If you were to teach an "Advanced Democratic Participation" class (aimed at adult voters, not 5-year-olds), what would you teach?

From a 2006 U.S. perspective, I can think of five main things that are important to understanding public policy, but many people (and I'm not excepting myself from this*) are somewhat (or in some cases, extremely) lacking in knowledge. In order of importance / current lacking:

1. Middle Eastern culture, politics, and history
2. Biology & bioethics
3. Economics
4. Statistics / probability theory / interpreting data and scientific results
5. Structure, history, and principles of American government

There's my syllabus, what's yours?

*I could ask the related question: What do you think you personally ought to know more about when thinking politics? If, of course, you're an expert in everything there is, there's no need to answer.

 

[downtown]

How to book my band

 

[cairo140]

An educated populace is an integral part of any democracy.

Will, I'm going to have to contest that phrase. In my mind, democracy is not centred around making the smart decision. Democracy is centred around giving every citizen the opportunity to make a decision, thereby keeping them involved an happy with the state. Regardless, smart decisions wouldn't hurt, so as per your requests, here is my syllabus (in no particlar order):

1. Political Sciences, especially the structure of all levels of government (including responsibilities, rights, interactions, jurisdictions, etc.)
2. General Economics (both macroeconomics and microeconomics because government directly addresses both; recession is equally as important to an individual as his employer's financial situation)
3. Religious and Ethical studies (in an open-forum, as opposed to a lecture-style interaction like in a church)
4. Political Sciences 102 (focus on history and success of different styles and alignments of governments in various socioeconomic environments)
5. A Co-op program where students are asked to spend a period of time (2 weeks or so) in several different demographics within the electorate.

 

[WillJ]

Will, I'm going to have to contest that phrase. In my mind, democracy is not centred around making the smart decision. Democracy is centred around giving every citizen the opportunity to make a decision, thereby keeping them involved an happy with the state.

I don't think people get any instrinsic pleasure from being involved with the state. If they feel every other decision-maker around them is an idiot, I don't think they'll be happy.

2. General Economics (both macroeconomics and microeconomics because government directly addresses both; recession is equally as important to an individual as his employer's financial situation)

I suppose you're right there. Edited.

 

[nc-1701]

How to tell the differance between science and conspiracy theorys (like aliens taking over the planet, ancient aliens ruling us, creationism, atlantis, telepathy, etc)

That wqould help so much in USA that we really don't ned anything else but political science, economics, and the military would also be helpfull

 

[Perfection]

Local government

 

[GoodSarmatian]

Priority should be history, politics and economy. If the people have no clue about these things and are not willing to learn, they simply don't deserve their right to vote.

 

[Kozmos]

1. nanotech
2. clone armies
3. jessica alba
4. cqc
5. technocratic demosocialism

 

[Souron]

1)Economics
2)Current Law
3)Political Theory
4)World History
5)US History

 

[CaptainF]

An educated populace is an integral part of any democracy. The issues that confront modern governments are becoming more and more complex, and in fact I sometimes sympathize with the idea of making our society less democratic and more technocratic.

But as long as we respect the opinions of "the people," what specifically do you think the people need to be more educated about? If you were to teach an "Advanced Democratic Participation" class (aimed at adult voters, not 5-year-olds), w
hat would you teach?

From a 2006 U.S. perspective, I can think of five main things that are important to understanding public policy, but many people (and I'm not excepting myself from this*) are somewhat (or in some cases, extremely) lacking in knowledge. In order of importance / current lacking:

1. Middle Eastern culture, politics, and history
2. Biology & bioethics
3. Economics
4. Statistics / probability theory / interpreting data and scientific results
5. Structure, history, and principles of American government

There's my syllabus, what's yours?

*I could ask the related question: What do you think you personally ought to know more about when thinking politics? If, of course, you're an expert in everything there is, there's no need to answer.

Your list is as good as mine.

 

[Arcadian83]

Local government

This deserves revisiting.
Very few people I know (especially youths) have any idea about politics on a level more local than presidential elections.
People are more likely to care about the politics that most directly affect them.
I fail to understand why people seem to prefer a Big-Brother-esque one-size-fits-all government over local government. I think many people (at least in the USA) are growing discontent because they feel stuck in the same government with others whom they disargree with. With more power in local authority, people can move to a place with a local government that they agree with and take control of their destiny.

People need to be better educated on the stance of their country, and what rights and responsibilities it allows and requires. I'm appalled when people think they have certain rights which don't exist, or righteously shun their duties as citizens, or don't even know the 'mission statement' of the USA.

Aside from that I echo:

Economics
History of their particular government
Political theory

EDIT: Also 'Campaigning 101' should be taught. Like "What is a gallup pole?" etc.

 

[Riffraff]

4. Statistics / probability theory / interpreting data and scientific results

Yeah this is definately a big one. A way to large part of the population can be manipulated too easily by even 'true' statistics. Whenever a change of a certain status is compared with the old value, few ppl know how to deal with these numbers (to clarify, i mean statistics saying for example that a medicine apparently decreases the risk of a certain diseas by 50%.)

Its also quite dissapointing to see that probility is only taught in the late stages of school and is also only treated as a minor topic which is often taught badly ( at least here ger).

Generally i really think that in the modern world, in which so much vital information is presented statistics, a fundamental understanding of this branch of mathematics should be conveyed to as many ppl as possible.

 

[Shaihulud]

Logic, rhetorics and sceptism. Other things are dictated by what their future proffession, although, everyone should be continuosly learning new things.