This week's topic is the status and importance of democracy and human rights education in our schools. Educational activities are seen as very effective in making the steps we take towards modernization more effective. It is a known fact that our education system has a long way to go in terms of democracy and human rights. However, we must also recognize that we have made significant progress compared to third world countries.
At the heart of today's problems in various fields is the indiscriminate use of concepts and the dangerous consequences of this. The indiscriminate use of concepts without a specific scientific basis is encountered not only in the practice of daily life but also in academic research in different scientific disciplines. However, grounding concepts in scientific knowledge and establishing the right connections between concepts can shed light on the correct evaluation of many problems in the world and thus shed light on the rapid solution of problems. What is really needed here is an increase in the number of scientists and citizens who can correctly evaluate the human being, events and situations from a philosophical perspective (Düger, 2017).
One of the core values of a democratic system is the peaceful resolution of disputes. The life of societies is full of conflicts of interests and ideas. However, the democratic system has the characteristic of resolving these conflicts through peaceful means instead of force or command (Büyükkaragöz, 1989; Büyükkaragöz & Kesici, 1998).
According to Duman (2004), democracy, which is expressed as a culture, a way of life and a way of thinking, basically represents an order that recognizes that everyone has a reality. Democracy is an operational concept based on cognitive and affective life related to how individuals should live together.
Today, democracy education is known as a process that aims to help individuals learn democratic behaviors through their experiences. It aims to raise individuals as active individuals who are sensitive to human rights, internalize these values, and adhere to the principles of democracy. Throughout the world, the desire for democratization has emerged in different geographies in the historical process. In our country, the process of democratization started with the Tanzimat edict and is still ongoing. However, it is very difficult to say that the current democratic education is at an adequate level.
One of the most important functions of formal education in schools is to raise individuals who show democratic attitudes and behaviors, who believe in democracy sincerely, in short, who adopt democracy as a lifestyle. In our education system, importance should be given to the organization of all educational activities based on such objectives (Yağcı, 1998). The aim of civic education is to ensure that people adopt a democratic way of thinking and respect human rights (Düger, 2017).
For the first time, J. Dewey (1916) emphasized the relationship between democracy and education in his work titled ‘Democracy and Education’. Dewey argued that the knowledge acquired at school can give direction to social life if it is given in an environment that integrates with life as well as establishing a connection with activities or professions (Geray, 1993).
In an ever-changing world, the education system and schools are expected to raise individuals who are free, critical, responsible, sensitive to social problems and who have internalized democratic values. The relationship between democracy and education is a broad and complex subject. In general, the view that democracy awareness starts at school is predominant. Educational institutions, which we call schools, have a great importance in raising democracy consciousness. For this reason, the culture of democracy should be kept alive in schools (Şişman et al., 2010).
Democracy education aims to raise democratic and respectful individuals who have adopted democratic attitudes and behaviors, are independent researchers, can establish good relationships, and can make their own decisions (Karasar, 1999). This education aims to turn individuals into active citizens who know human rights and freedoms, embrace democracy, respect and defend democracy.
In order for democracy education to be provided in schools, it is imperative that the country is governed by democracy, that democracy has been digested in the central and provincial organizations of the Ministry of National Education, and that school administrators are selected from among those who know the virtues of democracy.
The aim of democratic education is to draw all people into a process that can help them develop the necessary skills and attitudes to become people who can contribute to the creation of a society worthy of humanity by accepting all people as equal (Varol et al., 2004). This will only be possible through education and training approaches to be gained first in the family and then in schools on an individual basis in order to form societies that have citizenship awareness in the modern sense and respect human rights (Başaran, 2007).
Classroom environment is very effective in raising democratic individuals. Democratic classroom environment is the most important factor affecting the development of democratic attitudes and behaviors (Varol et al., 2004). It is accepted that educational environments are an important tool for educational environments to have a democratic structure, to realize the aims of education and training in line with the desired goals and especially to gain democratic attitudes and behaviors to students. Teacher competencies are also important in creating a democratic educational environment (Yeşil, 2009). In this regard, teachers should be good role models in terms of democratic behavior and instill democracy awareness in their students.
Democracy is a form of government that values human beings and is based on the belief that people have equal rights in shaping institutions, organizations and state policies. Democracy is the name of the understanding of governance in which rulers or those who will come to power are elected and supervised by the people or their representatives who have the ability to vote; everyone is equal in the state and social structure.
The concepts of democracy and human rights are both very close and directly related to each other. Democracy as a form of political administration represents the administrative order in which human rights are realized. Human rights constitute the intellectual basis of democracy. Democracies have been born on the foundations of the idea of human rights, which has continued throughout the ages and has been further developed today, and have risen over time to become modern regimes. Just as the idea of human rights constitutes the intellectual basis of democracy and draws its general framework, democracies symbolize political orders and forms of government in which the fundamental rights of human beings and humanity are realized and secured. In this respect, the interconnectedness of both concepts is unshakably strong (Cılga, 2006).
The protection and development of human rights and the creation of human rights awareness in individuals will be possible through democracy. Human-centered principles such as equality, pluralism and freedom, which are the basic conditions of democracy, are the main concepts that exist in the concept of human rights and add value to it. The development of democracy will directly affect the development of human rights. If an awareness of human rights is to be created in individuals, the area of democracy must first be expanded. In order for the concept of human rights to gain meaning, it is important to ensure that democracy is established in all institutions and organizations and internalized by individuals.
The development and progress of the concept of democracy will have a significant impact on the development and institutionalization of human rights awareness. Self-awareness is the most important factor in the formation and development of human rights awareness. Anyone who knows himself/herself is a natural defender of human rights. Human rights are the rights that human beings have by nature. These rights should not be perceived by any institutional power as rights offered to human beings as a reward. These rights are the rights that human beings have because they are valuable and honorable beings (Gül, 2013).
Developments in human rights, democracy culture and children's rights are among the main indicators of being a modern society. In order to achieve developments in Turkey, a change in mentality, some structural changes and a change in practice are needed. Everyone in society has the right to information and education on human rights and children's rights. The work of educated people will contribute to the development of a culture of democracy and human rights. Providing children with appropriate education on these issues and creating appropriate environments are important in creating a modern society.
Citizenship and democracy education in schools is considered important for a sustainable democracy. Changes in the economic, political and social spheres in the world have led many countries to develop new educational policies in the last two or three decades in terms of the goal, content and delivery of citizenship education. For this reason, in countries governed by democracy, effective and democratic citizenship education is adopted as the only way (Ersoy, 2016).
According to Koçoğlu (2012), the concepts of human rights and democracy have a very important place in our country. For this reason, it is considered necessary to raise citizens who give due importance to human rights and democracy.
Human rights are universal rights that apply to all human beings, regardless of race, language, religion and gender, and are inherent to every human being simply by virtue of being human. Protecting, respecting and being sensitive to these rights will only be ensured by providing people with adequate education. Human rights are also the guarantee of equality, democracy awareness, human dignity and freedom among all citizens in society. Human rights have gone through difficult struggles and passed through important stages from the past to the present, and serious developments have been made in terms of international conventions and practices. However, even though there are legal initiatives and control mechanisms regarding human rights violations, there have been problems in some cases. Therefore, the most important point in creating a human rights culture is to create a democratic, modern state of law (Koçoğlu, 2012).
Teachers should take compulsory courses on democracy and human rights in their pre-service and in-service training. Teachers should be informed about human rights and democracy in in-service trainings and the importance of the school environment in teaching democratic behaviors should be emphasized (Kaldırım, 2005).
Societies governed by democracy should aim to raise people who will keep democracy alive through democracy education. Democracy education aims to turn people into citizens who know, adopt, defend, respect and are active in human rights and freedoms (Gülmez, 2014). It is pleasing to see that the necessary importance is given to the subject in the education program of the Turkish century. However, the fact that anti-democratic and human rights violating practices continue in practice, even if limited, cannot be tolerated.
Teachers working at all levels of education should always be tolerant towards their students, respectful of their rights and students, impartial, open to discussion, helpful, consistent in democratic behavior and guiding. It is considered important for the future of democracy in our country and for the development and progress of society that faculty members at all levels of education, especially in higher education institutions that train tomorrow's teachers, teach in a democratic environment and thus try to develop democratic attitudes, understanding and behaviors in students (Yağcı, 1998).
Especially in schools, teachers are very important figures for students to internalize the culture of democracy. In this sense, teachers“ transferring democratic values to their students and encouraging democratic behaviors in them contribute positively to their social development. Today, in addition to the knowledge and skills that students gain in schools, the ”environment“ in which these gains are provided and the ”communication style" in the education process are also considered very important. Societies that adopt democracy as a lifestyle need to implement this approach especially in the school environment (Özçelik, 2024).
In our beautiful country, we can carry our society beyond the level of contemporary civilization if we succeed in raising citizens who are democracy-conscious, who have adopted democratic understanding, attitudes and behaviors, who respect human rights, who know their own rights and respect the rights of others. In order to be citizens of a country where human rights and democracy are taught, maintained and sustained in all their dimensions, we do not have the chance to develop a civilization beyond the age by avoiding our duties and responsibilities.