Liberty, Equality, Fraternity Summary

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In the article “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: democratic ideals and educational effects”, Gerald Johnston put forward an educational idea that is based on one of the three basic ideals of democracy; fraternity. He argued that two other democratic ideals, liberty and equality, did not play any significant roles as the past effects showed. He takes three substantial democratic countries, UK, USA, and Australia, into consideration in order to prove that this is the case. He indicates that school students in a democracy are entitled to freedom of negative kinds, a freedom from arbitrary interference in behavior that does not impinge upon the interests of others by distinguishing between positive and negative liberty following the suggestion of Isaiah Berlin. …show more content…

After then, I will articulate a criticism of Johnston's argument, and will offer a plausible response to the criticism.
Liberty and equality according to Johnston are imbedded in natural rights amenable to reason, but fraternity constitutes a moral obligation upon citizens instead of. . We can differentiate between two types of fraternity; local community based and global based. French philosopher Rousseau's educational prescriptions for the government of Poland aims to establish a local community based fraternity in which he proposes: “It is education that must give souls a national formation, and direct their opinions and tastes in such a way that they will be patriotic by inclination, by passion, by necessity.” Durkheim, a French social theorist, also prescribes the direct contact method. This direct contact method has been recognized as a useful methodology even today. Community colleges in the UK and the USA in the

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