ENTRE CIVISMO Y CIVILIDAD. LA EDUCACIÓN DE LA CIUDADANÍA

Abstract

The asociation between education and democracy cannot be separated from democratic thought. The school is a fundamental institution which, in most modern states, is the responsibility of the public authorities. Established on the principle of equality, public instruction envisages the learning in depth of political and social citizenship. It permits both the enjoyment of the rights of man and the exercise of fundamental liberties as well as the understanding of the duties and restrictions inherent in the preservation of the common wealth. However, in France it has undergone alterations: "civic instruction" has become "education for citizenship". This has caused a slide from learning in a critical spirit to obedience to authority. "Public-spiritedness", with its essential political role in democracy, has been hidden under "civility", which has an undeniably moral connotation. However, "civility" excludes the understanding of the solidarity inherent in the social nexus and does not seek the ways of political socialization of (future) citizens.