ABSTRACT
A commitment to democratic education and public knowledge demands a commitment to children—indeed, to all people—founded on equality and human dignity. The seeds of this obligation are found in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Neo-Kantian theories of democracy and democratic education attempt to provide sets of a priori principles that can inform democratic social and political practice. The task of democratic education becomes not only that of making schools institutionally inclusive or representative but also of holding them democratically accountable for the development of autonomous, rational citizens. Accountability involves the provincialism inherent in localized standards for funding and curriculum as well as adherence to universal ideals of freedom, equality, and mutual respect—ideals that are not fixed or given, but elastic.
