ABSTRACT
I have claimed that citizens of a democracy need to be educated in order to survive in, take part in, contribute to and benefit from their society, and that a democracy needs educated citizens in order to continue to operate as a democracy. As the universal education needed in a democracy would, most probably though not necessarily, be achieved through a compulsory education system, I concluded that compulsory education was justified, despite the fact that this restricts freedom. As democracy requires compulsory education, and compulsory education restricts freedom it was accepted that in this respect democracy restricts the liberty of children. However, that is only one aspect of the complex inter-relationship between liberty, education and democracy. In this, the final chapter, I will attempt to draw together my previous arguments about freedom and its relationship with democracy and relate them to the education of children in a democratic society, for a democratic society, and within a compulsory education system. First, it will be necessary to recapitulate earlier ideas on the relationship between liberty and democracy.
