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20 - Punishment and Democratic Education

from Part Three - Key Topics and Concepts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2023

By
Bryan R. Warnick  and
A. C. Nikolaidis
Edited by
Julian Culp ,
Johannes Drerup  and
Douglas Yacek
Julian Culp
Affiliation:
The American University of Paris, France
Johannes Drerup
Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
Douglas Yacek
Affiliation:
Universität Dortmund
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Summary

The current retributive system of school punishment conflicts with the aims of democratic education because it impedes the cultivation of essential democratic values and capabilities. To be legitimate, however, school punishment in democratic societies ought to align with, or at least not impede, the aims of democratic education. This suggests that punishment should be consistent with the communicative and inclusive nature of democracy and support the cultivation of essential democratic capabilities. Restorative justice provides such a model of school punishment by prioritizing communication and inclusion, facilitating the cultivation of democratic capabilities, and legitimizing punishment as a means of communicating remorse instead of inflicting retribution to wrongdoers. The authors argue that for school punishment to align with and support the aims of democratic education, it must shift from the retributive justice model currently employed in most schools to a restorative justice model.

Keywords

democracydemocratic educationcivic educationdemocratic capabilitiesdemocratic valuesschool disciplinediscipline policypunishmentrestorative justice
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education , pp. 328 - 345
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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