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by dint of working for the good of

eral control of schooling seen in the 20th cen-

one's fellow citizens, the habit and the

tury, if public schooling were really the foun-

taste for serving them is acquired.46

dation of democracy, we should not have seen

a negative voting trend.

So what does history tell us about public

It is especially important to note the vol-

schooling? It provides abundant concrete

untary nature of early Americans' democrat-

examples of how public schooling has con-

ic spirit. De Tocqueville does not say that

tributed to divisions among Americans and

schools, or some other government-spon-

provides at best mixed signals about public

sored undertakings, are responsible for

schools' success at propagating civic spirit.

Americans' democratic behaviors. He sug-

Perhaps more tellingly, it shows that both

gests, rather, that people first came to under-

social cohesion and civic spirit thrived before

stand the practical need for voluntary coop-

there was common schooling. The historical

eration, and that then helping "one's fellow

record, then, demonstrates that the claim

citizens" grew into an "instinct" over time.

that public schooling is necessary for a demo-

This, of course, makes both intuitive and

cratic republic to thrive is dubious at best,

logical sense. True unity--meaning shared

and it is very likely false. Which raises a criti-

bonds of affinity between people--can only

cal question: If public schooling has not uni-

ultimately come through individual volition.

fied us or made us anymore democratic, what

People have to want to be unified. In contrast,

has kept us together, and enabled our nation

when an authority simply requires diverse

to thrive?

people to get along, the best that can be

expected is for citizens to coexist and not do

Freedom Is the Key

each other overt harm. Unity, however, can

As noted earlier, despite the absence of

only truly exist when individuals themselves

any system remotely approximating "public

choose to work with, and even befriend,

education" as it is conceived of today--or

other people.

even as it was imagined by men like Thomas

This proposition, demonstrated during

Jefferson and Benjamin Rush--Americans

de Tocqueville's time, has been substantiated

were remarkably unified and civic-minded in

throughout U.S. history. But what has

the nation's first decades. Why? De Tocque-

brought diverse Americans together in order

ville offers a clue:

to form voluntary bonds? The answer is com-

merce. While suspicion, animosity, and prej-

The free institutions which the inhabi-

udice have been inescapable components of

tants of the United States possess, and

American society--as they are in any pluralist

the political rights of which they make

society, especially with the arrival of new,

so much use, remind every citizen, and

strange, people--Americans have been very

The historical

in a thousand ways, that he lives in

adept at overcoming their worse natures by

record demon-

society. They every instant impress

letting their desires for mutual gain over-

upon his mind the notion that it is the

come those natures. As Hunter College

strates that the

duty as well as the interest of men to

urban affairs and planning professor Peter

claim that public

make themselves useful to their fellow

Salins has observed, "once immigrants and

creatures; and as he sees no particular

natives work together and come to appreciate

schooling is

grounds for animosity to them, since

each other's value it becomes much easier to

necessary for a

he is never either their master or their

form other kinds of interest-based relation-

democratic

slave, his heart readily leans toward the

ships. Eventually, economic relationships

side of kindness. Men attend to the

lead to social ones, culminating in friendship

republic to thrive

and even intermarriage."47

interests of the public, first by necessi-

is dubious

ty, afterwards by choice; what was

A look at several ethnic groups, including

intentional becomes an instinct, and

Irish, Jews, and Asians, bear out the importance

at best.

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