CS Lewis’ Important Critique of ‘Democratic Education’

According to Lewis, democracy 'has no place in the world of the mind.'

Daniel Lattier | June 7, 2016

CS Lewis’ Important Critique of ‘Democratic Education’

America’s education system is increasingly “democratic.” It expends tremendous amounts of money and energy on ushering all students toward college and on closing “gaps” between high- and low-performing students.

But according to C.S. Lewis, these concerns indicate a wrong understanding of democracy as it applies to education—one that indeed threatens a nation’s survival.

In 1944 he wrote the following little-known essay titled “Democratic Education.” I quote it at length not only because it is so germane to the educational issues America faces today, but because it offers an important warning about applying the concept of equality with too broad a brush:








Equality (outside mathematics) is a purely social conception. It applies to man as a political and economic animal. It has no place in the world of the mind. Beauty is not democratic -- she reveals herself more to the few than to the many, more to the persistent and disciplined seekers than to the careless. Virtue is not democratic -- she is achieved by those who pursue her more hotly than most men. Truth is not democratic -- she demands special talents and special industry in those to whom she gives her favors. Political democracy is doomed if it tries to extend its demand for equality into these higher spheres. Ethical, intellectual, or aesthetic democracy is death.


In the end, Lewis regarded a radically-egalitarian understanding of education as enslaving. A truly democratic society, he believed, is one that gives students the opportunity to either flourish in school or turn their backs on it. It allows great intellects to thrive, and offers other avenues for those less academically inclined.


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