Foreword

Democracy means government of the people, and democracy is based on fundamental values such as personal freedom, freedom of expression, and religious freedom. Democracy provides personal rights, but certainly also duties. The key to democracy is namely to give others the same rights as we demand for ourselves.

Many people take democracy for granted and assume that nowadays in Denmark democratic values are practically engrafted into us from birth, or that democratic values come to us all by themselves in the course of time. However, this is not the case. On the contrary, we all have a major responsibility to ensure that future generations learn about democratic values.

Especially Primary and Lower Secondary School as well as General and Vocational Upper Secondary Education are key players in accomplishing this task. In support of this work we now publish this publication with inspiration for teaching democracy in Primary and Lower Secondary schools as well as at General and Vocational Upper Secondary Education level.

The publication comes out in times of much debate and focus on democracy as well as freedom of expression, and it is not only intended as a tool to make the pupils aware of democratic values. It also provides good advice and practical instruction on how to deal with extremism in the school system.

The Ministry of Education wishes to acknowledge all those who have contributed to this publication.

Please note that all views in articles and examples etc. only reflect the personal opinion of the individual contributors.

BERTEL HAARDER
Minister for Education
August 2006

This page is part of the electronic publication "Learning democracy"
© The Ministry of Education 2008