Democracy may be a word familiar to most, but it is a concept still misunderstood and misused. Democracy is more than a set of constitutional rules and procedures that determine how a government functions.

A true democracy depends in large part on the development of a democratic civic culture. Culture says Diane Ravitch, refers to "the behaviours, practices, and norms that define the ability of a people to govern themselves.”A totalitarian political system," she writes, "encourages a culture of passivity and apathy.

The question is does this environment exist today? Answer is No. None of the democratic nations can stand up and claim that they have achieved this in true sense.

Education is a vital component of any society, but especially of a democracy. As Thomas Jefferson wrote: "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never shall be."

The object of democratic education is to produce citizens who are independent, questioning, and analytical in their outlook, yet deeply familiar with the precepts and practices of democracy.

Vanderbilt said, "People may be born with an appetite for personal freedom, but they are not born with knowledge about the social and political arrangements that make freedom possible over time for themselves and their children....Such things must be acquired. They must be learned."

Note the words Learn. Does today’s environment provide that healthy unbiased learning if so we have democracy in true sense. Unfortunately though schools impart knowledge on the political structure and the laws it fails to impart the ethic and the true real life facts overshadowing the structure thus resulting into biased learning how great politicians are.

In Democracy a central paradox exists between conflict and consensus. Democracy is in many ways a set of rules for managing conflict. This conflict must be managed within certain limits and result in compromises, consensus, or other agreements that all sides accept as legitimate. An overemphasis on one side of the equation can threaten the entire undertaking. If groups perceive democracy as nothing more than a forum in which they can press their demands, the society can shatter from within. If the government exerts excessive pressure to achieve consensus, stifling the voices of the people, the society can be crushed from above.

In true democracy individuals and groups must be willing, to tolerate each other's differences, recognizing that the other side has valid rights and a legitimate point of view. The various sides to a dispute can then meet in a spirit of compromise and seek a specific solution that builds on the general principle of majority rule and minority rights.

This spirit is missing in the Democratic world today. Democracy is not a true one what we have. Democracy is not a machine that runs by itself once the proper principles and procedures are inserted. A true democratic society needs the commitment of citizens who accept the inevitability of conflict as well as the necessity for tolerance.