Can Confucianism add value to democracy education?

Democracy essentially means ‘people ruling themselves’ or ‘self-rule’. In the light of this, democracy education should aim at nurturing citizens well-suited to live in a democracy, that is, capable of ‘ruling themselves’ or ‘self-rule’. Ideal citizens in a democracy should seek to be well-informed, have independent decision-making abilities with regard to community affairs, possess high degree of tolerance of diversity, have respect for the individual, equality and freedom, share a certain degree of consensus with and have concern for others in society as well as care for the general good of society. Certain elements in Confucian thought may be conducive to and congenial with the nurturing of citizens, indeed even better ones, well-suited to live in a democracy, perhaps one with a hue of Confucianism. This paper will examine to what extent Confucianism is compatible with or add value to the ideal of democracy education. In doing so, one has to distinguish between ‘Confucianism as an ideal’ and ‘Confucianism in practice’ as the latter may deviate from the former as inexact implementation of the ideal. Copyright © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.