Education: Problems in Democracy

Who wants to go to school six days a week? When the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation dreamed up a referendum on the question for teenagers, Sweden's school officials supported it as "a practical lesson in democracy." A vote in favor of lopping a day off the nation's traditional six-day school week seemed a foregone conclusion. To no one's surprise, the five-day forces among the kids took the spotlight with a motto delectable as smorgasbord: "Saturdays off mean less work."

What everybody forgot was the helpfulness of adult admen, who did their bit for both sides,...

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