Dear Editor,
Re: “Voter turnout dips down to 25%,” News, Oct. 20.
Low voter turnout, apathy among citizens and the decline of democracy is deeply worrying and should be of great concern to us all.
A democracy’s first task is to educate its people for citizenship.
Citizens make judgments based, not on self-interest, but on the common good.
Concern for the common good is best taught in families, the schools and places of worship.
In recent decades, curriculum in the schools and universities has increasingly shifted from social studies and the arts to the sciences and technical training. That is a mistake.
Sciences and technical training do not yield meaning for life.
They give us information, not communication, lots of knowledge, little wisdom.
We fail at building community, common values and goals. It is a serious failure.
To borrow Christian terms, isolation is hell, community is heaven.
Democracy depends for its life on education for citizenship.
Schools, particularly the universities, need to do a better job of inculcating the virtues of citizenship.
Nick Loenen
RICHMOND
