School and democracy

As indicated in the title, the axis around which the content of this work revolves are the relations between education and democracy. If it is reasonable to suppose that democracy is not taught through undemocratic practices, it must not be inferred that the democratization of internal relations within the school is a sufficient condition for preparing young people for active participation in the democratization of society. It is not simply a matter of choosing between authoritarian or democratic relations within the classroom, but rather of articulating the work developed in schools with the process of democratization of society. The pedagogical practice contributes in a specific way, that is to say, pedagogically, to the democratization of society insofar as one understands how the question of democracy is posed with regard to the proper nature of pedagogical work, which, in turn, implies a real inequality (at the point of departure) and a possible equality (at the point of arrival).

Dermeval was born in Santo Antônio de Posse, in the state of São Paulo, on February 3, 1944. Dermeval Saviani graduated in philosophy from PUC-SP (1966), he holds a doctorate in philosophy of education (PUC-SP, 1971) and a full professor in the history of education (Unicamp, 1986) in 1994-1995. From 1967 to 1970, he taught in collegiate and normal courses. Since 1967, he is a professor
in higher education. He was a member of the State Council of Education of São Paulo, coordinator of the CNPq Education Committee, post-graduation coordinator at Ufscar, PUC-SP and Unicamp, director of associate of the Faculty of Education of Unicamp, a joint professor of USP (campus of Ribeirão Preto) and founding partner of Anped, Cedes, Ande, Cedec and SBHE, of which he was the first president. He was awarded the medal of educational merit from the Ministry of Education and received from Unicamp the Zeferino Vaz prize for scientific production, in addition to having been awarded three times with the Jabuti Prize. In 2017 he received the honorary doctorate degree awarded by the Tiradentes University in Aracaju and the Federal University of Paraíba in João Pessoa.
Author of a large number of published works, currently he is professor emeritus of Unicamp, researcher emeritus of the CNPq, general coordinator of Histedbr and full professor collaborator of the Program of Post-Graduation in Education of Unicamp.