98 PREPARATION OF SCHOOL LEADERS
“What type of education leadership preparation do we need to meet the challenges confront-
ing schooling in America today?" "What is the role of leader educators in fostering democ-
ratic practice in the preparation of education leaders?" and "How may social justice and de-
mocratic culture be nurtured within the various settings in educator preparation?"
Few would argue against the idea that the central purpose of schools is to foster advanced
citizenship; to perpetuate and secure the future of democracy in America; and to sustain the
ethic of social justice, equity, caring, and freedom toward ensuring the rights, hopes, and suc-
cess of all children. However, education and educator preparation has become an increasingly
problematic and unavoidably political activity, complicated by the growing complexity of cul-
tural and linguistic diversity that is redefining the very essence of our society and educational
systems. We are challenged with meeting the needs of our children in uncertain times. At pre-
sent, society is hallmarked by uncertainty for children fostered by educational inequities (fail-
ure to close the achievement gap in schools for non-White and poor White children) and un-
certainty for all by social inequities (failure to close the income and resource gap in society).
The implications for leadership educators and leadership education amidst such uncertainty
and change draw attention to the meaning of leading for democracy, freedom, and social jus-
tice.
A DEMOCRATIC IMPERATIVE DEFINED IN FOUR ELEMENTS
In “Nationalizing Education” published in the same year as his Democracy and Educa-
tion, Dewey (1916b) emphasized that democracy requires continuous and thoughtful atten-
tion. Challenging schools with a democratic imperative, Dewey entrusted educators with the
future of our country:
I appeal to [educators] in the face of every hysterical wave of emotion, and of every
subtle appeal of sinister class interest, to remember that they above all others are con-
secrated servants of the democratic ideas in which alone this country is truly a distinc-
tive nation—ideas of friendly and helpful intercourse between all and the equipment
of every individual to serve the community by his own best powers in his own best
way. (1916b, p. 210)For Dewey (1916a), democracy was first a social, and only subsequently a political phe-
nomenon. He saw democracy as an ethical conception, and “upon its ethical significance is
based its significance as governmental. Democracy is a form of government only because it is
a form of moral and spiritual association” (Dewey, 1888, p. 59). When we situate education in
relation to its function in a democratic society, we must also understand that democracy is not
an all-or-nothing affair, but a definition of degree: societies and institutions can vary in both
the extent and the intensity of their commitment to democratic practice. The democratic im-
perative, by extension, challenges leadership education, now as it did in Dewey’s time, to ex-
amine the function of leadership education in translating the democratic imperative into the
preparation of education leaders.
In Democracy and Education, Dewey (1916a) argued that a democratic society makes
provision for the participation of all members in its good, on equal terms; therein, the flexible
readjustment of its institutions through the discourse and different forms of associated life
make viable a democratic way of life, marked by shared interests by all members of a group
and the fullness and freedom of interactions within and among groups. A democratic educa-
tion must necessarily provide students with a sense of articulation in the workings of their so-