Democracy in Children: Nature or Nurture

It was time for group-work.  We divided the students in my 7^th and 8^th grade Sunday school class up into four groups and gave them each a section of John 6:22-59.  We tasked each group with discussing its section and having one student go up to the board and represent it pictorially.

The dynamics of these groups are fascinating for a variety of reasons.  Some students immediately step up as leaders, while others fail to say a single word.  But what really struck me on this particular Sunday morning was the process of decision-making.  As soon as disagreement arose, the group instinctively called for a vote.  Deliberative democracy at its very finest.

Was there an immediate and unanimous call for a vote because we live in a democracy? Was their instinct a product of a group of children growing up in a democracy and thus internalizing its values?  Or is democracy (at least a rudimentary form of it) a kind of innate tendency in everyone?  Do people around the world instinctively equate democracy with fair decision-making?  I don’t have answers to these questions, but I think it would make a fascinating study.  I can’t say I expected that my Sunday school class would generate such interesting questions, but I’m glad it did.