Resumo

LIMA, Ana Marusia Pinheiro. The limits of toleration in an education for democracy: Camara Mirim Program – Plenarinho. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2020, vol.46, e213265.  Epub 11-Fev-2020. ISSN 1678-4634.  https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634202046213265.

Democracy involves the political participation of citizens, which in turn requires the knowledge and practice obtained from education. When opening spaces for debate, however, the appearance of controversy should be expected, paradoxically including anti-democratic attitudes. For young audiences, the matter becomes even more problematic. What should and should not be tolerated in an education for democracy? To answer that question, this research does a literature review on the concept of tolerance in political theory and its need in recent democracies, along with the challenges for effective participation (with unpredictable effects) and the discussion of the educators’ role around what and how to work on for such apprenticeship. The empirical part focuses on the educational program Plenarinho (Little Plenary) from the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies, in the action Camara Mirim (Chamber for Kids), which encourages the political participation of children through a bill contest. The contents of over 6k proposals sent between 2006 and 2016 were analyzed in search for intolerant ideas, to find out if they had grown in numbers over recent years, in which a greater political polarization in Brazil and a resurgence of intolerance have been observed. The results point to an occurrence of non-democratic ideas that was not significant, keeping the same level throughout 10 years of Camara Mirim. The most interesting number is, however, the considerable presence of propositions aiming precisely at countering intolerance. Thus, along with the recommendations present in the literature, the children themselves present the key to deal with the problem.

Palavras-chave : Education for democracy; Toleration; Children’s political participation.

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