Why is education the most complete and important in a republic?

Question:

AP EURO homework,
1689 to 1755

Answer:

The question assumes a premise which is not necessarily true. I suppose, however, that whomever posed the poorly worded question wants you to answer along the following lines:

A republic assumes a democracy where leaders are elected by popular vote. The questioner assumes that, if the voters are uneducated, they will be easily swayed by charlatans, whereas if the electorate is well-educated they will vote for honest, qualified leaders. The reasoning goes on to assume that well-qualified leaders will promote education and so that, in the democratic republic, education will be most universal.

Choice of the dates 1689 to 1755 is interesting. Perhaps the educator doesn't want you to consider the question in the context of 1950 to 2010 -- the Rise and Fall of the Planet Earth's greatest Republic: the United States of America. In just 60 years, in this republic, Education went from an engine that drove innovation, creative thinking and invention -- and gave rise to History's greatest Nation Republic Ever -- to a tool of unscrupulous politicians, "politically correct" ideologues, and religious demagogues. Now, many educators are merely unionists polluting their charges with notions of entitlement and greed that have reduced our once great nation to a people of paupers indebted to the Chinese and Japanese.

While its not too late to turn this ship around, today's students need to seriously question the questions their educators are asking. This question is a case in point.