Democracy and Tolerance website

Program Overview

Democracy and Tolerance is an exchange program between American and Indonesian Educators for the purpose of studying how each nation addresses the key Democratic question “How do people balance democracy, which allows majority choice, and tolerance, for those who find themselves in the minority?”  The program is funded by the U.S. Department of State and is conducted through a partnership between the University of Massachusetts Civic Initiative, the Teacher Training division of the Indonesian Ministry of Education, The Center for Pancasila Studies at Gadjah Mada University, State University, Makassar, the English Training and Testing Center-ETTC Kota Balikpapan, and the United States-Indonesian Society. 

The program, which begins in the fall of 2008, includes four exchanges between American and Indonesian teachers, to enable participants to develop a deeper understanding of the operations of free expression and religious tolerance in each society.  With the assistance of curriculum experts Dr. Wendy Kohler and Roger Desrosiers, participants will also produce and implement – and distribute – a curriculum unit that offers students in both countries a comparison of all aspects of these issues.  Using religious tolerance and free expression as our comparative focus we will increase teacher and student knowledge, improve cultural appreciation, develop and distribute a curriculum unit, and build long term relationships among educators.