The two previous beginning of the school year columns focused on the currently contentious issue of school standards and assessment. This set of two columns will focus on a related but equally important and contentious issue—that of the management of classrooms in a democratic society.

Introduction. We're a social species with a rich language-driven culture, and most of us now live in a democratic society. The dependent state of our immature birth brain requires a strong early focus on social interaction. Our extended juvenile maturation gradually shifts us from a very dependent infancy into an autonomous but collaborative adulthood during which we directly and indirectly rear the next generation.

We're thus interdependent throughout our lifespan—and since our social skills at birth are at only a potential rather than proficient level, we must learn how to communicate and get along with both kin and non-kin.

Socialization begins shortly after birth with the smile and mimicry of face recognition and it continues into laughter sparked by childhood play and games. It develops into a central joyful element of life, because we soon discover that socialization allows us to benefit greatly from the knowledge and assistance of others.

Much of our brain is thus devoted to neuronal systems that process the complexity, ambiguity, and joy/sorrow of social interaction, and these systems must be appropriately and continuously stimulated to develop and maintain social competence. We spend over 12,000 hours of our childhood and adolescence in school.

We had become a democracy by the beginning of the 19th century, but it took another 100 years for John Dewey's powerful voice to argue for a collaborative school that would explicitly teach and demonstrate the social knowledge and skills that citizens in a democracy need. It's taken almost another 100 years for scientists to understand the biological substrate and validity of Dewey's philosophical beliefs. Further, this awareness comes at a time in which schools confront pressures for measurable academic excellence at the cost of the time it takes to develop democratic competence.

This first of a two-part column will thus explain the social nature of our brain, and next month's column will discuss the biological support that a developing social brain gets from a democratically managed classroom.