Even though Tocqueville’s thoughts on education and education policy only occupy a relatively small place in his oeuvre, education plays a very important role in democracy for him, so it is no coincidence that in the second volume of the Démocratie several places can be found where the absolute necessity of an “enlightenment” of people is asserted: Where people only want to follow their own personal reason and no longer an external authority, this reason must be enlightened about their true, long-term interests.