Dialogues About Love and Political Action: For a Radical Democratic Educa(c)tion—Letter 5

This letter discusses key questions about the links between democracy and education and democratic education. It argues that to improve democracy, communities and educators must undertake political struggle. It is written by a collective educational group called the Quasi-Utopians, which was born in the midst of a community fight to rebuild a school physically and pedagogically. The Quasi-Utopians discuss their dreams for an education that represents social freedom. They also show that it is possible to announce their dreams for the untested feasibility while keeping their feet firmly on the shared ground of the community. By coining the neologism educa(c)tion, the Quasi-Utopians demonstrate that education and action must be inseparable, and that there is no such thing as a preconceived package for democratic education. Instead, this must be achieved through everyday educational practice, in which educators adopt democracy not as a political system, but as a way of life.