This article challenges the idea that the guarantee for democracy lies in the existence of a properly educated citizenry and argues that we should shift our attention from questions about the conditions of democracy to questions about the nature of political existence. The argument is developed through a critical discussion with the work of Hannah Arendt.

This article provides a re-examination of the relationship between democracy and education. Based on a discussion of the work of Immanuel Kant, John Dewey, and Hannah Arendt, it distinguishes three different ways to understand the idea of the democratic person: an individualistic, a social, and a political conception. It argues that a political conception of the democratic person can help to overcome some of the major shortcomings in traditional approaches to democratic education. The article moves away from the idea that the purpose of democratic education is to produce democratic citizens. Instead, it argues that the most important political and educational questions are about the quality of democratic life and the opportunities for democratic action and learning-in-action both inside and outside of the school.