One may ask whether the school is or ought to be a community. If this were the case, then it implies that participation is part of the essence of education. This consideration precedes the issue of whether the school is a model of democracy in its structure and management. Participation in schools is a novel focus. It is concerned not so much with whether the daily exercise of participation can improve and strengthen the democratization of the school, but with whether (...) democracy fosters participation and enhances the school as a community. (shrink)

Education is better thougt of as an activity or social practice, from the individual praxis, whose main purpose is to help others become persons. The purpose of this paper is to offer a sold foundation for the natural human sociability, the social virtues, and the ideal of cooperation, three areas currently invoked by thinkers of greatly divergent points of view. This paper is written along the lines of the classics and follows the thought of Prof. Polo.