This article considers the possibilities of critical democratic education through the lived experiences of students at an urban U.S. public school. I show how students shape their own educational trajectories amid larger meta-narratives about schooling to illuminate the complexities and paradoxes of democratic schools. I argue that democratic schools are neither sites of transformation nor sites of despair, but rather sites where agency is negotiated, contested, and remade, often in unexpected, unassuming, and contradictory ways. [democratic schools, youth agency, critical pedagogy, empowerment, social justice] bs_bs_banner 345 explore the following question: How do former and current students make meaning of their educational experience at a school that emphasizes a commitment to peace, justice, and democracy? In particular, I discern how students enact and negotiate these ideals in their daily lives, paying particular attention to how students' actions, conceptualizations, and discourses surrounding their experiences both intersect with and diverge from the stated visions of the faculty.My analysis reveals many possibilities, contradictions, and struggles that exist when enacting this type of education. While students are exceedingly positive about the democratic nature of the school, I also show that these perceptions are both subtly and overtly challenged in quotidian and mundane interactions at school and beyond. Yet, I complicate some of the ways these dominant and divergent narratives circulate, suggesting that the ways in which local actors and participants negotiate their agency in these settings illuminate the complexities, paradoxes, and nuances of democratic schools. In this vein, I argue that while there are inherent limitations to enacting critical pedagogies, there is still more possibility in its promise of social change when democratic schools are viewed as dynamic sites of collective struggle that are continually self-reflective and evolving.
