Democratic Education in the Twenty-First Century (Part 4): Reflecting on 'Reconstructing Democratic Education'

"Reconstructing Democratic Education" was an international conference held virtually on June 22, 2024. This article uses the words of the speakers and the participants to present some of the stories and reflections that stimulated us that day. Speakers touched on a wide variety of challenges that democracy in general and schools in particular are facing. We heard about an effort to reconstruct the teaching profession in Cambodia, a collaboration between third-graders and a college class for preservice teachers, a yearlong sequence of courses for teachers that evolves from the students' life experiences, and a film arts program for educationally challenged students in British Columbia. Two periods of participant questions and comments produced lively conversations about the opportunities and dangers that mark our efforts to reconstruct democratic schools for the twenty-first century.