The critical need for school reform cannot be separated from social reform. It is necessary, therefore, to go beyond the limited scope of curriculum modification to the process of learning how to take every element of an educational experience, raise it to a conscious level, and relate it to a universal struggle around a system of democratic values. The Depression-era community education experiments of Elsie Ripley Clapp provide an example of such an attempt. Clapp organized two projects aimed at demonstrating the place of education in the building of a democratic life--Roger Clark Ballard Memorial School and Arthurdale Community School. Both curricula operated from basic assumptions that represented the organized expression of Clapp's understanding of what John Dewey meant by the "social functioning of schools,""democracy as a way of life," and "creative democracy." The projects operated on the following three assumptions: (1) a democratic philosophy of life must dominate all the activities constituting the curriculum and other phases of the school program; (2) democracy and freedom result from one's own initiative and resourcefulness; and (3) individual differences must be respected. Twelve references are provided. (DCS)