In chapter seven of Democracy and Education, Dewey states that education differs from community to community. "To say that education is a social function, securing direction and development in the immature through their participation in the life of the group to which they belong, is to say in effect that education will vary with the quality of life which prevails in a group"(81). Dewey is saying that if education is a social condition, than it must vary from society to society. In order for education to be successful, Dewey thinks that it must take different variables from each society it is a part of, to form the ideal educational system.
             In order to say that education is a social condition, Dewey states that we need first to understand "the nature of present social life"(81). The implications of human association must first be considered. On page 82, Dewey states that many a "political unit, one of our large cities, for instance, is a congeries of loosely associated societies, rather than an inclusive and permeating community of action and thought." This means that the particular societies mentioned, large cities, are made up of different subgroups that are very different, possessing varied opinions and values. They do not share these values or opinions.
             The democratic ideal is next to be discussed. Dewey discusses a democratic educational system that is made up of " the realization of a form of social life in which interests are mutually interpenetrating, and where progress, or readjustment, is an important consideration, makes a democratic community more interested than other communities have cause to be in deliberate and systematic education"(87). He believes that democracy and education have something in common "A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, a conjoint communicated experience"(87).
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