Methods classes in teacher education are under attack. If teacher education programs are to survive with a methods component, teacher educators need to begin living and demonstrating the models of pedagogy they advocate. Methods courses must go beyond the lecture mode to democratic practice in which students and instructors build social learning communities. This paper discusses establishing democratic practice in the classroom and the dilemmas inherent in such practice. Analysis of qualitative data from several classes resulted in a number of emergent themes: demystification of the knowledge base in methods classes, power of social learning/reduction of individualism, and decision making as a disappearing dialectic. The propositions which emerged in this study and the implications for curriculum can be summarized in one statement: the qualities and conditions which democratic practice allows--development of voice, the creation of learning environments, the pursuit of inquiry, and engagement in reflexivity--are the major components of a framework for learning and, therefore, should be major components of curriculum in teacher education. (Author/JD)