This paper focuses on Springfield (Missouri) public schools and the superintendency of Harry P. Study, a progressive educator who advocated "education for a democratic community" during the 1920s in a city and state that held conservative values and beliefs. Noting that Study was a cosmopolitan and experienced educator, the paper examines his struggle with the philosophy of the Springfield schools which had two dominant and conflicting purposes for schooling: education for democratic citizenship and vocationalism, especially "life-adjustment" education. The paper has three purposes that provide direction for the scope of this work: (1) to describe the translation of progressive educational theory into school practices; (2) to analyze the interplay between a very conservative school community and a liberal, progressive school superintendent; and (3) to examine the democratic education programs initiated in Springfield from 1924 to 1952, with particular attention to the ambiguities in the existence of racially segregated schools within a system devoted to democratic education. (Contains 81 footnotes.) (BT)