Thayer-Bacon uses this opportunity to further explore Ranciere's ideas concerning equality as described in "The Ignorant Schoolmaster" and their connection to democracy, as he explains in "Hatred of Democracy". For Ranciere, intelligence and equality are synonymous terms, just as reason and will are synonymous terms. Ranciere recommends the only way to really teach a student is by viewing the student as an equal. Thayer-Bacon learned to view students as equals through her experience as a Montessori teacher, and so she brings Montessori into conversation with Ranciere to further explore the idea of equality between teachers and students, as well as between citizens in a democracy. There are problems with both Ranciere's perspective and Montessori's that feminist theory, in the form of a relational ontology and epistemology, can help us solve by finding our way out of the paradoxes of democracy and on to trusting our students, our future democratic citizens. (Contains 3 notes.)