When citizens participate in policy production, the advantages go beyond policy outcomes--though the presumption is that participation leads to better public policy. Robust democracy characterized by agonistic exchanges among policy actors ought to encourage learning, dialogue, empow­erment, equity, and a shared spirit of inquiry. This article describes and analyses citizen participation in curriculum policy production during the late 1990s based on archival documents and interviews with 16 policy actors (including writers, bureaucrats, and consultation participants). Their reflections on the process reveal unintended learning about politics, government, and the cultivation of civic skills arising out of interaction with others in different roles and on different ends of the political spectrum. While the analysis reveals how some describe the process as "radicalizing" enlightenment, the findings point to a number of areas for improving opportunities for learning in formal policy production processes, as well as areas for further empirical investigation.