Supported by some foucauldian ideas, this article aims to provide an analytical platform for educational critique today, especially with regard to the ambiguities of the democratic school project. Assuming that a strong metaphysical accent invests school practices, the text proposes an analytical confrontation with two prevalent forces ruling the educational present: one technocratic, another doctrinal; both seeking for the edification of a redemptive future. Then it focuses on the defense of misunderstanding as a principle for pedagogical action, taken as index not only of an ethos, but of an educational pathos.