We named our research project 'Shades of Grey'. It was named this way to highlight the issues that are not often discussed in school, but are influential in shaping school practice. Recently all types of public offices are subjects of criticism with a special focus on schools. For several years school have been claimed to demoralize children and teenagers, to kill passion and creativity in young people, to be responsible for recreating the surrounding social injustice (Kaczara 1997) . We decided to investigate issues of efficacy and general classroom practice in Poland, Romania and the Midwestern United States. We try to uncover teachers' attitudes and beliefs that influence the process of teaching and learning.General education is one of the main aims of each society. Individual tasks of the educational systems have been changed in relation to historical, cultural, geographic and social contexts. Schools have been trying to bring up citizens who are rule-obedient and try to share responsibility for the public's sake. Schools in democratic systems promise to bring up responsible and active citizens possessing skills, which enable their functioning in the contemporary world. To prepare their 'apprentices' to lives in a democratic world, functioning according to some widely accepted values and principles, schools must also reflect a democratic model both in relation to organization and to values (Freire 2001). This is the only possible understanding of the term democracy and the only way to teach young people to participate in social life.We strongly believe that education is a critical process for a healthy democracy. One of the basic conditions for successful educational outcomes is an established "common ground", an agreement on basic aims, means and actions (Yero 2002). Unfortunately very often people involved in the educational system tend to ignore the process of communication and subconsciously follow their own directions, blurred rules, all of which are rooted in shades of grey. In this study we survey teachers involved in reform efforts in Poland, Romania and the Midwestern United States. Both Likert scales and open-ended items provided details as to how these teachers thought about their actions and the actions of peers and colleagues. Specifically in the paper we take a closer look at the third kind of the reasons mentioned above. We are interested in what kind of beliefs might influence school reality and how are they reflected by teachers in three democratic (with different histories and experiences) countries.The results of this study of teachers' opinions and their influence on educational process do not indicate a simple relation. The aim of the study was to inquire into teachers beliefs about controversial behaviors noticeable in schools within various areas (like relations with students, after school activities (tutoring), teacher's attitude towards his/her own work (intrinsic / extrinsic)). The findings from this study indicate that differences of opinion existed between Polish, Romanian and U.S. teachers. Differences also existed in how teachers conveyed their beliefs about their own classroom practices. For example, while they believed that one should not reduce time with low performing students, they beleived that one should increase the effort with high performing students, two incompatable results. As a result, we are afraid that in a democratic context leaving issues just the way they exist creates a threat to equal access to education and ultimately, democracy. Teachers give up responsibility due to the conviction that they do not have to do anything because it was always like this. 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