Roots and Rhizomes—Some Reflections on Contemporary Pedagogy

During this article, I look at three images of thought which feature in D eleuze and G uattari's A T housand P lateaus and consider their relevance to contemporary pedagogy. D eleuze and G uattari begin by discussing tree‐like thought, which involves an insular depiction of the world. I suggest that the performative apparatus, which structures contemporary pedagogy in the comprehensive school, is also tree‐like. D eleuze and G uattari's second image of thought is the fascicular root. Here the principle root is aborted leading to a multiplicity, which flows from it. With fascicular thought, the unity, which is aborted in the object, is returned to in the subject who gains control of multiplicities. In this section I provide a reading of a C lassics lesson portrayed in T he S ecret H istory by D onna T artt and go on to focus on R onald B arnett's contribution to a debate with P aul S tandish, which features in T he B lackwell G uide to the P hilosophy of E ducation . In the third section of the article, I consider D eleuze and G uattari's third image of thought—the rhizome. Rhizomes grow by a process of cloning or lateral spreading; they do not have the central trunk of the tree, with roots and branches extending outwards from this. At the end of this section, I look at two C lassics lessons that represent tree‐like and rhizomatic pedagogies in turn. I attempt to enrich this discussion by providing a reading of a scene from T he H istory B oys .