Formative education is based on the idea that humans are not fundamentally things that think but rather things that desire or, even, things that love. This idea is not modern in any sense: it has been a part of many pedagogical and spiritual traditions dating back millennia. This paradigm radically shifts how we approach the process of intellectual maturation. Instead of focusing on the transfer of information and understanding, we are led to emphasise practices, rhythms, and boundaries that shape our loves through the cultures of our inner life and of our communal learning environments.

How should we cultivate learning spaces that serve students' formative process? There is much to say and learn here. At the very least these spaces must invite students into concrete next steps of growth, lead them into experimentation with new practices / rhythms / boundaries to support this growth, and develop the skills of iteration / discernment to identify what is working and what needs modifying. In every historical formative tradition being a part of a communal context was not optional, and so it is here; we thus need communal versions of each of the above.