The Concentric Circle
and dynamics at play between Center & Fringe
The ABSTRACT FRINGE is space for things to be left vague. The edge is like the periphery of your vision where things become blurry, distorted, and surreal. Those who position themselves on the outer edge have a unique advantage to observe the central core while still retaining their wholeness – to freely compare things against one another, to recognize patterns, rhythms, commonalities and differences, to turn things over and around again with an open mind to the possibilities. From this perspective, from the outside looking in, there is space to move, explore, and ponder.
Contrast this with the UNITED CENTER where all idiosyncrasies must be left at the outside edge. After all, when we come to the table, we don’t bring our ambiguities with us. We seek to reach common ground and in so doing we alter our personality ever so slightly. (Thought inspired by Peterson and Pageau on EXODUS. Episode 16)
“Every aspect of an elementary perception has exactly the same structure, a sacred center that defines the unifying point of the perception that fades out into the fringes along the edges.” (Peterson)
Communities vs Networks
And what happens as one works toward a unified center
I was introduced to Classical Conversations by a family who took my Chosen Pathways survey back in November, and it’s been on my radar ever since. Recently Founder, Leigh Bortin, told Shawn Ryan in an interview, “Our model is to not chase the children, which is what schools do. Our model is to support the parents. We have a different consumer mindset than the school would have.” I thought it was interesting that CC is broken down into “communities,” which I have thought a lot about after reading the words of John Taylor Gatto.
Gatto describes a REAL community as a collection of REAL families who function in a participatory way “where people argue with their doctors, lawyers, and ministers, tell craftspeople what they want instead of accepting what they get, frequently make their own food from scratch instead of buying it in a restaurant or defrosting it, and perform many similar acts of participation.” He then contrasted this with networks that pretend to be REAL communities but are actually FAKE. The way you can identify them is that a network doesn’t require the whole person, but only a narrow piece. “If you function in a network, it asks you to suppress all the parts of yourself except the network-interest part.” (Gatto, pg 47)
What I noticed, after having the opportunity to attend the Woodbury Classical Conversations End of The Year Celebration last week, is how REAL these CC communities functioned. These homeschoolers live out true community by being in it from 9-5, while everyone else is segregated to the office or school or nursing home. Homeschool families are participating in society, and they are seeking the aid of real professionals to learn math, science, reading and writing. Community centers, fitness clubs, box schools and sports clubs may attempt to mimic real community, but without all ages participating together, these become yet more places of make pretend living.
“What home education is, is a husband and a wife have children and while they work on their marriage and they build their business and they build their home and they serve their community and they build their government and they build their church, they do all that construction work with their children around their feet. That’s home education.” – Bortin (min 3:07)
Individualism vs Collectivism
As soon as I read Gatto’s book, Dumbing Us Down, I related the community vs. network analogy to Peterson’s united center and fringe dynamic. I drew a pie cut into seven pieces, representing a whole person. Beside it I drew the pie again with one chunk pulled out to represent the parts of yourself you must suppress in order to be a member of the united center (city council, board member, president, CEO or other public figure), or any other member of a network for that matter.
Now consider the current collectivist expectation that all students conform in homogenized unity for the good of the whole. Consider the 2022 theme of “One SoWashCo.” The training that goes into being one cog in the collective family of SoWashCo seems a bit presumptuous and quite literally stifling to individual growth.
The Fringe
Most ARTISTS tend to prefer standing in the fringe (Think Pablo Picasso). Creative types are unique in that they function on the rule-breaking fringe of SOCIETY while they locate themselves at the united center of the CITY. This is such an oxymoron to me, because the center requires a whole person to fragment themself for the good of the whole.
Personally, I relate more with the fringe than I do with the center when it comes to both society and city. Most of the time I stand on the edge looking in, because it’s really difficult for me actually to shut down parts of myself and conform to another system or expectation. There is so much I want to learn from people and from life, that I just want everyone to be as real with me as I am with them. But I realize that is not always possible.
Long story short, after reading Lysa Terkeurst’s book, Good Boundaries and Goodbyes, I realized that I am really good at forming healthy boundaries of protection around myself and those I love.
“Yet you, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”
There are times when I deliberately walk straight into the nucleus of a system though - like when running for school board. God showed me something of great value being harmed (children and families), and I decided that uniting for the good of the whole school district was worth temporarily fracturing my whole, as an individual.
Maybe you can understand this when I say that from the moment you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He transforms your heart in ways you never knew possible. He grew my ability to love exponentially so that, after protecting my own children from the harm of public schooling, I suddenly wanted to protect all the other families who didn’t seem to recognize that the door to their home is wide open, and District #833 is more than happy to introduce your young child to all forms of lawlessness, sin, immorality, and evil. SoWashCo is one of many public schools in Minnesota to proudly break down the walls of your family by declaring “All are welcome here,” below a gender rainbow flag.
Is this REAL?
Is this Love?
Knowledge puffs up. Love builds up.
I repeat, when MDE says they want to break down barriers, THAT MEANS YOU – your individual walls of protection, the boundaries of your property, your family, your faith, and any hope you ever had of having a healthy multi-generational family, and a full happy future based on personal merit, determination, and drive.
Now, I understand this is bold of me to say, and I understand that I may offend some readers. In fact, you might retaliate by saying, “That’s not the Christian way of doing things. You are supposed to love people no matter what.” To this sentiment, I will parrot the words of Leigh Bortin, Founder of Classical Conversations, who addressed this very question in an interview she and Robert gave on the Shawn Ryan Show four weeks ago.
“But they forget that even though God is Love, love isn’t God, and that there are four different kinds of Love talked about in the Scriptures.” -Bortins (min 11)
Gravity
The act of BREAKING SOMETHING DOWN is inherently dependent on the foundational law of GRAVITY, but there are two realms in which objects can fall: in the physiological sense and in the spiritual sense. I am interested in how the mass of physical objects falling relates to the falling into spiritual sin and death.
Abandoned buildings fall apart DOWN to the ground (not up). Damaged ships sink DOWN to the bottom of the ocean (not up). Plants and fruit that are left uneaten rot DOWN into the soil at the end of their life (not up). Even the bodies that eat fruit eventually rot DOWN into the soil with their life blood (not up). Satan was an angel God cast DOWN to the earth along with a fraction of heavenly hosts. The sinful desire of our flesh pulls mankind DOWN into death, not up into heaven.
At Classical Conversations
“We use original source documents. We don’t read some woke professor’s interpretation of the Federalist Papers. We have our students read the Federalist Papers. We don’t want our children to learn science. We want them to be scientists. And that’s part of the benefit of a classical education. We’re looking at ‘What has stood the test of time?’ ‘What has worked for 2000 years?’ A lot of what is going on in the public school is experimental [and has] never been tried before in human history … [At Classical Conversations] we say, ‘What is the best book about philosophy that is written in the past 3000 years?’ ‘What are the authors that influenced our founding fathers?’ Not just people we agree with, even people we disagree with that we want people to be aware of. And so [we are] teaching [kids], don’t believe the media’s perception of something. Go to the original source document. Go to the experts. We’re teaching them to be resilient against the media’s propaganda, which is one of the reasons they hate homeschooling so much.” -Bortins (min 56)
Humans CANNOT sin our way into heaven, no matter what lies the Evil One spins.
In a world where objects physically fall and where souls spiritually fall, the EVIL ONE can confidently welcome all, knowing that Good will fall with Evil.
Fortify the boundaries of your home now. Think of a coconut husk. Hoist your fruit up high in that tree and don’t make it attractive prey to the birds (no, that’s not a parody on Kamala Harris, although one might easily be drawn in the negative).
2nd Vote
Close the windows and lock the doors on any institution that postures FOR sexual freedom but AGAINST individual liberty.
- If you see signs of “All are welcome here” in your school or church (some ELCA), take your money and your attendance elsewhere.
- If you see it in a medical clinic (Allina Health) or doctors office, take your treasure and your time elsewhere.
- If you see it in a coffee shop or book store (B&N), take your money and your business elsewhere.
- If you see it being sold on the shelf of a gift store (Patina) or department store (Target), shop elsewhere.
For the sake of your family, DON’T SHOP WHERE THE RAINBOW FLAG FLIES. Use your 2nd Vote, and fund your family’s future instead.
Distortion & Dysfunction
Good for the Fringe - Bad for the Center
The current state of American education perpetuates distortion to such extreme levels that even the core has become dysfunctional. Those who push collectivism may pretend there is a unified center to MDE, but there is not. American’s cannot agree on the fundamental principals that should govern public education. We have no center. Peace is not possible without a unified center.
Abraham Lincoln quoted the Bible in his “House Divided” speech, delivered in 1858, when he said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” His argument was that America would not endure for long as both slave and free nation. Matthew, Mark and Luke all record Jesus referencing the “house” in this manner of referencing man as slave vs man as free (Matthew 12:25, Mark 3:25, Luke 11:17).
Since I believe Jesus defeated death on the cross, I have every faith that God will use the fundamental core of the American public school system for His Glorify some day, and at that time it will serve His higher purpose. I certainly do not want to be inside the public school system when that happens though.
It is my opinion that the public school system is NOT broken.
After I finished giving the testimony and results of Chosen Pathways at a United Parenting Coalition event titled, “A Day In The Life Of A Student” (Link HERE), the results spoke for themselves. When comparing the student experience across all learning models – HOME, PRIVATE, CHARTER, and PUBLIC – SoWashCo was clearly the most unmotivated, unsafe, unfriendly, and unconnected “community” of them all. A member of the audience asked me, “How can District #833 be okay with this level of failure?”
Whose to say SoWashCo is not succeeding in their Founder’s mission to grow Collectivism, Humanism, Atheism, and Socialism in the American workforce by manipulating the most impressionable of minds at the most opportune time in childhood development?
The question I am often asked is, “Can it be fixed?” And my answer is, “No, it cannot be fixed … not by man (or woman, sorry).” For something to be fixed, it’s maker must deem it broken, and the man-made public school system is successfully fulfilling its intended purpose – to eradicate Christianity in America, human individualism, and the free markets of a healthy economy.
SHALOM is PEACE
To be at PEACE is to be COMPLETE
In Jordan B. Peterson’s episode, Foundations of the West -Extra, Dinner in Jerusalem & the Middle East Conflict, “Peterson and Shapiro consider how geography and religion play a critical role in the conflict in the Middle East, the collective agreement in a transcendent authority, and how the ancient wisdom embodied in Jerusalem may be the missing link in forging a path for peace.”
“In Hebrew, the word for peace is shalom, which also is the word for complete. Shalem means to be full or complete, so [it’s] the idea of peace requiring fullness, that it can’t be divided. We tend to think of peace as the thing you make between opposites [or] the thing you make between war and factions … Peace can’t be made as a compromise. There has to be at least a fundamental agreement on the principal underlying it, or peace is just not going to last.” -Shapiro (min 46)
How does one penetrate the tough outer layer of another… and access the soft fleshy truth of their core? How does one, with love in her heart, shine light into a brick wall? How does one who loves, transform the one who hates? The wall is tall and built thick to protect the heart suffering from abuse, neglect, starvation and betrayal. I recognize the depth of that despair because I too once built up walls of protection. Maybe destroying the walls of home is not the answer.
Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
Which one do you identify more?
The Center or the Fringe
Up Next
United Center and the
Language of War
Success is determined by the purpose the Maker designed it to fulfill. The world is designed in layers, just like stories.
We learn about the whole Earth by building on to foundational concepts – Physics to Chemistry to Biology to Psychology to Sociology. Likewise, we learn about the whole language by building onto foundational concepts – Sounds, Syllables, Phrases, Sentences, Paragraphs, Scenes, Acts.
Works Cited (in addition to links in-line):
The united center and a fringe was inspired by
- Bortins, Leigh and Robert. Why Parents Are Ditching The Public Schools For Homeschooling. Shawn Ryan Show, Episode #188. Aired and Accessed April 3, 2025.
- Gatto, John Taylor. Dumbing Us Down – The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling. New Society Publishers, 2017.
- Newman, Alex. Indoctrinating Our Children To Death. Government Schools’ War on Faith, Family & Freedom – And How To Stop It. Liberty Sentinal Press, 2024.
- Peterson, Jordan B. EXODUS – Authority from Above and Within. Episode 16. Dailywire+ podcast, Aired April 26 2023, accessed November 6, 2024. https://images.app.goo.gl/BmRJHzLCgPLeSP667
- Peterson, Jordan B. Foundations of the West -Extra: Dinner in Jerusalem & the Middle East Conflict. Episode 2. Dailywire+, aired August 14, 2024, accessed April 22, 2025. https://www.dailywire.com/episode/dinner-in-jerusalem-the-middle-east-conflict?elementPosition=2&row=0&rowType=Vertical+Show+Episodes+Carousel
- Terkeurst, Lysa. Good Boundaries and Goodbyes – Loving others without losing the best part of who you are. Nelson Books, 2022.
This Little SCHOOL+HOUSE
In 2020, the Governor’s Education Roundtable put together A Roadmap for Transformational Change in Minnesota Education that says, “We need to mobilize all of us – not just teachers and students – to nurture assets and DISMANTLE BARRIERS so every student and their family has all Minnesotans supporting their academic and personal growth.”
On the other hand, Kelly Smith, Founder of Prenda, says his micro-schools are “BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS that will make it easier for people to start their own schools.” Meanwhile, One Stone, a school with no teachers, no tests and no grades, says they are “BREAKING DOWN the one-size-fits-all nature of a conventional classroom.”
As you can see, there are a lot of proverbial BARRIERS BEING BROKEN DOWN these days, and they appear to be at war with one another. G.K. Chesterton said, “Whenever you remove any fence, always pause long enough to ask why it was put there in the first place.” Wise advice from a wise man.
My question is, which SCHOOL+HOUSE is able to BUILD UP? Anyone can break down in a world ruled by the laws of gravity. Whether good or evil , real or fake – anyone can destroy – but only REAL things grow while under this sun … only REAL is granted authority to build upward … only REAL has the soft heart needed for love … only REAL is able to truly hear His story (history) spoken … and only REAL is able to truly see the Word written into the fabric of creation.
This Little School+House will pair with the “Borders and Boundaries” series of 2025 in exploring the question, “What is education, actually?”
This Little SCHOOL+HOUSE
