There are two latin words for education that have rather different meanings. Educare means to train or to mould and the intentions are directed towards preservation and inheritance of knowledge and practices. This approach to learning tends to be additive and quantitative in nature. Conversely, educere means to draw out from within and the intentions are decidedly creative, solving novel problems while dealing with changes that emerge. This approach is necessarily qualitative in nature and subtractive.

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As the world becomes increasingly complex and ambiguous, the sufficiency of educare is in doubt. At rusty frangipani, our methods are subtractive; inhibitors to learning are removed rather than imbuing knowledge and skills on the learner. Just as there is no alchemy that turns metals into gold, learning cannot be bottled and consumed. Instead, we need to mine, remove the impurities, and perhaps even refine by fire.