(Numim pe scurt JRRîT – Jurnalul unui rasist român în tranziție În întrebarea asta, important este cuvântul „mai”. Mi-ar fi foarte ușor să teoretizez acum
Author: Cǎtǎ Gǎrdescu
I am a connector, a lover of all things beautiful and a fighter when things get hard. I try each day to live truthfully, learn as much as I possibly can and push myself in the right directions. I am learning to trust my gut and my instincts and embrace uncertainty.
Jurnalul unui rasist român în tranziție
Episodul 1: Și dac-ar fi să te gândești la țigani? „Cât sunt de transformată!”„Câte știu!”„Cât de departe am ajuns!” Așa gândeam acum câteva luni, citind
Growing through breakage: a rhizomatic approach to what I am learning
This week’s readings in my MEL programme challenged some of my deepest assumptions about what learning is—and who gets to define it. Connectivism pushed me to question whether our “connections” are truly human or increasingly mediated by devices that change how we think, remember, and make meaning. Then came the unsettling idea that learning can exist outside people, in systems, organizations, even algorithms. And the line that stopped me in my tracks: “There is a right answer now that may be wrong tomorrow.” So what is worth learning?
Rhizomatic learning stretched me further. David Cormier’s argument that “community is the curriculum” made me reflect on how essential inclusive communities are, not as add-ons but as the actual mechanism through which learning happens. His emphasis on engagement, effort, and connection-making also contrasts sharply with my son’s current IB Diploma experience—where rigid rubrics and prescribed language often overshadow authentic learning.
Returning to formal study at nearly 50 has made me aware of how nonlinear my own learning has become. I learn in spirals, bursts, and late-night sparks. And I can do this because I have support, stability, and no pressure for outcomes—privileges many young people do not have.
It’s messy, uncomfortable, and deeply transformative.
Education as encounter and excavation
The view of education as an encounter between the student and the world deeply resonated with me. It reminded me of Hannah Arendt’s call to love the world enough to take responsibility for it. Further reflections on agency, paradox, and respect reframed my understanding of what education truly is, or could be: not simply learning, but becoming. It is about engaging with the world, embracing its contradictions, and finding meaning in the spaces between knowing and not knowing, teaching and being taught.
Is community really the answer?
If I were to listen to my body, I would say Prof. Biesta nailed it for me. I felt his words deep in my core and my brain went instantly to the mantra of one of the very few great school leaders I know today: “whatever the problem, community is the answer.” So, at the intersection of this and Prof. Biesta’s estimations of future conondrums, I am asking myself this morning: is community really the answer?
Where do you finish and where do I begin?
I continue to think about the notion of empathy. It is probably the feeling that has helped me connect with most of the people I know and at the same time sabotaged my mental wellbeing the most.
Connect 