Understanding creative escape from rigid structures in education
In Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's philosophical work, "lines of flight" (lignes de fuite) represent moments of creative escape, transformation, and becoming. They are not about running away, but about breaking free from limiting structures to create something new.
In education, lines of flight occur when students move beyond predetermined curricula, make unexpected connections, or discover learning pathways that traditional structures cannot contain. These moments are not failures of the system - they are opportunities for genuine creativity and discovery.
Deleuze and Guattari describe three types of lines that organize our experience:
These are the hard, structured lines: grade levels, standardized curricula, fixed schedules, assessment rubrics. They organize and segment learning into manageable chunks.
Example: "You must complete Algebra I before Algebra II" or "This is 9th grade material"
These are softer lines: interests, friendships, spontaneous questions, tangential curiosities. They flow between rigid structures but still operate within the system.
Example: A student interested in both robotics and art starts exploring interactive sculptures
These are moments of genuine escape and transformation. They are ruptures that create entirely new possibilities, where learning becomes something the system never anticipated.
Example: A student abandons the physics assignment to build a working wind turbine for their grandmother's farm, integrating engineering, economics, environmental science, and family history in ways no curriculum could predict
CreatiFlow is designed to enable and celebrate lines of flight rather than suppress them:
When students meet real experts in authentic settings, the learning pathway is unpredictable. A meeting with a blacksmith might lead to metallurgy, medieval history, climate science, or artistic expression - we don't predetermine the destination.
Students declare learning interests rather than enrolling in fixed courses. This allows for unexpected combinations: "sustainable fashion + coding" or "marine biology + documentary filmmaking" become valid learning pathways.
This cycle doesn't specify what must be learned or created. The process itself becomes a line of flight - students might begin with one question and end up somewhere entirely unexpected, following their curiosity and community connections.
Sketching, photography, video, writing - these aren't assessment tools but ways of thinking. When students document their learning in multiple modes, they create connections between visual, verbal, and embodied knowledge that escape traditional academic boundaries.
Deleuze and Guattari describe how lines of flight involve "deterritorialization" - breaking away from established territories (like traditional subject boundaries) - followed by "reterritorialization" - forming new territories and structures.
In CreatiFlow, this might look like:
The key is that the new territory wasn't predetermined - it emerged from the line of flight itself.
Deleuze and Guattari warn that not all escapes are genuine lines of flight. Sometimes what appears to be creative escape actually reinforces rigid structures:
True lines of flight involve genuine risk and uncertainty. They can't be fully controlled or predicted by the teacher, the platform, or even the student themselves.
Robin Usher explores how Deleuze and Guattari's work applies to educational research, emphasizing rhizomatic processes without hierarchy.
Download PDF (Free)Nicholas Emmanuele discusses how curriculum leaders can use "lines of flight" to create a "becoming-curriculum" open to present and future realities.
Download PDF (Free)The foundational chapter where Deleuze and Guattari introduce the rhizome and lines of flight concepts.
Download PDF (Free)For Deleuze and Guattari, lines of flight represent hope - the possibility that systems of control are never total, that creativity always finds a way through. In education, this means students are never fully captured by curricula, standards, or institutional structures.
CreatiFlow exists to create the conditions where lines of flight can emerge: where students can follow their curiosity, make unexpected connections, and become something neither they nor their teachers could have predicted. This is not chaos - it's the most profound form of learning.