Are values formed in society or in the actions of individuals? Does social change come about through personal transformation or collaborative action? Educational reformers and radicals alike have often divided sharply over these questions. Progressive educators have debated “child-centered” versus “social reconstructionist” approaches; the radicals of the 1960s sometimes debated hotly whether Summerhill-style freedom or direct engagement with oppression and injustice (such as establishing free schools in the inner cities) were a more authentic form of educational dissent. A holistic perspective observes that in this case, as in virtually all others, the solution is not either/or; it is both/and. To protect young people from psychological violence, and to help them remain free from ideological conditioning, we have much to learn from libertarian educators as well as spiritual teachers who emphasize that violence begins in the heart of each individual. John Holt was an outstanding representative of this position, arguing consistently throughout his career that adults should not impose their own desires and prejudices on the organic drive toward understanding and health that motivates every normal growing child. He insisted that violence and social problems reflect widely shared personal feelings of inadequacy, alienation, and resentment that are caused when these drives are thwarted; he stated unequivocally that the root causes of war are not economic conflicts or language barriers or cultural differences but men—the kind of men who must have and will find scapegoats, legitimate targets for the disappointment, envy, fear, rage, and hatred that accumulates in their daily lives. (Holt 1966, 5)