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                                 %FREEDOM TO CHOOSE 730927

     The  threat  of  bureaucratic violence  may  limit  a
student's  freedom  to  choose.   The central  purpose  of
liberal education,  however, is to transcend that  kind of
limitation  on students'  freedom to  choose.  Selves  are
enslaved  to the unexamined assumptions recorded in  their
child.  Selves are enslaved to the unexamined  assumptions
of those with whom self has entered into collusion to deal
with  those  aspects of reality which are too painful  for
them  to deal with consciously.   Selves are  enslaved  to
out-of-date  traditions  and  taboos.    These  limit  the
freedom  to choose wisely in the clear light of  a  mutual
understanding  of  the  natural  consequences  of possible
decisions and actions.    It  is  not enough to  eliminate
artificial  constraints  on  the freedom to choose.   Such
artificial constraints  are poor substitutes for the  real
freedom to choose wisely without coercive constraints. How
is it  possible  to make the transition from security  (by
avoidance of failure)  through the  techniques of coercive
constraints, to the security of real freedom?

     Without decisions leading to actions there is  little
learning  which  has carry-over value.  Real decisions and
actions involve the possibility of error and failure.   If
there  be  no  errors and no failure,  there are  few real
decisions and actions,  and so little learning.  What then
of  occasions of error and failure?   How others deal with
them will determine students' freedom to choose;  for,  if
error  and  failure be too painful,   real  decisions  and
action will be avoided in order to avoid great pain.  Only
if  there  be  a  fail-safe context can there  be  a  real
freedom  to choose.  This is not to say that  the  natural
consequences  of  failure  can be avoided;   but in a true
community the emotional responses of others to failure may
be supportive  to the self experiencing failure---so as to
help maintain the emotional security of that   self within
the community.  The  self may be emotionally safe even  in
failure,   and  thus have a fail-safe context in which  to
continue trying new ways and learning from "failures".

     Idolaters who worship the knowledge of good and  evil
do  not have the power to develop techniques to provide  a
fail-safe  context for real learning.  Thus they  can  not
grant  students  the real freedom to  choose---which  they
need in order to live, rather than to cease to live.

                         (c) 1999 by Paul A. Smith in
  GO:  essayz.com     "Search for Integrity and Honesty"
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)

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