Education of Freedom

Saturday, 6 July 2024 7:58 pm

• Introduction: Education is not just the curriculum one studies at schools and colleges, neither is it
the degrees one receives. Education is also the name of empowering people. It is also the name of
the ability of people to think independently, participate actively, and, above all, the ability of the
people to challenge the existing structure, promote justice, maintain democratic spirit, and rule of
law. Hence, when we talk about education of freedom, it reflects the backbone of western
societies and their values, which led to their progress. This is because by just imparting knowledge
in a nation through curriculum, schools, colleges, and so on, a nation cannot be made. If a nation
is to be truly made, which is progressive, then there is need of education of freedom, as proven by
western societies. However, sadly, in 21st century rising economies of the east are being criticized,
as it is being argued that they have increased their GDP, exports, technology, industries, and so
on; however, they do not have education of freedom.

• Historical perspective: The more ancient civilizations are witnessed and the more ancient period is
studied, one realizes that the main purpose of education was personal and societal enhancement.
E.g., Greeks. They linked education with their idea of freedom. That is why Socrates would
encourage his student to question and critically view the existing structure. Similarly, Academy by
Plato, and Lyceum by Aristotle believed that the purpose of education was to create a just society.
There were also the Romans, who believed that the purpose of education was to make people
actively participate in civic life, and give them moral virtues. Similarly, when middle ages are
studied, 400-1400 AD, one realizes that education was colonized by church leading to increasing
religious teaching. However, even within that Scholastic method, critical thinking was present.
E.g., Thomas Aquinas, who integrated philosophy and theology, and kept the basis of intellectual
philosophy. Similarly, when Renaissance is talked about, 14th-16th century, one sees that
education promoted humanist tendencies. They included names such as Erasmus, who believed
that the purpose of education was not to interpret religion, rather social progress. That is why
secularism was introduced and promoted. This led to the creation of new inventions, which led to
the progress of human beings such as printing press, compass, and so on. This also led to the
creation and opening of new ventures. This was followed by 18th century where education was
linked with reason, autonomy, and was seen as a moral agency. This included names such as John
Locke, who worked extensively on education of freedom, and even wrote a book named, "Some
thoughts concerning education". In this he argued that if education structure cannot address
natural curiosity of human mind, then education is worthless. Only when this is addressed,
development would happen. Even Rousseau worked on this idea. Rousseau was generally famous
for his idea of social contract, however, he also wrote, "Emile: On Education". He too argued that
the purpose of education was not to create dry mind, rather was the development of individuals
natural abilities. Even Kant argued that true autonomy is not receiving power, rather true
autonomy is to realize how to be liberated, which is only possible through education of freedom.
Similarly, there was John Dewey, who wrote, "Democracy and education". He education that
schools are not just buildings having classrooms, teaching subjects. Rather schools is a community
of inquiries, where people learn through engagement. However, today, if 21st century is assessed,
one sees that not only is education of freedom still present and has multiple new opportunities,
but also it faces new challenges. This is because with the rise of internet, there is the rise of new
opportunities. Knowledge now no longer lies in classrooms, rather there are multiple different
mediums for knowledge gaining. Consequently, education gaining has now become easy. To
further make it easy, even governments make and give their education policies. That is why
people now can think critically. E.g., Arab Spring. Through social networking sites people took to
the street demanding for democracy. These social networking sites did not give away any degrees
and certificates, rather taught education of freedom to the Arabs. However, at the same time,
 according to the believers of status quo, internet has not led to increase in education of freedom.
Rather is has led people to be misled. Nonetheless, there continues to be examples of education
of freedom, even nowadays, and multiple frameworks of education of freedom can be seen,
through which west developed and progressed.

• Different Frameworks/Models of Education of Freedom:

a. Liberal Education: The main aim of liberal education is to promote critical thinking, moral
reasoning, intellectual flexibility, and so on. For liberal education to be present, there is
need of liberal arts institutions such as Amherst College, Williams college in USA. They do
not teach fixed curriculums, rather teach broad curriculums having humanities, arts, social
sciences, and so on. In short, they follow a multi disciplinary approach having a holistic
understanding of world and society. This is something that is not new. Even if classical
models of the west are seen, this was already present. They used to teach grammar, logic,
rhetoric, music, astronomy, athematic, geometry, and so on. This was done so that students
ability to reason could be promoted.

b. Critical Pedagogy: This is a whole model of education given by Paulo Freire in his thesis,
"Pedagogy of the oppressed". He argues that education is not something that makes one
live in an oppressive societal structure. Rather education is something that promotes
reflective approach and dialogue, so that students can not the injustices within the societies,
talk about it, and challenge them. This is the thesis that feminists use.

c. Human capital theory: Education is something that promotes skills of people, which leads to
increased productivity, and, ultimately, economy development. This is something that can
be seen in Singapore, Germany, and South Korea. They connected human capital theory
with their education system. They argued that classrooms alone are not enough, rather
there is need of continuous professional development and hands on training, so that skills
are developed. It was human capital theory that also led to the development of STEM
education system, which argued that kids should be taught science, technology, English, and
math's, so that critical thinking is developed.

d. Constructivist theory: The more freedom given to kids to perform experiments, and
interactions, the more learning there would be. This is the philosophy on the basis of which
Montessori schools are made i.e., self diverted. This is effective because it includes a huge
scheme involving projects, problem solving, and so on.

e. Democratic education: This is the biggest model of education of freedom. Education is not
what teachers teach, and is not what is happening in classrooms. Rather, education, in true
sense, lies in social environment. A social environment should be such that it has equality,
participation, responsibility, and so on. Only when these aspects are present, there would
be education of freedom, and active citizens. This is what even John Dewey worked for and
advocated.

f. Transformative learning theory: Education of freedom is not forming world view within a
closed sphere, rather education of freedom is bringing people closer so that they interact
with each other, and they form new world views, especially in spheres where they do not
feel comfortable. This is what led to the development of study abroad programs, cultural
exchange programs, and so on. This is what even Francis Fukuyama had written about when
he argued that when 20 thousand Chinese students, studying in America, go back to China,
they would demand for more rights. This is what happened than in the Tiananmen square
protests.
• Hence, different frameworks were used by the west for development and progress, which is
evident from the societal impact of education of freedom such as:

a. Democratic participation: Democratic participation is more in the west because the

education structure of west is such that it teaches rights and laws to everyone, irrespective
of age. This is evident from the, "We the people" program, which teaches kids about civic
participation, how their government works, and so on. That is why people actively
participate in budgeting process and are kept in the picture. For this purpose they even hold
meetings at municipal and city level.

b. Social mobility: No doubt, in the west there is high unemployment, and homelessness, yet
still, compared to Asia and Africa, poverty and inequality is less. This is because majority of
the western societies provide free and compulsory education, irrespective of background.
This is more visible in Europe e.g., Finland. This is important because the 1st step for social
mobility is free education.

c. Innovation and progress: Education of freedom promotes creativity, critical thinking, and
problem solving. These 3 values are the basis of any and every IT sector. Till the education
system does not provide education of freedom, these 3 aspects can never be learnt. No
doubt, Indians are dominating the IT sector, despite India not promoting education of
freedom, however, they are those who left India, and studied in the west, incorporating
their values and systems. That is why in Indian Space program, 2/3rd or 70% were those
who were foreign graduates.

d. Social cohesion: There are multiple multi ethnic states across the world such as Canada,
USA, Australia, Netherlands, and so on. However, they all have managed to create social
cohesion through a multi cultural education program, which promoted respect for all. This
led to the end of prejudice in these states. Similarly, even Rwanda created social cohesion in
a post conflict society, through their peace education. Its main pillars were reconciliation,
mutual co-existence, and so on. They were so successful that in May 2024, in the World
Education Forum, example of Rwanda was given to the 3rd world countries, showing them
an example of how to achieve social cohesion.