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This-essay is a7309271.htm which is available at the web-site www.essayz.com. See more notes at the bottom. Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay By-Months By-Years By-Words Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One ========================================================== %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 Selves are enslaved to out-of-date traditions and taboos.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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This-essay is a7309271.htm which is available at the web-site www.essayz.com. These 5 lines echo top lines. Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay By-Months By-Years By-Words Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One