Educating in freedom

THIS, I think, is the very heart of education. It is how to inculcate the whole intricate business of freedom into the lives of people, especially those of children, so that everyone would not only know it, but also live the genuine brand of freedom, not its many imitations.

Freedom is what distinguishes us from other creatures. It’s what makes us the image and likeness of God, and infused with grace, what makes us children of his, sharers of the very life of God.

It’s what enables us, to use an expression from the Acts of the Apostles, to have “one heart and one mind,” (cor unum et anima una) (4,32) with God and everybody else.

We are made for freedom, whose best expression is love, and whose object as well as source and medium is God, and with God, everybody else. God is love, love in the truth, and it is the truth that will make us free. Perhaps, that can be the formula we can use to remember this principle is education.

That is why when our Lord was asked what the greatest commandment was, he replied: “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with your whole mind…The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mt 22,37-40)

Freedom expressed in love for God and others is where we can find the fullness of our humanity. It’s where all efforts in education will find their true home.

We have to be clear about this. Education is not simply a matter of acquiring bits and pieces of knowledge and information. It’s not just all about having degrees and titles and diplomas.

These are also indispensable, but education is aimed at nothing less than the full development of man. And the epicenter of that development process is the cultivation of genuine freedom.

We can say that a person is truly educated when he in all freedom gets to love God and others, a loving not only in intention but in deeds, not only from time to time but all the time.

For this purpose, Christian believers know that educating in freedom can only have its basis on the Christian faith that teaches us about who and what we really are.

We have to be wary of the many ideas, doctrines and ideologies floating around that can confuse and even lead us to error. We have to be wary of the so-called neutral and relativistic approaches that would put all educational doctrines, including those of the Christian faith, in the same level, with the same weight.

So it’s important that all those involved in the task of education, namely, parents, teachers and other officials, have a good grasp of the Christian faith. In this, we need to go beyond the amateurish, sophomoric level. We need to be a real pro, the doctrine truly assimilated in actual life, the theory turned to practice, the idea into flesh.

That’s, of course, another goal to reach, for which a lot of effort also needs to be exerted. But it’s all worth it. We just have to be persistent in helping one another, not daunted by any problem or difficulty along the way.

It’s also crucial to realize that education starts and is nurtured first at home, and always at home, before it becomes a responsibility of the school and other educational centers. Parents are the first and main educators. Teachers and others play only a subsidiary role.

To parents, the education of their children should be their first and best business. No other business can top that. And it has to be done more by giving example than by giving lectures, more by the testimony of the consistency in their lives than by simply talking.

Parents therefore need to learn and master the art of educating children in freedom. They cannot limit themselves to taking care only of the external needs of the children. They need to enter into their mind and heart and instill the necessary values and virtues.

This may be difficult, but not impossible. What we have to remember is that in theory we as men are naturally equipped for this task, and with the sacrament of matrimony and other sacraments, we receive the grace to carry out this delicate duty.

Problems are due to our human weaknesses, errors, failures, not to mention the external difficulties. But there are always solutions to these, as long as we put all our mind and heart into this challenge.