Almost a year ago, my mom’s body succumbed to the ravages of Lewy body disease.  At the end, she did not even weigh one hundred pounds.

I’ve been thinking a lot about her the last couple of weeks, as I’ve watched a friend of mine unexpectedly say a final goodbye to her 23 year-old son, who was serving a two-year mission for our church.  He is the same age as my daughter, who is also currently serving a mission.  My son, two years younger than both of them, returned home from a church mission just three months ago. 

My heart has been tender, as I’ve observed the outpouring of love and faith to, and from, my friend’s family.  Strangers, family, and friends alike attested to her son’s zeal for life and unparalleled potential.  They spoke of an accomplished musician, a true friend, a heart full of service, a determination to create and succeed.  Although he was only recently of legal age, it seems he has been fulfilling his purpose for a long time. 

The family speaks of faith and hope.  They believe they will be reunited.  They believe in eternity.

Again, I am reminded of my mom.  She had that same assurance.  As do I. 

A year ago, I spent most of my summer back and forth, between my house and hers, caring for her and my dad.  I spent two days a week there, dividing the time among my sisters, my aunt, and me.  My dad had been caring for her himself for several years.  In the last year, we’d had to bring in hospice care, as her condition worsened.  Dad couldn’t do it alone, and the rest of us worked and/or lived far away, so we could only help part-time.  I was grateful summer, and other circumstances, allowed me time away from teaching to more fully serve them. 

Because Dad was a pilot, Mom had carried much of the burden of raising five children, caring for our home, and the general everyday business of life.  She was also active in our church and community, creating and administering organizations, fostering the family, serving wherever she was needed. 

In the midst of life, over many years, she fulfilled her purpose, but not her potential. 

For potential is infinite and unchanging.  I don’t imagine anyone achieves their full potential in this life. 

Purpose, on the other hand, is quantifiable and can be completed.  Mom fulfilled her purpose on this earth, which included, among other things, blessing her family and other families with love of God, love for learning, and love for life, even in her illness.  

The son of my friend, if I discern correctly what I’ve witnessed, also fulfilled the purpose of his much shorter life.  But for both of them, and all of us, potential is eternal.

It’s all Rachel’s fault.  On Independence Day, she posted on the Thomas Jefferson Education Facebook page, “Define, compare and contrast: Independence/Freedom/Liberty . . . .”  I have pondered those words for a couple of weeks now.  What is Independence?  What is Freedom?  What is Liberty? 

Independence is the opposite of dependence.  And before the laughing begins, really think about what that means.  The degree to which one is Independent is the degree to which one is not dependent on others.  One who is Independent is exempt from others’ power and control, without their bias or influence, and is able to support and direct her/himself. 

According to the Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language,* to be Independent is “to be separate from,” “bold,” “not connected with,” and “not obsequious.”  I had to look that word up.  Among other things, it means “yielding to the desires of others, properly to the will or command of a superior, but in actual use, it often signifies yielding to the will or desires of such as have not right to control.”  Isn’t that interesting? Independence includes not yielding to those who have no right to control.  Hence, The Declaration of Independence.

As I continued studying, I found it fascinating that the original root word for free means “to break, to separate, to divide, to redeem.”  I love the word redeem, whose root is defined, “to obtain or purchase.”  Freedom apparently has a price.  Along with the logical “exemption from slavery, servitude, or confinement,” Freedom also involves enjoying privilege, franchise, or license.  The United States is a free country.

How is Freedom different from Independence? To my mind, Freedom includes an action, with consequences (the price), while Independence seems to be a chosen state of being.  Freedom is obtained, purchased, divided, and redeemed, but Independence is choosing not to yield to another’s power or control. 

On the other hand, Liberty is “freedom from restraint, . . . and applicable to the body, or to the will or mind.”  According to Webster, there are several types of Liberty—natural, or God- or nature-given; civil, or society-given; political, or Liberty given by one nation to another; and religious, or conscience-given.  We complain about “taking liberties,” when one entity goes beyond the privileges given it by another entity.

As I compared the condition of Liberty to the actions of Freedom and the state of Independence, Liberty seems to be contingent on being granted, and accepting, permission to be exempt from certain restraints.  Often the opposing restraints we conform to are for the greater good.  For instance, because we follow the rules of the road, we—and others on the road—arrive at our destination safely.  We possess the Independence or Freedom to run a red light, but we protect our Liberty by choosing to obey civil law and stop. 

Together with Independence, Freedom, and Liberty, I’ve been thinking about the corollary concepts of Agency and Choice.  What is Agency?  What is Choice?  How do they relate to Independence, Freedom, and Liberty?  And how do they all relate to education? 

Agency presupposes an agent, an being able to act and accept the consequences of those actions.  Webster’s adds movement and power to the definition of Agency.  An agent is often “entrusted with the business of another.”  So, the idea of representation is suggested.

When we make a Choice, we select from two or more options.  We use judgment, skill, and preference to choose the best option for the situation.  As an adjective, Choice implies being precious, valuable, or of great worth. 

Only a free agent can choose Liberty, Freedom or Independence.  Only Agency and Choice allow us to retain those options in our lives, our communities, our societies, and our nations. 

What happens when a student is not given Independence, Freedom, Liberty, Agency and Choice in education?  If these five elements are not included, there is no true learning.  The student has not been allowed, and is not then able, to act for himself and to accept the consequences of his actions.  He is dependent upon others for his learning and is not free to pay the price to support or direct himself.  Wisdom and accountability are not acquired when there are no options.

Sometimes we deprive ourselves of the benefits of an Agency education.  We wait for others to tell us what to do.  We trust the experts, but not our hearts.  We don’t pay the price to get the education we need.  Our state of being is not conducive to Independence.  We don’t act for Freedom, and then accept responsibility for our own actions.  We deny the Liberty we have already been given.  We neglect our own Agency and Choice.

Let’s not celebrate Independence, Freedom, and Liberty one day of the year.  Let’s use our Agency and Choice, and allow others to use theirs, to act with Independence, Freedom, and Liberty every day of the year.

*All definitions quoted are from Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language.

  As a mother, I can only imagine the feelings of Abigail Adams when ten year-old John Quincy left their home in Braintree, Massachusetts, to travel with his ambassador father to Europe for the first time. 

While the young man was there, he attended private schools in Paris and the Netherlands, became proficient in three languages, and traveled to Russia at age fourteen, serving as secretary and translator to diplomat Francis Dana.  When he returned to the United States at age 18, he attended Harvard, graduating in two years.  He then studied law with Theophilus Parsons for three years before passing the bar and becoming an attorney in Boston.

How did John and Abigail Adams prepare this young man to become a practicing attorney, foreign diplomat, Harvard professor, U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator, U.S. Secretary of State, and U.S. President?  Both parents had experienced mentoring and had a great education themselves; they valued education in their home and carefully prepared the environment of learning for all their children; and they entrusted the further education of their son to other great mentors. 

Abigail was a minister’s daughter, tutored by her father, who had access to great libraries in the homes of her father, grandfather, and husband. She read extensively on many topics, and her vivid letter-writing displays the vastness of her self-education.  In Abigail’s first letter to John Quincy while he was abroad, she admonished:

"[A]ttend constantly and steadfastly to the precepts and instructions of your Father as you value the happiness of your Mother and your own welfare. His care and attention to you render many things unnecessary for me to write which I might otherways do, but the inadvertency and Heedlessness of youth, requires line upon line and precept upon precept, and when inforced by the joint efforts of both parents will I hope have a due influence upon your Conduct."  (Adams Family Correspondence, v3: April 1778-September 1780 [Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1973], pp 37-39.)

The example and efforts of parents was uppermost in Abigail’s mind.  But she didn’t stop there.  She encouraged him to take this opportunity to improve his talents and double them in number, because he would someday be held accountable.  And she did not neglect character.  This concerned mother also warned her son against temptation and vice, which, she reminded him, he had learned through his study of history.  She said, “Great Learning and superior abilities, should you ever possess them, will be of little value and small Estimation, unless Virtue, Honour, Truth and integrety are added to them.”  (Adams Family Correspondence, pp 37-39.)

Her husband John was also mentored by his parents and received formal education in a “dame school,” a “Latin school,” and a private school before he attended Harvard.  He also taught school after he graduated, while earning money to be mentored in the law by John Putnam, eventually passing the bar and becoming a barrister.  He continued to read and study his entire life, corresponding with Thomas Jefferson and others, discussing a wide range of subjects until their deaths. 

Ambassador Adams personally concerned himself with his son’s education while they were in Europe.  When John Quincy, in school in Passy, sent a copy of his study schedule to Paris, Adams provided feedback, offering suggestions for improvement based on John Quincy’s physical development and individuality. (Adams Family Correspondence, pp 308-309.) 

At the proper time in their son’s life, John and Abigail Adams relinquished him to other mentors, some of whom they knew well and some of whom they didn’t.  They trusted both the mentors and their son to prosper in the relationships and to create a literate, productive, and virtuous adult. 

The point is John and Abigail wouldn’t have been able to oversee the awesome education of John Quincy Adams without having experienced a great education themselves.

I’ve wondered how my education compares to John and Abigail’s.  I know I have not read as extensively in the classics, sharpening my mind, as much as I wish.  I did not rub shoulders, and discuss principles of government, arts, and history, with the intelligent minds of their day.  And I have not written thousands of letters and speeches, honing my writing skills to excellence.  But I have read some great classics and written some excellent letters and other writing.  And, as an adult, I have submitted and continue to submit, to mentoring by brilliant men and women, who have blessed me with a priceless gift—the beginning of an awesome education.