FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY, DISCIPLINE
& SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

With the Child in the Second Plane making a deliberate movement toward the greater society in which she is nested, she is moving away from the protected family comfort. This child is asserting her inclination for functional independence at a time when she is emotionally, intellectually and developmentally ripe for it. And as this movement is essential for the full development of the Child’s human potential, it should be wholeheartedly encouraged by the Adult. But how is he to foster this inclination for independence? For though she will be striving for it almost instinctually, she will not necessarily have an innate knowledge of how to develop a capacity for independence.

Children are born with great potentials that must become activated. They have the potential for coordination of movement, for development of language, for a reasoning intellect, and a nascent potential for independent functionality as a Human Being. Toward these ends, children in this First Plane are guided by the Human Tendencies. Therefore it is greatly the freedom to explore that will bring the Young Child to the realization of her development, the Tendencies themselves guiding her toward activation of her great possibilities.

At the Second Plane many of these potentials have been met through the Child’s free interaction with an environment prepared specifically for her development. She has now entirely different characteristics than those from birth to six, this new set designed to assist her further development. Specifically, the Child at the time of the Second Plane is of her greatest intellectual capacity. But she is also a creature with a concise sense of justice and compassion, being in her “Age of Moral Development”. And she relates to both intellect and compassion with her active imagination.

These things must all be remembered when working with a child of this age. As it was the characteristic latent potentialities that formed the direction of the Young Child’s development, so too is it potential that drives the Child in the Second Plane. The potential for Social Development. And it is the Child’s specific characteristics at each stage that delineate the path along which this emerging individual will travel to that goal. Therefore as it was essentially freedom that allowed the First Plane Child to meet her needs at that time of her life, it is similarly true that freedom will see the Second Plane to its completion of childhood.

But the Second Plane Child no longer has the Human Tendencies pulling her so urgently onward. So while freedom must be given to help the Child construct herself, it cannot be blanket freedom. The trick is to put the construction of the Human Potential, achieved through freedom, in check with discipline. The irony is that it is freedom itself that will impose the longed-for responsibility.

This is one of the hardest principles to understand—to give freedom in order to encourage responsibility. But all four of these aspects are inextricably linked—Freedom, Responsibility, Discipline and Social Development—and any successful approach at the complete education of a child toward independence will recognize each of these elements as vital. Because it works in reverse as well: responsibility equal to freedom. Responsibility implies a certain bestowal of trust, only truly fulfilled when the Child is given the freedom to dismiss it. And at the same time, responsibility serves as a check upon freedom, bridling it to direct its focus. “Personal responsibility cannot exist without liberty, and liberty will not persist without responsibility. Liberty without responsibility is license.”¹

Crucially, the Child in the Second Plane—in the stage where she has developed her reasoning mind—needs both freedom and responsibility to make correct choices. “The human personality must be given a chance to realize every one of its capabilities,”² and the capability for independence hinges upon being able to act responsibly when faced with the freedom to do otherwise. This is the only way to truly aid the child: by giving her freedom balanced by limitations.

IMPLEMENTATION OF FREEDOM

The prevalent model of education is that the child shall be kept quiet and still. The belief was/is that by granting children freedom, chaos would be invited into the classroom. But a shift must occur wherein the grace of freedom can be viewed as a point of arrival, not departure. A child cannot develop responsibility when limits are shackled upon her ability to make choices, whereas freedom gives the Child a chance to be responsible from the very beginning. This freedom must be given gradually, of course, only in amounts that the individual Child can handle, but eventually she will recognize the reality of her liberty, taking ultimate responsibility for freedom itself.

Work Choice

One of the fundamental liberties the children must have is freedom to choose their own work. This will be a valuable exercise for the Child, a chance to develop her control over Will. Children intuitively know the difference between focused and unfocused work, but they will never choose productivity over ease unless they are given the chance to. The Child’s freedom to choose actually gives her an opportunity make a choice where otherwise she would have been shielded; she will never have the ability to exercise Will unless she is given the freedom to have a will in the first place. Thus she comes to a double understanding of Freedom and Responsibility.

Work in this Plane means the use of intellect and imagination, for these are the aspects that will let independence blossom. Work is what is needed for normalization. Having developed the Will, these are the activities she will choose, naturally selecting what she needs for personal construction. So the Child must be given the freedom for control over even her own education.

She will also see the easy correlation between Freedom and Responsibility: more responsibility leading to greater freedom. Not only will she be given more direct freedom, having shown herself capable to wield it, but she will as well gain increasing freedoms from personally renewed ability, confidence and reasoned understanding. Having chosen freely to work with purpose, the Child will have built a retinue of information on which to base deeper explorations. Thus through personal experience does the Child become aware of the truly amazing scope of her incredible capabilities.

Going Out

The ideas of freedom and responsibility go hand-in-hand with the practice of Going Out. This, then, will be the arena in which the Child will first test her skills in Social Development. In preparation for her Going Out, the Child will begin to collect a requisite knowledge of how society functions with its laws and order. Then, when she goes out, this knowledge will precipitate, leaving her with impressions that will congeal to true understanding.

Going Out will be both a test of Freedom and a consequence of Responsibility. In wider society, where she longs to be, the Child will find almost infinite possibility, with so much more available to her than she ever could have dreamed. And because she has freedom to move and explore as befits her, it is similarly infinite the benefit she can gain. But she will be expected to act responsibly, quickly finding for herself besides that responsibility in action will be a prime determinate in her eventual success. Going Out is the best way to extend Freedom and encourage Responsibility.

Grace & Courtesy

Responsibility and Going Out are also closely linked to Grace & Courtesy. Children will have to learn how to speak to people and how to interact with them in an environment that belongs at this point more to those people the than it does to the Child herself. And if she does act with loss of graciousness or lack of courtesy, she will be put quickly in check by the people around her.

This progress toward independence is a double task for the Child, not only constructing herself as an individual but also recognizing her place in society. Therefore this is not so much a method of education as it is an aid to the life of the Child, given to her so that her complete person will be free to unfold. So it is vital that she be prepared for this social development with every aspect that will see her succeed.

Thus the good practice of Grace & Courtesy is absolutely crucial, success within society being contingent upon gracious social interaction. Early lessons in Grace & Courtesy will help prepare the Child with the security and competence she will need to function as a member of society in a social way. And when she receives the assistance she needs from people willing to help her because of her controlled and responsible behavior, she will remember the debt she owes to the society that has fostered her. This recognition will in turn describe her empathy for the needs of others.

Limits to Freedom

While the children will eventually awaken their latent abilities for responsibility in freedom, they will first need to determine their freedoms’ extents. Compliance with certain limitations is the expectation of Society, and as these boundaries are determined externally, the children will have to be shown where they exist. This knowledge will be sought out subconsciously, manifested in actions designed to test where the lines are drawn. For this reason, constraints must be placed on freedom to help guide the sensibilities being developed within each child.

Society relies upon active cooperation between its members—without this cooperation, Society would quickly crumble to disarray. This idea has already been explored in the understandings encoded within the various timelines the Child has seen. These presentations highlight the debt we owe to literally everything in existence, past and present. This idea, in fact, is essentially at the core of the theory of Cosmic Education in its entirety. When a child has begun to behave in a way not concordant with Society’s best interests, therefore, the Child must be gently guided back to correct behavior. That is to say, if a child is not responsible, her freedom must be limited.

Many things are subjective, it is true, but by examining the greater well-being of Society as a whole, practices of positive benefit become obvious. It is the discord against these truths that must demark the boundaries of acceptability for the Child. But the Child must be shown these in a gentle and instructive manner, especially pitched at this Plane of Development toward her logical intellect and the reasons for why these limitations must exist.

PREPARED ENVIRONMENT

A Prepared Environment based around Liberty will allow the Child to form her individual construction while recognizing that she is a member of a wider society. She will independently develop the abilities to sit, stand, walk, talk and interact physically, but it is only through a free invitation to relate to her family that she will gain any preliminary knowledge of how to function in Society. Initially, then, the social behavior of the Child will reflect the social structure of the family.

The First Plane Classroom

The Child first encounters a greater society in the environment she discovers at school. Here she comes in contact for the first time with a society that operates perhaps slightly differently than her family’s, and in this way makes another step toward independence. She will notice differences between the expectations of her family viz those of school and will be obliged to adapt. This will be the first time she will be acting independently, without the guidance of her family.

The Child’s independence can be specifically encouraged through activities in Practical Life, and she will relish opportunities to learn for herself the skills she has seen around her—sweeping, folding the laundry, washing dishes, etc. This care for the environment will also serve as a major initial lesson in responsibility while at the same time recognizing the Child’s independence in being able to perform these tasks. Furthermore, Practical Life activities has no control of error, causing the Child to have to evaluate her work for herself—another vital lesson in independence and responsibility. It is hoped that at home she has this same chance, for then she will be receiving an instruction in responsibility for life, not just school.

Work for this young child will be focused around sensorial materials, which will provide keys to classification and organization of the qualities of the world. The children will be drawn to these materials instinctually for their own developmental reasons, and as such the children should have the freedom of choice as they move through their explorations and for how long they personally will need to work with each material. This is important in that the children will be working to learn the concepts they need individually for their own construction, but the idea of choice is vital for the instruction of freedom balanced by responsibility, as well.

Because choice will be free, movement within the classroom will similarly have liberty. But there are limits to movement that will help maintain the environment, the Child will have the responsibility to not disturb others. And that is an important aspect of the freedom in the classroom in general: the environment must provide freedom, but it must also delineate limits.

The children will also find an enormous amount of freedom in choice where the environment allows them to stay in the same classroom for three years at a time, aligning with the various Sub-Planes of Development. With the knowledge that she will remain in the same class for such an extended period, the confidence that everything can be covered eventually will release her to work at her own pace and to follow her own needs. The three-year spread will also provide a way for the older children to assume responsibility by assisting the younger.

The freedom of movement will also be reflected in this overlap of ages, the children being able to develop so entirely at their own pace that they can even move between classes freely. There are certain physiological changes that accompany the change to the next stage, and these should be noted by the Adult, but often the children will want to transition on their own. This will be almost the ultimate freedom, the children given here a great deal of responsibility for their own education.

The Second Plane Classroom

At the Second Plane the Child is ready for the double environment of the classroom and outside society. Having received great benefit from the prepared environment of the classroom and the responsibilities associated with being a member of her family, her continued growth toward independence now needs broader interaction in Society with greater freedoms and responsibilities.

Within the classroom, work is crucial to the creation of the Child’s normalized development, preparing her for the expectations of Society. But for multiple reasons that work should not be assigned. Having the opportunity for work but no assignment will allow the Child to work on those aspects that will see her development unfold in a manner befit to her individually. In addition, having the expectation to work with no assignment will be a valuable instruction in Responsibility.

The Child should be allowed to set her own schedule. A daily work diary will give a chance to reflect on lessons she has had and work she has done, but they should never be planning journals. Planning takes away freedom, even if the Child is planning for herself. Any plan will jeopardize the focused involvement in work, the implied time constraints usurping the freedom to delve deeply.

A state curriculum can actually be a tool for the education of the Child. The curriculum sets the standard for what the State expects, and for good reason—fluid interaction with the Society in which she finds herself—the Child will be well to meet these benchmarks. This is information of which the Child herself must be made aware. Any standards should be written for her in language she can understand at the age of nine, for without access to this information she cannot possibly know what the standards are. Once the curriculum is met, the Child will be free to follow-up or not follow-up these lessons as it befits her.

To further assist the Child toward the understanding of her positive progress along the path to education weekly meetings should be held with the Adult. She will bring to these short conferences (5-7 minutes in length) her daily diary and any finished or unfinished work. This will be an opportunity for both Adult and Child to orientate themselves to the Child’s understandings and challenges. The Child will have recorded the times she has spent on each task throughout the week, so this will also her chance to reflect on her work choices and the manner in which she has chosen to spend her time. She will as well be able to review lessons she has received, those being recorded in her journal, and voice any desires she might have for lessons she would like to see. Otherwise, the Adult should perform spot-checks of these journals, as these will encourage the Child to develop a continued diligence toward the spirit of these conferences. As children display more responsibility, the meetings can be held less frequently.

Care of the Environment

A respect for the environment should be fostered in the children from the very first so that it will be a lifelong trait. The practice of active maintenance of the environment will also encourage the development of Responsibility within the children.

At first the children should be assigned jobs. They may not know the full scope of what care for the environment requires, and through the assignment of jobs they will be exposed to what it does take. Later, as they demonstrate the responsibility for it, the children should be able to choose their own jobs from a list they’ve drawn up themselves. This will give them the chance to take a bit more ownership of their responsibilities.

At the final phase of this practice, the children should come to the point where the jobs list can be done away with entirely. At this stage in their development of responsibility the children will have understood that the environment is theirs, and will do something as they see it needs to be done.

ROLE OF ADULT

The Adult and Child will be working together to affect this child’s development toward independence. It is the Adult’s task to help the Child recognize and understand the responsibility implied by her freedom. But human beings do not learn proper behavior by imposition, rather only through personal choice coming from an awareness of what behavior is suitable. The Adult will pass on this awareness; the Child will be left free to carry out her Grace & Courtesy.

It is the specific responsibility of the Adult to recognize the characteristics of the Child. He must be at all times guided by her needs to ensure she is getting the education that will be best for her own, individual development. For though the Child will have the freedom to choose what she will be working with at a given moment, still she needs the Prepared Adult to create a link to the environment that will ensure a maximization of her opportunity. The Prepared Adult should also be a source of inspiration, modeling Responsibility and an enthusiastic drive for learning.

The presentations the Adult gives must be enticing. To this end, the children must see a wide variety of presentations rounding out the broad field of Cosmic Education. If all areas are exposed to the Child in such a way that she has the ability to come in contact with the aspects she would choose, then the Child will have all areas at her disposal toward which she might develop an interest. If a child is generally not interested, it is the Adult’s role to keep offering presentations to eventually spark a curiosity. All children have the potential for great interest, though their individual interests will greatly vary and may be well concealed, even from themselves. Only through exposure can children be able to find something to choose.

As the children are working they will be respected if their errors are not pointed out. Instead, the possibility for repetition should be given so that the children can control error themselves. This will also facilitate the growth of their capacities for independent work with responsibility toward quality.

Suggestions from the Adult toward follow-up work or different methods for understanding should be invitations to the children. “Maybe you’d like to try this…” giving the Child active choice in the path she chooses. If Freedom is to be encouraged, the children must understand the direction they have over their own education.

Behind the scenes, the Adult is also responsible for the overall administration of the classroom. At times there will be call to assist parents or administrators in their understandings of the methodologies of the classroom. Towards this end, the development of the Child individually should always be remembered, with Freedom and Responsibility being two sides of the same coin that will guide the Child to independence.

CODA

Ultimate Responsibility will only be grown from ultimate Freedom. If the Child is given freedom to choose her work and explore her interests, able to ask questions and reason to find answers, she will develop a natural love of learning. That love will be delineated by Responsibility, for only through responsible diligence can the Child arrive at the answers she seeks.

She will furthermore find that with increased Responsibility comes redoubled Freedom, and vice-versa. This understanding will not only assist her in her interactions with Society, but Society itself will benefit from it. As Dr. Michael Gross states, “The reconstruction of a human society is contingent upon the strength and unification of the human person, the full elaboration of which depends upon a method of community rooted in the laws of development.”³ Or, in the words of Dr. Maria Montessori, “the child is both a hope and a promise for mankind” and therefore “freedom is the basis of human society.”⁴