Issues in Education - Going Out Presupposes an Entry Somewhere

In the order of nature, not many things are capable of being trained. Water, for example, is capable of assuming only three different forms: vapor, ice, and liquid. Crystals have their shapes rigorously determined by the law of nature. In the animal kingdom, it is very dubious whether fleas can be trained, though elephants and dogs can. No one ever says to a little pig, “What kind of a hog are you going to be when you grow up?” but one does ask a child, “What kind of man are you going to be?” children are either trained by us toward a fixed goal and destiny, or they are trained in spite of us. The parents never have the alternative of deciding whether their child’s mind is full or empty. It cannot be kept empty; it will be filled with something. Passions, television, movies, streets, radio, and comic books – all of these contrive against a perpetual vacancy in the mind of the child. 

Another aspect is the conception of freedom as the child grows. Fulton Sheen distinguishes freedom as having two sides: freedom from something and freedom for something. Freedom from something is the negative side of freedom and implies absence of restraint. Freedom for something implies a goal or purpose. The first is freedom of choice; the second is freedom of perfection.