Dialectics: Education and Freedom

Education is meant, well, educate children. And people (because children aren't people). Yet, at the same time, public education (and private for that matter) tends to work like a prison, with lunch periods, and other periods determined by an orderly bell, every student has a number, etc etc. Freedom, synonymous with liberty, is by most students a preferred choice, yet it is relatively polar to education. However, being free (defined by being able to do what one wants, when one wants to) doesn't inhibit learning. One can be free, and still learn, study, read, whatever, the only difference is, that it is no longer imposed upon to have to learn. One of Einstein's quotes (probably paraphrased) "Imagination is better than education". This means, quite frankly, that creativity and 'smartness', problem-solving skills, etc, and all pertaining synonyms trump the prison-like system for educating youth.

The reciprocal is also true, that education doesn't necessarily imply the imprisonment of students. As long as the students want to be a part of the system, and perhaps even to learn, then they are actually free. So it is in fact possible to enjoy the fruits of freedom, and at the same time have the structure of eduction present to increase one's intelligence. If it is one's choice to be part of something they would have to be part of anyways, technically, they are acting by their own will, even though they couldn't act otherwise.