Once we have freedom, how do we maintain it? Since the time of the ancient Greeks, education has been the answer to that question. Whether education alone is responsible entirely for freedom is another article in itself, but I propose here that education has a foundational role in the development and maintenance of freedom for people.
My great-grandfather Giuseppe came to the US to work on the transcontinental railroad. At some point, he decided he wanted to stay in one place and settled in southwest Wyoming. He sent for his sweetheart (who had waited for him for two years!) and the two of them married and began a family. My grandmother, Madalena, was the first of their six children. When Madalena was old enough for kindergarten, her father took her to school. He was so excited and proud when the day came to have the first of his children in school in America! When they arrived at the school, the teacher heard Giuseppe’s broken English and saw Madalena’s pierced ears (only immigrants pierced their children’s ears), and refused to allow her to attend. She told him there were not enough chairs, so Madalena would not be able to come to school. The next day, Giuseppe and Madalena again showed up at the school-with their own chair.
Madalena went on to finish high school (though her mother died and she became the lady of the house, helping to rear her siblings). All of her siblings-including the girls-attended college, and all of their children as well. Giuseppe knew that the liberty provided by education would change the course of his children’s lives. Mine is a family legacy of the freedom that is found in education; the true “liber” in liberal arts.
May each of you and your students treasure that freedom. May you protect it and if need be, bring your own chair to get it!
Jeanne Wilks
Secondary Principal