When I read this post about giving students freedom it made me think of it as giving students a voice. Sometimes our voices can be suppressed by the amount of material that we have to go over in class. I like how you said that you want your students to be able to think for themselves, because I think that a lot of us may have great ideas and things to share. When we allow students freedom to express themselves, we can see things in different perspectives and it allows us to learn more. When you mentioned in class that we would have a choice of what types of projects we do in the course, that made me excited because we will be doing something that we want to do rather than something we "have" to do. Just like in a future job, I think it is important to take advice and ideas from your employees, or in this case students. So thank you for giving us a voice.
-Deanna
Another thing that obstructs the flow of ideas in the classroom setting is that no one wants to be "that guy" or "that girl" who talks too much. The classroom setting forces us to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to have their voice heard, but I would argue that this limits the freedoms and growth of the individual student. I would personally prefer one-on-one tutoring with a scholar in some field or another. Does anyone disagree with me?