Here’s a possible irony. I’ve never done the clinical studies, but I’m betting that if you ask most children who do not value school and education what things they do value in life they will list concepts like freedom, free will, independence, and no one telling them what to do.

People should be free, they’ll say, not confined to a boring, old classroom doing algebra and writing essays and taking orders from some doofus with a scraggly beard.

The irony is that those without a good education are often the ones who lose most of their freedom, free will, and independence in adulthood because of low-paying, unsatisfying jobs with long hours that they can’t quit, unable to get ahead in life, following orders from uncaring superiors, and unable to retire until so old they are put on the evaporating dole. And adulthood lasts so very much longer than childhood.

Freedom comes from hard work. One may have to slave to be free. Freedom comes from dedication, from commitment, from blisters and headaches and heartaches. If children wish to be free, they must work for it. It requires an early start to get ahead of the billions of other hungry humans striving for the same resources. It requires far thinking and deep planning beyond the current exhaustion, the current pain, the current lack of freedom.

We all must follow certain rules to earn the freedom to be rule breakers. If children want to be free, they must first be corralled to listen and learn so they can survive later when the nets are removed. Anything less is a crap shoot.

Children need to learn many things that are not taught in school. Ethics and morality are topics that every child needs exposure to, direct exposure. At most, schools deal with these topics indirectly through behavior and plagiarism policies, not as classroom study units.

It’s not like it was a dumb omission on the school’s part. Who’s qualified and trusted to teach morality to impressionable children? Is the Golden Rule enough? Who’s to say?

Children need to learn how to handle money. They need to learn how to save and how to spend wisely. They need to distinguish between wants and needs. They need to enjoy the now, but prepare for rainy days. We don’t currently have a course for that.

People need multiple sources of income to have fortified financial security. A solo income stream might dry up suddenly and unexpectedly. It can take a lifetime to create multiple revenue sources, but the hard work brings eventual freedom. Children need to nurture multiple talents. One never knows which one will pay off.

Children need to learn to share. Children want and need friends. Those who share make close friends. Those who do not can lose friends because it’s more fun to be with those who share their toys, time and attention.

If there are five children playing, one must not do most of the talking and decision making unless in an agreed-upon leadership role. Don’t hog the airwaves or demand all the attention or you might get none at all. One cannot call all the games, take all the best parts, be quick to snatch the last slice of pizza, or always control the keyboard and joystick. If you do, you’re going to turn people away, and that’s not good.

Children need to learn what not to eat. Don’t let them be brainwashed by the colorful catering of garbage food. Make them food aware. Make them good food lovers. Their food needs to come straight up out of the ground and into their mouths with as few middlemen as possible.

Stop with the sweets and rainbow colors. If your food looks like the Google Chrome icon, don’t eat it. Teach kids to read labels. What is aspartame? Always read the labels. Learn what to look for. What food is acceptable for you to stick inside your body? Your liver, pancreas and intestinal track are at your mercy. They count on you to make wise decisions.

Children need to learn that people are not television programs or channels on their game box. Others need to be attended to and paid attention to and respected. Put down the toys and look at me.

Too many children just shut people off like a 404 Error, or they talk over them like they are on a flat screen and don’t know they are being interrupted. It’s as if they thought they knew better. Some think they don’t need adults. They can Google their life lessons.

Children need to learn to trust and love, and be careful whom they trust and love. Is it OK to love everybody? Seems like it is. Is it OK to trust everybody? Doesn’t seem like it is. Should we love the untrustworthy? Children might trust the wrong people, or trust the right people when they are wrong. How might they prevent that?

I’ll tell you how. It’s prevented just like everything else, with a good education. The more you know, the more you grow. The more you grow, the more you blossom. Blossoms lead to fruit. Fruit leads to sustenance. Sustenance leads to further growth.

Be fruitful. Have a great summer.

Steve Gibbs teaches at Benicia High School and has written a column for The Herald since 1985.