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Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power
Every child in America deserves to know that a path to a successful life exists and that they have the power to follow it. But many never set foot on that path because they grow up hearing the message that systemic forces control their destinies, or that they are at fault for everything that has gone wrong in their lives.
These children often come from difficult circumstances. Many are raised by young, single parents, live in disadvantaged neighborhoods, attend substandard schools, and lack the moral safeguards of religious and civic institutions. As a result, they can be dispirited into cycles of learned helplessness rather than inspired to pursue their own possibilities.
Yet this phenomenon is not universal. Some children thrive where others do not. Why? Are there personal behaviors and institutional supports that have proven to make a difference in helping young people chart a course for their futures? Agency answers with a loud and clear “yes!”
This book describes four pillars that can uplift every young person as they make the passage into Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship. Together, these pillars embody the true meaning of freedom, wherein people are motivated to embrace the ennobling responsibilities of building healthy social structures and shaping the outcomes of their own lives.
For that reason, Ian Rowe calls the four pillars the FREE framework. With this framework in place, children are empowered to develop agency, which Rowe defines as the force of one’s free will, guided by moral discernment. Developing agency is the alternative to the debilitating ‘blame-the-system’ and ‘blame-the-victim’ narratives. It transcends our political differences and beckons all who dare to envision lives unshackled by present realities.
In addition to making the case for agency, Rowe shares his personal story of success coming from an immigrant family. He defends America as an ever-improving country worthy of our esteem. He corrects misguided calls for “anti-racism” and “equity,” and champions a game plan for creating new agents of agency, dedicated to promoting the aspirational spirit of America’s children, and showing them the path that will set them FREE.
These children often come from difficult circumstances. Many are raised by young, single parents, live in disadvantaged neighborhoods, attend substandard schools, and lack the moral safeguards of religious and civic institutions. As a result, they can be dispirited into cycles of learned helplessness rather than inspired to pursue their own possibilities.
Yet this phenomenon is not universal. Some children thrive where others do not. Why? Are there personal behaviors and institutional supports that have proven to make a difference in helping young people chart a course for their futures? Agency answers with a loud and clear “yes!”
This book describes four pillars that can uplift every young person as they make the passage into Family, Religion, Education, and Entrepreneurship. Together, these pillars embody the true meaning of freedom, wherein people are motivated to embrace the ennobling responsibilities of building healthy social structures and shaping the outcomes of their own lives.
For that reason, Ian Rowe calls the four pillars the FREE framework. With this framework in place, children are empowered to develop agency, which Rowe defines as the force of one’s free will, guided by moral discernment. Developing agency is the alternative to the debilitating ‘blame-the-system’ and ‘blame-the-victim’ narratives. It transcends our political differences and beckons all who dare to envision lives unshackled by present realities.
In addition to making the case for agency, Rowe shares his personal story of success coming from an immigrant family. He defends America as an ever-improving country worthy of our esteem. He corrects misguided calls for “anti-racism” and “equity,” and champions a game plan for creating new agents of agency, dedicated to promoting the aspirational spirit of America’s children, and showing them the path that will set them FREE.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published May 23, 2022
50 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 30, 2023
I start working for Ian next week, so figured it was time I finished this and was glad I enjoyed it! Very digestible and practical guide to empowering young people who find themselves in the margins through the institutions of family, religion, education, and entrepreneurship. Great combo of history, policy solutions, lived experience, and practical suggestions. Also excellent use of Hamilton lyrics.
February 22, 2023
One can only hope that every school administrator, teacher, school board official, and parent reads this book! This book offers advice on how young people can be empowered to make good decisions, and fortunately the advice is common sense and practical. It’s somewhat disappointing that we’re at a point where this has to be explicitly pointed-out, but that’s where our society is at!
December 7, 2022
Lots of great things to think about with policy impacting disadvantaged kids and great policy suggestions to tackle these issues in a new way. A book to help change the discourse and chart a new path for urban conservatism!
November 7, 2023
This is a hugely impressive book, which I’ve been eagerly wanting to read. And it surpassed my lofty expectations… Rowe is a proud black man, and a leading educationalist who has a decade of experience delivering schooling in the Bronx (a disadvantaged borough of New York City). His short definition of agency is a “force of your free will guided by moral discernment… Agency is learning to see ourselves not as victims of our circumstance, but rather as architects of our own better futures, and to do so even in the face of real obstacles”.
“The question is this: What are we going to lead young people to believe they can achieve? Are we going to teach them a narrative of oppression, tyranny, and victimization? Or are we going to provide them with the character and tools to thrive?... The path from poverty to prosperity is not paved with grievance or bitterness but rather with hope and aspiration.”
“My primary concern, as someone who runs schools, is that both the “blame-the-system” and “blame-the-victim” narratives in tandem supress the countervailing steps young people can take to help them achieve agency and shape their own futures. Without an intervention, more young people may take on a persona of a victimized soul and adopt a mindset of “yes, I can’t” versus “yes, I can.”… Imagine if, instead of the “no matter what, you are disadvantaged” message, young people of all races understood that nothing is predetermined in their lives and that they themselves have the greatest influence over their own futures.”
This book is part auto-biographical, largely drawn from first-hand experiences in addition to detailed knowledge of teaching. Rowe takes a close look at the connections between poor school performance with single-parent families, births to young mothers, and parents who have poor education themselves:
“The research is clear and widely accepted: single parenthood among young adults is one of the strongest predictors of child poverty, school suspensions, incarceration, and educational disadvantage. Unmarried young mothers are far more likely to experience high levels of partnership instability and family complexity, and each of these is associated with poorer child well-being and inter-generational transmission of disadvantage… having children while young and unprepared is a far more challenging path, especially when it comes to achieving the best outcomes for children.”
“Burying our heads in the sand or being silenced into submission would not lift a rising generation when nearly 800,000 babies are born each year to unwed, unprepared, and usually poorly educated young women under the age of twenty-four.”
“Consider that boys and girls raised in single-parent families are more than four times more likely to be poor than children raised by married parents. Socially and emotionally, girls are 2-5 times more likely to end up pregnant in adolescence and boys are 2-3 times as likely to end up incarcerated before they turn 30 if they grow up in a non-intact family. Children raised in cohabiting families are more than twice as likely to be suspended or expelled from high school compared to adolescents living with married parents. Educationally, children raised in intact homes are more likely to graduate from college, compared to children from non-intact families. Young adults from intact families also earn more money later in life and are more likely to realize the American Dream – to have more family income as adults than they did growing up – compared to their peers from unstable families.”
Rowe explains how the “Success Sequence” should be taught in schools:
“The two scholars found that only 2 percent of U.S. adults who graduated from high school, maintained a full-time job (or had a partner who did), and delayed having children until after they were twenty-one and married lived below the poverty line. Roughly 71 percent ended up in the middle class or above.”
Barack Obama reflected on a teen shooting in Chicago during 2013:
“When a child opens fire on another child, there’s a hole in that child’s heart that [the] government can’t fill – only the community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole… There’s no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families – which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood.“
Rowe reflects on the social advocates who dismiss the importance of marriage, but make very different decisions in their own lives:
“It’s also worth noting the hypocrisy of Coates and so many others who criticize a focus on marriage and fatherhood when it comes to the lives of others while they practice, or even celebrate, the importance of marriage and fatherhood in their own lives.”
He strongly pushes back against identity politics and prevailing narratives:
“If you tell young people the system is irremediably rigged against them – pound it into them that they are victims of “systemic racism” or large economic forces and that they have no opportunity and there is nothing they can do to make a difference – then do not be surprised if they act, or fail to act, accordingly.”
“Unlike today’s harbingers of doom, the “victim mongers,” who stress the futility of individual action in the face of systemic forces, we need to offer an empowering, evidence-based alternative centred on agency. Our kids need to know that, as the quote oft attributed to renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung says, “I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”
Chapter 5 tackles modern issues of diversity and inclusion, and is titled “How the Hard Bigotry of “Antiracist” Expectations and the Pursuit of “Equity” Erode Agency for All”:
“In the name of equity, now none of the 106,000 San Diego students are required to hand in their homework on time. And teachers are now prohibited from factoring in a student’s classroom behavior when formulating an academic grade… But rather than confronting all the factors that drive the development (or not) of flourishing human beings, “antiracist” and “racial equity” policies incorporate the soft bigotry of low expectations. They are soul-killing and skill-killing for all students, and especially our nation’s economically disadvantaged students.”
Rowe is especially critical of the prior attempts to close achievement gaps:
“These numbers highlight our massive national failure to effectively teach literacy and build verbal proficiency across all races. They also shatter the false assumption that racism is the sole, or even the primary, cause of low proficiency rates among black and Hispanic Americans. “Systemic racism” can hardly be the cause of such poor performance among thousands of white students (Figure 15.2). In my view, however, our multidecade obsession with closing achievement gaps has done something even worse. It encourages monocausal thinking, which keeps us from identifying solutions across categories.”
I can strongly recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about positive social change, education, and families. It has shaped my thinking, and is hugely inspirational.
“The question is this: What are we going to lead young people to believe they can achieve? Are we going to teach them a narrative of oppression, tyranny, and victimization? Or are we going to provide them with the character and tools to thrive?... The path from poverty to prosperity is not paved with grievance or bitterness but rather with hope and aspiration.”
“My primary concern, as someone who runs schools, is that both the “blame-the-system” and “blame-the-victim” narratives in tandem supress the countervailing steps young people can take to help them achieve agency and shape their own futures. Without an intervention, more young people may take on a persona of a victimized soul and adopt a mindset of “yes, I can’t” versus “yes, I can.”… Imagine if, instead of the “no matter what, you are disadvantaged” message, young people of all races understood that nothing is predetermined in their lives and that they themselves have the greatest influence over their own futures.”
This book is part auto-biographical, largely drawn from first-hand experiences in addition to detailed knowledge of teaching. Rowe takes a close look at the connections between poor school performance with single-parent families, births to young mothers, and parents who have poor education themselves:
“The research is clear and widely accepted: single parenthood among young adults is one of the strongest predictors of child poverty, school suspensions, incarceration, and educational disadvantage. Unmarried young mothers are far more likely to experience high levels of partnership instability and family complexity, and each of these is associated with poorer child well-being and inter-generational transmission of disadvantage… having children while young and unprepared is a far more challenging path, especially when it comes to achieving the best outcomes for children.”
“Burying our heads in the sand or being silenced into submission would not lift a rising generation when nearly 800,000 babies are born each year to unwed, unprepared, and usually poorly educated young women under the age of twenty-four.”
“Consider that boys and girls raised in single-parent families are more than four times more likely to be poor than children raised by married parents. Socially and emotionally, girls are 2-5 times more likely to end up pregnant in adolescence and boys are 2-3 times as likely to end up incarcerated before they turn 30 if they grow up in a non-intact family. Children raised in cohabiting families are more than twice as likely to be suspended or expelled from high school compared to adolescents living with married parents. Educationally, children raised in intact homes are more likely to graduate from college, compared to children from non-intact families. Young adults from intact families also earn more money later in life and are more likely to realize the American Dream – to have more family income as adults than they did growing up – compared to their peers from unstable families.”
Rowe explains how the “Success Sequence” should be taught in schools:
“The two scholars found that only 2 percent of U.S. adults who graduated from high school, maintained a full-time job (or had a partner who did), and delayed having children until after they were twenty-one and married lived below the poverty line. Roughly 71 percent ended up in the middle class or above.”
Barack Obama reflected on a teen shooting in Chicago during 2013:
“When a child opens fire on another child, there’s a hole in that child’s heart that [the] government can’t fill – only the community and parents and teachers and clergy can fill that hole… There’s no more important ingredient for success, nothing that would be more important for us reducing violence than strong, stable families – which means we should do more to promote marriage and encourage fatherhood.“
Rowe reflects on the social advocates who dismiss the importance of marriage, but make very different decisions in their own lives:
“It’s also worth noting the hypocrisy of Coates and so many others who criticize a focus on marriage and fatherhood when it comes to the lives of others while they practice, or even celebrate, the importance of marriage and fatherhood in their own lives.”
He strongly pushes back against identity politics and prevailing narratives:
“If you tell young people the system is irremediably rigged against them – pound it into them that they are victims of “systemic racism” or large economic forces and that they have no opportunity and there is nothing they can do to make a difference – then do not be surprised if they act, or fail to act, accordingly.”
“Unlike today’s harbingers of doom, the “victim mongers,” who stress the futility of individual action in the face of systemic forces, we need to offer an empowering, evidence-based alternative centred on agency. Our kids need to know that, as the quote oft attributed to renowned psychoanalyst Carl Jung says, “I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.”
Chapter 5 tackles modern issues of diversity and inclusion, and is titled “How the Hard Bigotry of “Antiracist” Expectations and the Pursuit of “Equity” Erode Agency for All”:
“In the name of equity, now none of the 106,000 San Diego students are required to hand in their homework on time. And teachers are now prohibited from factoring in a student’s classroom behavior when formulating an academic grade… But rather than confronting all the factors that drive the development (or not) of flourishing human beings, “antiracist” and “racial equity” policies incorporate the soft bigotry of low expectations. They are soul-killing and skill-killing for all students, and especially our nation’s economically disadvantaged students.”
Rowe is especially critical of the prior attempts to close achievement gaps:
“These numbers highlight our massive national failure to effectively teach literacy and build verbal proficiency across all races. They also shatter the false assumption that racism is the sole, or even the primary, cause of low proficiency rates among black and Hispanic Americans. “Systemic racism” can hardly be the cause of such poor performance among thousands of white students (Figure 15.2). In my view, however, our multidecade obsession with closing achievement gaps has done something even worse. It encourages monocausal thinking, which keeps us from identifying solutions across categories.”
I can strongly recommend this book to anyone who is passionate about positive social change, education, and families. It has shaped my thinking, and is hugely inspirational.
May 24, 2023
I absolutely believe in the importance of agency. Unfortunately the author tries to redefine agency by tacking on his beliefs and saying that all students must follow his plan.
Also, I am one that looks at the research that is out there and that the author links to. The author will make general statements about what the research shows that make his point, yet those statements are not supported by the research that he links.
Also, I am one that looks at the research that is out there and that the author links to. The author will make general statements about what the research shows that make his point, yet those statements are not supported by the research that he links.
December 5, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. I think Mr. Rowe says a lot of things that people don't want to hear but it's stuff we all need to hear because it's empowering. I think this book is geared toward oppressed, underprivileged, and minority audiences but it's concepts apply to everyone no matter the circumstances of their life. It's time we stop letting other people dictate what we are capable of, or what we can and cannot do, and take our life into our own hands and truly live.
Couple of my favorite things from the book "Things will not always go your way, but that doesn't matter. The odds may seem stacked against you, but that doesn't matter. You may fail at first, but that doesn't matter either. Instead, you matter. The choices you make matter. Your agency matters." (p.211)
Quoting Frederick Douglass: "The lesson taught at this point by human experience is simply this, that the man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down."
Couple of my favorite things from the book "Things will not always go your way, but that doesn't matter. The odds may seem stacked against you, but that doesn't matter. You may fail at first, but that doesn't matter either. Instead, you matter. The choices you make matter. Your agency matters." (p.211)
Quoting Frederick Douglass: "The lesson taught at this point by human experience is simply this, that the man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down."
December 3, 2022
Ian Rowe's now book is a stellar vision of what opportunity in education for everyone can be. But far from being "pie in the sky", it's also very practical, informed with experience, well researched and offers attainable solutions to the problems of poverty and disenfranchisement that seem to put opportunity for growth and flourishing out of reach. There are tremendous obstacles to overcome here, but Rowe's own experience and efforts on behalf of others show plainly that what is achievable is far beyond what we've come to expect. This book deserves the widest possible reading. I hope is ideas will become highly influential.
August 13, 2022
In better days, one would read this and say "we'll, duh!" But in our days, the self-evident and obviously true are controversial so I suppose the book needs to be written. Ideally it would be read by the people who need to read it but I suspect it won't.
September 5, 2022
Phenomenal compilation of research, experience, and insight into the growing problem of low achievement and victimhood in the upcoming generations. The “FREE” framework outlined in this book should be at every discussion table across all disciplines in our society!
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September 9, 2023This book bridges the polarized discussion between the personal responsibility versus societal systems in determining one's future. Appreciate that Ian V. Rowe works with the people he seeks to raise out of poverty.
January 13, 2025
This book has set a very high bar for everything that'll follow in '25. The thoughtful, heavily researched book highlights how faith, family, religious organizations, and personal agency are (ALL) essential to the success of the nation's youth.
July 9, 2025
yeah. this is the one. ian illustrates well how to make a true difference among our youths, how they can exercise agency in their ability to dictate their future by means of education and financial prosperity WITHOUT falling susceptible to a victim hood mentality.
September 16, 2023
Fantastic book. Such an important book for our time.
July 27, 2022
Ian Rowe’s Agency is a must read book - it inspires you to work towards a better, more loving and more equal world and not to over think it - just take action.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews