The decision to be designated a Free Learner should not be taken lightly. FL is a label of responsibility.
It says to the world that you wish to take full responsibility for your education--what you learn, how you learn it and who you learn with and from. It also says that you are mature, respectful and considerate enough to handle the freedom.
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freedom + responsibility = Free learner

•  Freedom is when a person can do what they want to do and have what they want to have.
•  Responsibility is when a person chooses to limit their freedom to allow others to enjoy theirs.
•  Both are needed for a good society to be possible.
•  Rights are the means by which each person’s freedoms are balanced against the freedoms of other people.
•  Laws are the means by which the rights of others are encoded and enforced.
•  Responsible action is freely chosen whereas legal action is coerced through enforcement on pain of penalty for disobedience.
•  Education should aim to develop responsibility - which is morally superior to law-abiding obedience.
•  Responsible behaviour derives from thoughtful reflection with regard to consequences, empathy, and free choice.

Responsibility is best learned through living in a community which solves its problems and disputes through negotiation and respect for the rights of others rather than fear of punishment.
 
The work of New York psychologist Stephanie Fagin-Jones is of interest. Courageous altruism: Personal and situation correlates of rescue during the Holocaust. The Journal of Positive Psychology  When Stephanie interviewed 79 non-Jewish Holocaust “rescuers” and compared their attitudes and personalities with a similar number of non-Jewish “bystanders” she found that those who took risks to intervene tended to be autonomous and non-conformist with high levels of moral responsibility whereas those who stood by and failed to intervene were more law-abiding and obedient.

"The best environment for helping young people to develop the necessary traits would seem to be one that allows the freedom of self-directed learning within a community context of rights-respecting democratic decision making. You cannot be forced to be responsible – you have to learn it through taking and sharing responsibility – just as you cannot be forced to learn to swim by passing tests in a classroom without being allowed in the pool."
-Derry Hannam, Author, Another Way is Possible: Becoming a Democratic Teacher in a State School