Empowerment as diffusing power

There have been a number of post that discuss the concepts of diffusing power in a classroom as well as the importance of empowering students. I particularly liked Manvir's description of diffusing power in a classroom as distributing opportunities among all students. By giving all students some power in their lives and education we are providing the students with the agency to take responsibility for their choices and actions. By giving all students some power in the classroom we are telling them that they are important members of the class and the school and by diffusing power among students equally, we are also decreasing the chances of power struggles emerging from those students who feel disenfranchised or neglected. This is exactly what I picture empowerment to be. The empowered are those who know their own abilities and who take resonsibility for their actions and choices. They are proactive in their lives and decisions and are able to interact respectfully yet assertively with those around them. In many of the posts I have read there seems to be a distinction placed between diffusing power in a classroom and empowering students. This is not to say that anyone has stated these two activities to be unrelated, but I believe that not only are they related, but they are linked directly to each other. By diffusing power among the students in a classroom you are empowering those same students, and by empowering students you are diffusing power amongst them.