Charlotte
Mason in Modern English
Charlotte
Mason's ideas are too
important not to be
understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style
of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her
books. This is an imperfect
attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to
modern parents. You may read
these, print them out, share them freely--but they are copyrighted to
me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio
pg 91
Chapter 9 - A Review of A Great
Educationalist
Looking
Towards Germany for Educational Reform
Every now and then, we in England need to stop and see what others are
doing about education in Europe. We still refer back to long-past
German educational reformers. We may not be as familiar with Comenius,
Johann
Basedow or Wolfgang
Ratich (or Ratke), but we all know something about Pestalozzi and
Froebel. But what do we know about Johann Friedrich Herbart, the man
who succeeded these two and has pretty much displaced them in the area
of teaching methods?
Herbartian
Thought is the Most Advanced in Europe
German educators are using Herbart's methods and nothing else. This is
evident when you realize that the amount of books written about his
method are more than all English books written about education put
together! A small book called Outlines
of Pedagogics by Professor W. Rein from the University of Jena,
translated into English by C. C. and Ida J. Van Liew, gives a brief
introduction to Herbart
pg 92
and his method. The author even makes allowances for advances that have
been made in the decades since Herbart died.
Since Herbart and those who rely on his method represent the most
advanced school of thought in Europe, I think it will be interesting to
compare the educational ideas I'm suggesting, and Herbart's ideas,
which have had so much influence in Germany.
Compared
with P.N.E.U. Thinking
One of the most characteristic distinctives of Herbartian thought, the
idea that makes it a new school of educational thought, is the
rejection of the concept of separate mental faculties. The earlier
reformers, most notably Pestalozzi and Froebel, divided the faculties
with the precision of a phrenologist [i.e.
one who feels the shape of a person's skull to pronounce mental capacity].
To them, the priority of education was to 'develop the faculties.'
Developing
the Faculties
There's an orderly neatness about this concept that makes it very
attractive. We like to know exactly what we need to do. With this
method, you simply develop the 'perception' faculties here, then work
on the 'conceptual' faculty, then do a lesson on 'judgment,' then
exercise the 'affection' faculty, until you've covered them all. Each
'faculty' receives its proper share of development exercises. But
Herbart and his followers have changed all of that. They see the mind
as being like a cloud in Wordsworth's poem. When it moves at all, the
whole thing moves together as a single unit.
Like
Herbart, We Discard the Notion of 'Faculties,' Too
This might seem to be just a slight difference in the foundation. But
when it's recognized, education itself changes its front. The whole
contrived system of carefully
pg 93
organized lessons designed to develop one faculty or another, becomes
questionable. The whole reason for doing specialized intellectual
gymnastics is questionable if there are no such thing as muscle
'faculties' to develop. Education must have some other goal. And if
education has a totally different goal, then the methods, as the means
to the end, will need to change to reflect that. This far, we're in
total agreement with Herbart. We agree that 'faculties' don't exist, we
agree that it's a waste of time to try to develop them, and we agree
that the purpose of lessons is not 'faculty' development. This will
necessarily change the entire course of education and the method we use
to teach.
The
Persuasiveness of Dominant Ideas
We're still nodding in agreement with Herbart when he recognizes that
an idea has a force of its own--especially ideas that are trendy at the
moment. 'The family circle and public discussion are both influenced by
forces that are active in the social world. Those forces penetrate the
entire atmosphere of human life via invisible paths. Nobody knows where
these forces come from, but they are there. They influence humanity's
moods, dreams, and inclinations. Nobody, no matter how powerful they
are, can avoid their effects. No king can command their direction.
Often, these forces originate as the idea of some genius, and once it
makes its way into the public arena, it's swept up by the masses who
don't remember its author. Then the idea, active in public
thought, impels individuals to take some kind of action with
conviction. Thus, it comes full circle. These ideas begin in the minds
of highly gifted people, but permeate all of society. They don't reach
just the
pg 94
adults, but even the young fall under their spell. Eventually, they
come back around to other highly gifted people who refine them and
elevate them to a definite form.
'Is the force of these ideas greater in the individual, or in society?
It doesn't matter. The important thing is, their effect on one results
in a proportional reaction in the other, and their influence
undoubtedly affects the younger generation.'
The
Zeitgeist [the general spirit
of the times]
We agree wholeheartedly with Herbart that nobody can escape the
influence of the Zeitgeist. The Zeitgeist, in fact, is one of the most
powerful spiritual forces in education. Parents, teachers and anyone
else connected with training children need to recognize its existence
and be prepared to make adjustments accordingly.
The
Child's Teachers
Nature, family relations, social dialog, this 'Zeitgeist' force, the
church, government--all of these are influences that children are
raised under, says Professor Rein as he interprets Herbart. He says
that these are our children's schoolmasters, and we'd be wise to think
about that thought. 'Education starts with the family; from there it
goes
out...' says Herbart. Just like us, he considers that what happens in
the family is the most valuable part of education. This is because of
the union shared in common, the dependence on the head [inferring first-hand experience with the
concept of authority/submission?], and the fact that the
youngest members
are so intimately known and understood.
A
Noble Piety
All the members of a family look to the head. This sense of being
dependent fosters the proper attitude for receiving the most precious
thing for mankind--which is
pg 95
the religious feeling. If the home atmosphere is permeated with a noble
reverence, then a sincere faith can take root in the hearts of the
children. A child's faithful devotion to guiding parents in his youth
grows into faithful devotion to God who controls human destinies.
Herbart expressed this idea beautifully: 'A child should see his family
as the symbol of order in the world. His parents should provide him
with the ideals of God's divine characteristics.'
A
Medieval Concept of Education
We have always strived to present education as something that springs
from and rests on our relationship to God. We are firmly committed to
this idea. We don't seek to provide a 'religious education' as an
alternative to some other kind of education, like secular education. We
believe that all education is
divine. Every good gift of knowledge and insight comes from God. God
the Spirit is, ultimately, the One who educates mankind. The
culmination of all education (which is approachable even for a little
child) is personal knowledge of God, and an intimate relationship with
Him. In that relationship, our being finds its fullest perfection. In
fact, we agree with the great concept of education that the Medieval
Church held. It's illustrated on the walls of the Spanish chapel in
Florence. It shows the Holy Spirit coming down on the twelve apostles.
Directly under them, fully covered by the illuminating rays of the
Spirit, are seven noble figures representing the seven liberal arts:
grammar, rhetoric, logic, music, astronomy, geometry and arithmetic.
Under these are pictured the seven men who received and expressed the
original concept
pg 96
in each of those subjects, as far as the artist could tell. Pictured
are such men as Pythagoras, Zoroaster and Euclid. We might think of
them as pagans, but the early church recognized that they had received
divine knowledge and enlightenment.
The
Family Principle
This next quote of Herbart's is one we fully endorse, because it
contains the very goal of our society. 'Of all the duties of the
family, the highest and most holy is the education of the children. The
welfare, civilization, and culture of society essentially depend on how
successful education is at home. Religious life and educational
life meet and revolve around the point of the family principle.
Compared with the influence of family, even a king's command seems
powerless.'
By the way, I'll mention that Dr. Rein's mention of Rousseau is a
little misleading. It's true that in his book Emile, the parents are displaced,
but notwithstanding that fact, perhaps no other educationalist has done
so much to make parents aware of their great responsibility in
educating their children. After discussing the conditions of training
at home, Dr. Rein begins to discuss schools a) as they exist for real
in Germany, and b) as he envisions them in his own ideal. This topic
should be very interesting to parents.
Uncertainty
About The Purpose of Education
Teleology (the theory of the purpose of education) is the subject of
the next chapter in Rein's book, and it's very informative. It's good
for us to realize how much uncertainty there is on this fundamental
point. In fact, few of us are clear about our own goals and ideals in
our children's education. We don't know how much is possible, so, since
pg 97
since people don't usually achieve more than they aim for, our
education ends up inadequate and disappointing,
Some
Attempts to Fix the Purpose of Education
'Should educators follow Rousseau's advice and bring up a child of
nature in the middle of a society of civilized people? As Herbart
showed, doing that would only cause us to repeat the entire progression
of the evils from the beginning that have already been overcome as
we've progressed. Or should we listen to Locke and prepare our children
to be secular participants in a secular society? The next step is to
follow the teachings of Basedow and train our children to be truly
useful members of human society. But we'd always have nagging doubts
about whether that was the best ideal purpose after all, and whether we
sometimes feel like our students are at odds with the way the rest of
the world operates. But if we think about man's unlimited potential for
self-improvement, then we realize that we need to have high ideals if
we want to reach the lofty goals we have in mind.
'Therefore, educators need to have an ideal and a goal in mind.
Pestalozzi might help in providing information and forming an ideal,
since his very nature demonstrated such ideal tendencies. He wanted all
of mankind to benefit by harmoniously cultivating all abilities. But
most people don't really know what's included in his multiplicity of
mental powers, or what he meant by harmony of various powers. The
phrases sound good, but aren't satisfactory. The purely formal aims
of education won't be any more appealing to educators. 'Educate the
student to make him totally independent,' or, 'Teach the student to
teach
pg 98
himself,' or, 'Educate the student so that 'it' will be better than
'its' teacher.' (Hermann and Dorothea, Hector and Astyanax in the
Iliad.) These kinds of attempts to fix education's purpose are abundant
in the history of teaching, but they don't bring us any closer to the
goal. For instance, they don't say what kind of independence the
student should have, what kind of subjects should be taught, what goals
the teacher should keep in mind, or which direction it should to go in.
The student who finally realizes the goal of becoming independent can
freely use his independence for good or evil.'
Herbart's
Ethical Theory
As far as we can tell, Herbart's own theory of education is mostly
ethical rather than intellectual. In other words, developing and
sustaining the intellect is only secondary. Building character is
the first priority for humans, because, a) if we train character, then
intellectual 'development' will take care of itself, and, b) the
lessons created for intellectual learning have high value for the
character, either by training the discipline or stimulating
character. We're familiar with this concept. We've always taught
that building character is the goal of education. So far, we're in
total agreement with Herbart, but, if we may say so, what we've
learned of physiology has brought us to a clearly defined aim that
Herbart desired but never could reach.
Obscurity
of Psychology
Herbart says that we must appeal to psychology, but then he adds, 'of
course, we can't expect an agreeable answer from all of the
psychologists. There is still some confusion
pg 99
here, in the difference of perspectives about the nature of the
human soul, and the great difficulty met by the empirical method of
research. A final explanation can hardly be expected, under the
circumstances.'
Two
Shining Principles
This may be the case with psychology alone, but when psychology is
illuminated with physiology, it's a different story. Studying the vague
area between mind and matter is what's most helpful to educators. The
brain is where habit originates. The culture of habit is a physical
endeavor, to a certain degree. The discipline of habit makes up a third
of education. The advances in the field of physical science give us an
advantage that Herbart didn't have fifty years ago. We 're in total
agreement with him about the importance of great formative ideas in the
education of children, but in addition to formative ideas, we believe
in the forming of habits, and we work to form habits that will effect
the physical tissue of the brain. Character doesn't just come from exposing children to
great ideas. It's also the result of habits that we strive to instill
based on those ideas. We recognize both
principles--idea and habit. The result is that we have a wide range of
possibilities in education, practical methods, and definite aim. Our
goal is to produce a human being who is the best he can be physically,
intellectually, ethically and spiritually; a person who will have the
enthusiasm of religion, full life, nature, knowledge, art, and physical
work. And we're not clueless about how to achieve it. I've tried to
share in a previous chapter what I see as the root problem with
Herbart's educational philosophy: it tends to eliminate individual
personality, and therefore leads to odd
pg 100
futilities in teaching. It's more pleasing to note that certain basic
ideas that have been around for a long time and are part of our own
educational scheme, also appealed just as much to a brilliant, original
thinker like Herbart.
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any
comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.