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 148
This chapter appears in a Parents'
Review article.
Chapter
14 A Master-Thought
A
Motto
Some of you already know the Parents' Union motto: 'Education is an
atmosphere, a discipline, a life,' because there's a neat diagram of it
on the covers of our library books. They say that a society is destined
to live by its motto. One respected educationalist wrote this to me
about public education: 'Now, more than ever, we need the kind of
educational perspective that's expressed in the memorable words of the
Parents' Review motto.' An inspiring motto always has power, but living
upon our motto's good
reputation, and living up to
it, and in it are two
different things. I believe that the Parents' Union has a lot of
continual thinking and challenging living ahead if it wants to
interpret and illustrate those 'memorable words' to the world.
Fortunately, we're a courageous bunch. We have some determined
intentions,
and we're passionate about them. Those who set a goal with the best
determination, and who expend effort for the best, will see the best as
a result.
How
the 1800's Implemented the Principle of 'Education is an Atmosphere'
Meanwhile, we sometimes make mistakes by taking one part and acting as
if
it were the whole, and sometimes even by focusing on a small part of a
part
pg 149
and mistaking that for the whole. Of the three phrases in the motto,
the first, 'education is an atmosphere,' tends to be our favorite
because it's the most inviting for the permissive non-intervening part
of our human nature. And we lose something by thinking that
'atmosphere' is the same as 'environment,' and thinking that the word
itself holds some kind of magic key. The word 'atmosphere' is symbolic,
but a symbol means more to us than the word that's used. When we think
of everything surrounding the child as 'atmosphere,' then our
considerations will expand even to the air a child breathes, to make
sure it's fresh, clean and invigorating, and that the child breathes it
in deeply and correctly. If we use the more literal word,
'environment,' our concept will be more limited.
Results
of Permissive Non-intervention
But when we think of an education as an atmosphere, we get a fresh,
dynamic concept in our minds. If we imagine that it means sunshine,
green fields, pleasant rooms, good pictures, gentle inspiration used to
get children to learn their lessons, eliminating everything that we
feel isn't needed, charming, smiling teachers mesmerizing the children
into complying to be like everyone else, then it's easy for us to sit
back, satisfied that everything is going great and all of education is
being accomplished. But it's not. Although it's true that we can't live
without air, it's just as true that we can't live on air alone.
Children raised on the concept of 'environment' soon start showing
signs of laziness. They have very little curiosity, if they have any at
all, no ability to focus their attention or their effort, and, worst of
all, they lose their spontaneity and
pg 150
initiative. They expect life to come and drop itself into them like
raindrops dripping into a tub, without any effort or intention on their
part.
Boredom
The notion that education is covered by environment, or maybe even by
atmosphere, has been popular for the past generation or two, and it
seems to have left its mark on our public and private lives. We're more
interested in having things done for us than in doing things for
others. We're not interested in directing our own lives one way or the
other, we'd rather have our lives managed for us. A schedule of
appointments and events dictates what to do now, and what to do next.
We crave exciting entertainment, like parades and thrilling movies.
Even Shakespeare plays have become such spectacular displays that
Shakespeare's dialogues are lost in the show. There's nothing
intrinsically wrong with these things, but our desire to escape from
boredom reflects our one-sided view of education--the view that
education is all about atmosphere.
The
Way the 1700's Implemented 'Education is a Life' Causes Intellectual
Weariness
An even more consuming fatigue set in at the end of the 1700's, and
that was also the result of focusing on a part instead of the whole of
education. 'Education is a life' was the formula then, although not
consciously. The result was an obsessive chasing after ideas. It's
pathetic to read about Madame de
Stael and her crowd, or the cultured group who met at the
fashionable court of Hotel Rambouillet, and stayed up late because they
couldn't sleep. They spent long nights making up character sketches of
each other, brain teasers, word puzzles, and other
pg 151
useless intellectual games. Then some of them would meet early for
breakfast to compose and sing little songs fashioned after specific
themes. That might bore us as much as it bored them. We might err by
focusing too much on one thing as they did, but at least we have less
stress because we aren't always restlessly pursuing interesting
notions. But their experience can be a lesson for us at the beginning
of the 1900's. Their mistake was that they didn't understand the
concept of proportion. We tend to focus on education as atmosphere;
they focused on education as ideas. But the truth includes both of these as well as a third
aspect of education.
The
Concept of Education as the Cultivation of Faculties Leads to Abnormal
Developments
The third part of the motto, 'Education is a discipline,' has always
had its supporters, and it still does. Everyone recognizes that
disciplined moral and intellectual habits make up an important third of
education. But we go too far if we imagine that certain qualities of
character and behavior can be produced like factory-spun thread
if we use some educational system, or math, or science or athletics. In
other words, it's excessive when the notion of developing supposed
'faculties' displaces the physical fact of how intellectual habits are
formed. The difference between the two may seem small, but two streams
that originate a foot apart from the same mountain can end up watering
two entirely different countries. Two educational concepts may seem similar, but in practice, they
often branch off in totally different directions. Plutarch's father
pg 152
made him study Homer to give him heroic ideas of life. If young
Plutarch had merely been forced to learn Homer as a part of the
classical grind for the purpose of 'developing faculties,' he would
have been turned into a stuffy scholar instead of a man who was in
touch with life in many different aspects who was able to analyze men's
affairs with his reasonable, charitable mind. I think that the attempt
to use discipline to develop the 'faculties' tends to produce one-sided
people--limited, as people always are who develop abnormally. An artist
told me recently that success as an artist requires total absorption
with art. A painter has to think pictures, paint pictures, nothing but
pictures. But when art was great, men weren't just artists. The Flemish
painter Quentin Matsys also worked with wrought iron and did other
things, too. Michelangelo wrote sonnets, designed buildings, and
painted. Marble sculpture wasn't his only way of expressing himself.
Leonardo Da Vinci wrote systematic discourses, designed canals, played
musical instruments, and did a hundred things, all excellently. But
then, the concept of isolating and training separate 'faculties' hadn't
occurred to these great men or their teachers.
Education
has Three Faces
Now that we're clear and sure that education doesn't have just one
face, we can move on and consider how 'education is a life' without
getting caught up in thinking that it's all there is to education.
One
of the Faces is Education is a Life
Jesus said, 'Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God.' The importance of the occasion when He
spoke those words has tended to make us think that the words are limited
pg 153
to what we call the life of the soul. But actually, they include a
great educational principle that the Medieval Church understood better
than we do. I'd like to describe again a painting that so visibly
expresses our educational creed. You may be familiar with the frescoes
on the walls of the Spanish
Chapel in the Church of S. Maria Novella in Florence, Italy. Middle
Age philosophy dealt with theology as its subject matter. There's a lot
of religious culture of that time that we don't relate to on some of
the
walls, but on one specific part of the wall and roof, we have a
uniquely satisfying illustration of educational thought. At the top
of the picture, we see the Holy Spirit descending in the form of a
dove. Immediately below in the upper part are the disciples who first
received the Spirit's inspiration. Under them is a random crowd of
various nationalities who were brought indirectly under the influence
of that first outpouring of the Spirit, including a couple of dogs to
illustrate that even the animals benefited from this new grace. In the lower
part, we see the angelic figures who represent the cardinal
virtues, which we all agree are divinely inspired. They are floating
above the seated apostles and prophets, who Scripture says 'spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit.' So far, this Medieval concept of
philosophy reveals nothing new to those of us familiar with the
elements of Christian truth. But below them are 28 people-- those on
the right at the top are the captain figures, or idealized
pg 154
representations of the seven Liberal Arts. They are graceful and
beautiful and represent the familiar subjects of grammar, rhetoric,
logic, music, astronomy, geometry, and arithmetic, all under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Medieval philosophy manifests itself as
even more liberal when we see that, directly at the feet of each of
these idealized figures is the person they considered to be the leader
and representative of that particular science: Priscian, Cicero,
Aristotle, Tubal Cain, Zoroaster, Euclid, and Pythagoras. Later, a
narrower view of religion would place these men outside the barrier of
Christianity, inferring that their teaching was outside of God's
spirit and thus secular. But in this picture, they're all shown
receiving the same divine outpouring as the disciples near the top.
A
Creed That Unifies Life
We naturally crave unity. Current thinking, as thinking has done for as
long as we can tell, seeks to establish some kind of principle that
will unify life. In this fresco we have a magnificent plan of unity. We
tend to think of spiritual holiness as one thing, and intellectual and
artistic yearnings as something totally separate, and moral virtues as
something we pick up from our environment and by inheritance. We don't
consider them as something related to our conscious religion. That's
why we often have so much discord in our lives, especially young,
devoted people who want to be pure and holy but who can't escape from
the overpowering draw of art, intellect and pure physical enjoyment.
But they've been taught that these things are worldly and alien to a
religious life and they need to choose one or other. So they make a
choice, and their choice isn't
pg 155
always what those who are nonscripturally and unphilosophically
narrow-minded would consider a godly choice. We should be thankful for
Taddeo Gaddi and Simone Memmi [for painting the fresco, although the
fresco is now attributed to Andrea da Firenze] because they gave
us a creed that shows that our devotion, virtue, intellect and even our
physical beauty come from the same source--God Himself. They're all
inspired by the same source--God's Holy Spirit. (Copies of the fresco can be purchased to
hang on our walls from 'La Discessa dello Spirot Santo' and Allegoria
filosofica della Religione Cattolica' in care of Mr. G. Cole, 1 Via
Torna Buoni, Forence; shilling size, numbers 4077 and 4093.) The
generations that were brought up in this creed were productive in all
kinds of areas. Venice's noble industry was more dignified and sobered
because of this concept that all ideas were inspired by God--trade,
justice, fair weights and measures, and practical use. Coleridge writes
that Columbus, informed by the divine idea, ventured out to discover a
new world. Coleridge adds that 'great inventions and ideas about nature
were given to men who were selected by a divine power even higher than
nature herself. These ideas suddenly unfold in a prophetic kind of
succession, these systematic views were destined to produce the most
important revolutions in the state of man.' When Columbus returned
after discovering a new world, the people and rulers assumed it was a
gift from God and sang praises to God.
The
Diet of Great Ideas
Michelangelo wrote to his friend Vittoria Colonna that 'good Christians
always create good, beautiful figures. In making a representation of
our adored Lord, it isn't enough for the artist to be a great skilled
master. I believe that he must also be a moral, righteous man, possibly
a saint, so that the Holy
pg 156
Spirit will give him inspiration.' The truth is, only one diet affords
what men and nations need to become great. And that diet is a diet of
great ideas passed on by a power even higher than Nature itself to
people who
have prepared themselves to receive them.
Science:
The Approved Teaching of Our Day
I think that the PNEU has the leaven that can leaven the whole lump of
dough. Let's determine to work with a purpose and passion. Let's
restore to the world that great scheme of unity in life that produced
such great men and great works in the past, and let's enrich that with
current knowledge. We don't need to be afraid that the kinds of ideas
that will help education will oppose science. Many of us feel, for good
reason, that science is the
new teaching that's being emphasized in our age. That makes some people
very happy. They see it as a sign that moral and religious struggles
are about to be eliminated from life, and then life, for better or
worse, will run along an easy inevitable path. Others are confused and
are desperately looking for a middle ground where science and religion
can be reconciled. Still others take refuge by rejecting the theory of
evolution and all that goes with it. They hope to cling to religion by
interpreting it more and more narrowly. Whichever group we fall into,
we probably err by not having enough faith.
First of all, let's be convinced that, for a believer, science and
religion can't possibly be at odds. Once we're assured of this, we
might be able to see scientific evolution as a process of
pg 157
revelation that's brought about in every case as far as I know by a
process described by Coleridge: 'Ideas about nature were given to men
who were selected by a divine power even higher than nature herself.
These ideas suddenly unfold in a prophetic kind of succession, these
systematic views were destined to produce the most important
revolutions in the state of man.' Huxley says that biology is useful
because it 'helps to give the right ideas in this world. After all,
this world is absolutely governed by ideas--and very often, by the
wildest and most hypothetical ideas.' He goes on, 'people who refuse to
go beyond the fact rarely get as far as the fact. Anyone who knows the
history of science knows that almost every advance has been made by the
anticipation of nature--in other words, by the invention of
hypothesis.' Surely men of science will find the unifying principle
they seek that Coleridge spoke of. If they did, then they would be able
to distinguish themselves, not just as the proclaimers of truth that
they're ready to take a stand for, but as servants of God who prepared
themselves to receive revelation from God, who is the Truth.
Evolution
is the Master-thought of the Age
Few of us can forget the mental image that Carlyle described of the Tiers etat [French commonality; the French nobles
refused to treat their concerns seriously and this was a cause of the
French Revolution of 1789] waiting for organization. 'Wise as
serpents, harmless as doves. What a spectacle for France! Six hundred
inhuman people who are needed to bring it back to life and save it, sit
on their long benches, desperately wishing for life.' Coleridge wrote
just as accurately about botany, although not as vividly. He said that
botany, as it existed in his day, was waiting for a unifying
pg 158
idea that would organize it. He wrote, 'What is Botany right now? Not
much more than an enormous collection of names, a huge catalog,
meticulously arranged. Every year and every month, more names are
added in various categories, and each has its own filing method and
reference system. It's the innocent diversion, healthy hobby and
impressive collection of amateurs. Botany still doesn't have the kind
of energy and devotion that true philosophers would give it.' Our
generation has been given the key word to interpret life, both animal
and plant, but we don't know what to do with it.
For
Ages, People Have Looked for a Unifying Principle
The human mind finds a great deal of rest and satisfaction in the
concept of evolution. But we shouldn't forget that, for three thousand
years, thinkers have been busy trying to explain the world with a
single principle that would also explain Reason and the human soul.
Herakleitos and the men of his time thought that they had found the
answer when they said that 'the true Being is forever changing.' They
thought that 'the universal change and evolving of things' explained it
perfectly. Demokritos and the men of his age thought they had solved
the riddle when they said, 'nothing exists except atoms moving around
in space.' Many times since then, with each world-changing discovery,
science has declared, 'I've solved the mystery!' when it's found a
principle that seems to explain all things and eliminate the existence
of personality.
But
Personality Still Remains
A little familiarity with history and philosophy will make us stop and
think. We'll recognize that each new discovery that has given the old a
clearer concept of how nature works is like a lake that appears to be
pg 159
at its end, but as soon as your boat gets close enough, it proves to be
deceptive--it's really just an opening to a part of the lake that goes
even farther on! And knowledge from God is something like that. It does
more than give us the broader perspective that we get from knowing
history. Knowing about history teaches us that there's a 'stream of
tendency,' as Wordsworth puts it. There's an impersonal stream of force
that can't be measured, and it's shaping people and events. But beyond
that, there's also the variable force of Individual Personality that's
has the ability to turn the 'stream of tendency' for its own purposes,
although Personality is just as likely to be swept away in its current.
Parents'
and Teachers' Attitudes About Evolution
It may seem like I'm dwelling on a topic that has little to do with
raising and teaching children. But I think that a vital part of a
parent's preparation is his own attitude about the concept of evolution
and age-appropriate lessons to teach it. If parents brush off the
driving ideas that move the age they live in, then they can hardly
expect to maintain influence over their children's minds. If they're
afraid and suspicious of new scientific revelations, then they'll plant
a seed of distrust and conflict in their children. On the other hand,
if they rush in like a zealous novice and proclaim the newest
scientific revelation as the final answer that explains everything
about human nature and even makes God unnecessary, unknowable or
distant and negligent, then they risk lowering the level of their
children's lives to the mere struggle for existence that we hear so
much about these days. Such a life has no reason to hope, set goals,
set oneself apart for God, or make sacrifices. But parents need to
recognize that every great concept in nature is like a new page of
God's revelation to people who are ready for the information. They need
to realize that a newly discovered scientific concept, no matter how
far-reaching and comprehensive it seems, is not final or conclusive.
pg 160
New ideas shouldn't be assumed to be in opposition against the personal
knowledge of God, which is the greatest knowledge of all. If parents
have this mindset, then their children will grow up with an attitude of
respect for science, reverence for God, and an open mind that's
appropriate for people whose lives are so short and who never get to
the point where they've learned everything there is to know. That's
enough about the diet of ideas that are being served to the world at
this time of history.
Education
is a World Concern
Maybe we include poetry, or art, or philosophy, who knows what else,
but we need to make sure of two things. We need to make sure that we,
as well as our children, stay in touch with the great thoughts that
educated the world in the past, and we need to maintain the right
attitude in ourselves and our children about the great ideas of our own
age. It's tempting to focus education on our personal favorite topics
so that we lose sight of the fact that education is a world concern.
The important lessons of the ages have already been determined. Each
generation needs to be concerned about the ideas of its own age, as
well as the ideas from all of the generations before it. After all,
nobody feels like they've mastered a book when all they've read is the
last page. And this brings me to the point that I'm anxious to share
with you.
We don't recognize how important the need is for the principle of unity
in education. We don't have one major 'Captain' idea that can make it
clear which of the many educational ideas floating around will suit our
purposes. Since we don't have any guiding principle to give us some
focus, we feel like we can pick and choose whatever strikes our fancy.
One person thinks science should be all the education his son gets.
Another likes the classics. A third prefers an education in mechanics.
A fourth thinks that a specialized technical education is a good idea,
and a fifth who's obsessed with physical health chooses a school that
makes nutrition and exercise the bulk
pg 161
of its program. (I don't mean to imply that we should neglect health,
but as long as general conditions are healthful, then it's best for
children not to focus much attention on their personal health.)
Everyone thinks he's free to do whatever seems right in his own eyes
when it comes to his children's education.
I'd like to discourage this kind of educational faddism as
strongly as I can. It's wrong to accept a one-sided concept as an
educational guide instead of a universal idea. Instead, I'd like to
constantly present, in season and out of season, one of these universal
ideas: the idea that education is the science of relationships.
Our
'Captain' Idea: Education is the Science of Relationships
A child should be brought up to have enthusiastic relationships with
earth
and water. He should run, ride, swim, skate, lift and carry. He should
be familiar with different textures and know how to work with different
materials. He should know the names of everything on the earth around
him--the birds, animals, insects, plants and trees, and he should know
where to find them in their natural habitat. He should be familiar with
literature, art, and the
thoughts of the past and the present. I don't mean that he should know all of these things. But when he
reads a newspaper article about the discovery of ancient frescoes from
the palace of King Minos in Crete, he should feel the same thrill that
the Cretan peasants felt when they were digging their gardens and their
shovels uncovered the frescoes. He shouldn't be thrilled just because
of the proximity of Crete to England, but because he has a living,
active
relationship with the past. Blood may be thicker than water, but
thought makes a person more alive than blood. The child also needs to
have a
living relationship with his own current era, and have a sense of
where it's going in historical movement, science, art, social issues and
pg 162
ideals. He needs to have a broad perspective, intimate relationships
with things all around him, and he should display a strong sense of
virtue in
what he does, determines, sympathizes with, and relates to. This isn't
an impossible goal. In fact, it can be pretty much accomplished in
any intelligent child by age thirteen or fourteen because it
doesn't depend on how much is
learned, but on how things
are learned.
A
Wider Curriculum
Children should be given a wide range of subjects with the goal of
establishing at least one relationships I mentioned in each subject.
They should learn from first-hand sources--really good books, the best
ones available in each subject they're studying. They should get at the
books for themselves. They shouldn't have to listen to a flood of
diluting talk from their teacher. The teacher's job is to point things
out, stimulate interest, give guidance and provide limits in order to
help the child as he acquires knowledge. But in no way is the teacher
supposed to be the wellspring and source of all knowledge herself. The
less parents and teachers interpret for the child and lecture from
their own personal supply of information and opinions, the better for
the child. Pre-digested food fed to a healthy person doesn't help to
strengthen the digestion. Children must be allowed to reflect for
themselves and sort things out in their own minds. If they need help,
they'll ask for it.
We
Shouldn't Choose or Reject Subjects
With this 'Captain' Idea of Establishing Relationships as our guide,
it's easy to see how unwise it is to choose one subject or reject that
subject because we deem it more beneficial or less necessary to a
child's future. For example, we might decide that eight-year-old Thomas
doesn't need to waste his time studying Latin
pg 163
Grammar. We plan to give him a marketable skill or scientific
background; what good will Latin be towards that? But we don't realize
that we're depriving Thomas of more than a Latin Grammar
textbook. Thomas has to translate something like, 'Pueri formosos equos vident.' ['The boys see a beautiful horse.']
Thomas, being human, is a reflective being. He's heard something about
the strong Romans whose language he's now learning about. Roman boys
catch his interest. And he wishes he had one of their horses! The Latin
Grammar isn't just dull words to Thomas. At any rate, Thomas knows
better than we do that 'dull' doesn't apply to words! I know that it's
only every now and then that a notion grasps the attention of young
boys, but when it happens, it works wonders and does more for his
education than years and years of the daily grind of textbooks and
lectures.
Let's try, however imperfectly, to make education a science of
relationships. In other words, in one or more subjects, let's try to
let children work with living ideas. When it comes to education, even
small efforts are honored with great rewards. We believe that the kind
of education we're giving exceeds everything we intended or imagined.
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any
comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.