Charlotte Mason
Charlotte Mason was a British educator and reformer of the 1800’s who invested 50 years of her life to improving the quality of children’s education. She envisioned a generous and broad curriculum for all children regardless of social class. Her experiences teaching convinced her that adults would be greatly helped if they understood some basic principles about bringing up children. Many schools adopted her philosophy and methods and she directed a teacher training college. She also supervised a network of schools devoted to a liberal education for all.
To her education was about more than training for a job, passing an exam, or getting into the right college, but a preparation for life. She was convinced that education was an atmosphere (that a child absorbs from his environment), a discipline, and a life - finding out about who we are and how we fit into the world and the universe God created.
Charlotte believed children were quite able to deal with ideas and knowledge - not blank slates or empty sacks to be filled with information. It was children who did the work of dealing with ideas and knowledge, rather than the teacher acting as middle man dispensing filtered knowledge (from, for instance, dry textbooks and summaries of information). Instead, students were granted direct access to the best sources - preferably the author of the ideas himself. Children needed first-hand exposure to great and noble ideas through literary books in each school subject. Whether fiction or non-fiction, these books were referred to as “living books” because they conferred the best ideas from the best minds (or at least the real story from someone who had been there or had a real interest in the subject) that were interesting and therefore engaging making the topic “come alive”. Typically, living books were written in a narrative or story form by an author who had a passion for his topic. A high standard of excellence in literature was therefore pursued endorsing quality which was preferred over quantity (and the lifeless summaries normally prevalent in textbooks of the humanities and sciences). Great literature was read to the child daily. In addition to books, children were exposed to great minds through art, music, and poetry.
She regarded as true that the knowledge of God, as found in the Bible, was the primary knowledge and the most important. History was taught chronologically, using well-written history books, source documents, and biographies. Literature was taught along with history, using books from or about the same time period. Language arts skills were learned through narration (the first steps to composition especially in the early years) which consisted of the student telling back a story orally and in the student’s later years in written form. Copywork provided handwriting practice or transcribing a well-written piece of literature. Passages from books were dictated. Recitation, unlike rote memorization, gave children material to think on which exercised the mental “muscles” of the brain and was not merely being utilized to assimilate dry facts. Scripture from the Bible, poetry, songs, and more used recitation as a means to learn subjects in a pleasant way. In the early years, science emphasized nature study focussing on the observation of creation as a means to the knowledge of God. The emphasis was on nurturing curiosity and a sense of wonder. It was important that students of all ages were outdoors each day in all weather and in different environments to teach about nature and its living ways first-hand. Preschool for children younger than six consisted almost entirely of time spent outdoors. The ability to reason was emphasized over “working sums” in teaching mathematics. Story problems and working with numbers that were within the child’s comprehension were used instead. Proficiency was encouraged in at least two foreign languages as well as the study of Latin. Some time for a physical fitness routine was set aside each day as well which included walks and stretching, calisthenics, dancing, singing, or games.
Her philosophy used some informal teaching methods and encouraged a fair amount of free time in the afternoon for the great outdoors, personal interests like handcrafts, or exploring the world from, say, the inside of a museum. It was not a back-to-basics approach, although the basics were not neglected, just taught in different ways.
Narration, telling back, after reading in various subjects consolidated learning in the mind of the student. Students were able to recall, without studying, material months later for their exams to the astonishment of adults. They pointed out the ideas they gleaned from reading and any mental connections made between it and other ideas already residing in their growing minds and hearts.
Charlotte Mason’s schools featured short lessons (10-20 minutes per subject for younger children, longer for older ones) with an emphasis on excellent execution and focused attention, whether thinking through a challenging math problem, looking carefully at a painting and then describing it, copying just a few words neatly, or listening to a short story and narrating it. There were variations in the day’s scheduled activities so as not to over-stress the brain on one task.
Good habit training as a discipline for cultivating the child’s will and behaviour was emphasized from a young age. Children were trained to develop the will, which is manifested in a strong resolve to act in a right manner. This developed character. She taught parents to encourage in their children self-restraint and delayed gratification. Good habits were wonderful servants but unworthy tyrannical masters.
There were no rewards or prizes for learning since children found delight in learning subjects in and of themselves by the methodologies Charlotte Mason employed. Competition with others was discouraged but the child was simply encouraged to do his best in everything.
Children were taught the fallibility of reason, and that the responsibility of each individual was not to reason out the proofs, but in making sure the initial idea or assumption was sound.
There was no separation between the intellectual and spiritual life of children as she believed that all truth was from God, regardless of where and from whom it was derived.
Education was learning about life: the lives of heroes who acted with bravery and self-sacrifice, the works of musicians and artists who gave the world beauty, the impact of inventors, politicians, and activists and what motivated them.
It is essential to understand that Charlotte Mason’s methods are more than all the elements of curriculum described above. Her philosophy of education is based on 20 Principles outlined in the prefaces to her six-volume set of books. Her first principle - children are born persons (which seems obvious to us at first glance ) - on closer inspection reveals that the personality of children is not something to be encroached upon by undue influence and pressure from without. What does that look like practically? Her writings develop this idea and propose other transcendent principles that shape educational efforts. It is by thoroughly comprehending and adhering to these principles - the essential ideas and objectives, not a particular curriculum - that robust results were forthcoming in the lives of children. In fact, educational practice looked different depending on the needs of a situation without departing from these universal principles. Charlotte Mason did not offer more education but the right kind of thinking about how real education is achieved. The principles presented and illuminated the plan and provided the sieve through which the appropriate materials were chosen for any particular educational endeavour. Her practice was various and elastic. Her principles however, like a plumb line, were constant.
N.B. Charlotte Mason’s philosophy and methods are firmly rooted in the Christian view of a personal God, the created world, and people as individuals created in God’s image.