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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 101
Chapter 11 - Faith and Duty: Parents as
Teachers of Morals (Review of the Book The Moral Instruction of Children
by Felix Adler)
Laws
of Nature and Ways of Man
Correctly understood, education is the science of living. Every attempt
to develop a system for this science should be anticipated with
interest, and appreciated with gratitude, depending on how successful
it is. Thinking minds everywhere are busy contributing their share to
this great project in one aspect or another, whether it's physical,
social or religious. It's easy to see the importance of every attempt
to solve scientific or social problems, or problems of faith because
each gain helps us to understand the 'laws of nature' and 'ways of
men.' Love for these and a dutiful attitude towards them, or a desire
for them, is the only practical result of education, according to Mr.
Huxley. Let's consider three great books in this regard: The Moral Instruction of Children
by Felix Adler, Education from a
National Standpoint by Alfred Fouillée, and Faith: Eleven Sermons with a Preface
by Rev. H.C. Beeching. One of the books deals with the problems of
'secular' morality from an American perspective. One book deals
pg 102
with the whole issue of national education from a scientific French
perspective. And the third book doesn't claim to be an educational
book. It deals with the 'ways of men,' but only as they relate to God's
will and ways. In other words, it deals with the deep wellsprings that
the questions of life come from. True educationalists start from within
and work out, so they'll probably be greatly helped by an author whose
worldview rests on faith.
Teaching
Children Morals
In The Moral Instruction of Children,
Felix Adler takes on the challenge of nondenominational moral
education. He has some unusual qualities
that make him qualified for this: a broad perspective, training in
philosophy, and a wide love of literature and knowledge of books that's
essential for anyone teaching morals. All educated parents should own a
copy of his book--not to be swallowed whole as a 'complete guide,' but
to study with careful attention, sifting out what's worth implementing,
and rejecting what doesn't fit the parent's educational method of
choice. Adler has a few handicaps. He writes for American public
schools, so anything he suggests for moral training has to be
nonsectarian. In his attempt to avoid any denominational leaning, he
excludes any
religious influence whatsoever. It's as if the child had no standard or
foundation beyond whatever is in his own heart. For example, Adler
writes, 'In teaching morals at school, the teacher's job is to
pg 103
deliver the subject matter, but not to deal with the authority behind
it. He tells the student, 'Don't lie,' and assumes that the student
feels the force of the rule and recognizes that he should yield to it.
As far as I'm concerned, any child who challenges me with, 'Why shouldn't I lie?' is probably being
argumentative and has suspicious motives. To this kind of child, I
would hold up the concept of ought
in all of its intimidating majesty. The child has no right to debate
these kinds of issues until he's reached a certain level of maturity.'
Without
God, There is No Infallible Sense of Ought
Where does the concept of ought
get its intimidating sense of majesty? It's not true that humans have
some inborn sense of ought.
In fact, the notion that they do is responsible for a lot of evil. It's
a
common belief today that it's okay to do whatever a person thinks is
right. People say that all a person can do is what he believes is right
within his own heart. But even the slightest familiarity with history
shows that every persecution, and most outrages, from the Spanish
Inquisition to the Thugee
cult [they believed their religion required them to befriend
strangers in order to rob and kill them; the word 'thug' originated
with them] have resulted from the kind of ought that comes from within, from
a person or individual's own voice. Trying to deal with morals without
regarding the authority of morality is working backwards, like walking
around the perimeter and never reaching the center, instead of starting
from the center and working out.
'All I ever hear about is Moses, Moses and more Moses!' says one German
teacher from the modern way of thinking. She writes with passionate
criticism against the traditional school system where 10-12 hours per
week, or even 15-16 hours in some German States, are spent learning
Bible. Both England and America are rebelling against using the Bible
as a school textbook. Educationalists say that there's so much else to
learn, and
pg 104
studying sacred literature for so long is a tragic waste of time that
could be used for other things. Meanwhile, even some religious people
say that it's not good to use the Bible as if it were a common textbook.
The
Bible is Classic Literature
It's surprising that so few educationalists realize that the Bible
isn't one single book. It's a collection of classic literature with
lots of beauty and fascination. Even apart from its Divine authority
and religious lessons, apart from everything we understand as
'revelation,' the Bible is as educationally useful as the classics of
ancient Greece and Rome. It has poetry with rhythm that can soothe even
a disillusioned mind so that it can't enjoy any other kind of poetry.
It has general, straightforward history and includes
instances of God dealing slowly and surely with nations completely
fairly, and illustrations of national sins and national repentance.
Students recognize
the brotherhood of man and solidarity of the race from Biblical history
in a way they don't from any other history. And they recognize what we
might call the individual character of nations. Of all the philosophies
that have been presented, the philosophy in the Bible is the only one
that's adequate for interpreting the meaning of life. We haven't even
mentioned the Bible's main purpose: teaching religion and revealing God
to man. I'll make one more point. All the combined literature of the
world totally fails to give us a system of ethics, using precepts,
examples, motives and authority, as complete as the Bible, which is our
common inheritance.
The
Bible is Taboo in Education
For about 1700 years, the Bible has been the school textbook of modern
Europe. Its teaching, whether
pg 105
conveyed directly or indirectly, has been the foundation for religious,
ethical, and even, to some extent, literary superstructure. But now,
using the Bible as a school book is considered taboo. Educationalists
are expected to produce some kind of a text to replace it--something to
take its place as the origin of ideas and tool for forming character.
This is the mission that Felix Adler is trying to accomplish. The fact
that he's even a little bit successful is obviously due to the
influence of the Bible and its sacred law on his own mind. But he
doesn't feel at liberty to share that resource with his students. Yet
his bias makes his work helpful and worth considerating for parents who
want to make the Bible the foundation and authority for their moral
teaching
and supplement it with other resources.
I'd like to make the following recommendation to parents.
A
Mother's Diary
'Parents and teachers should try to answer questions like these: When
are the first stirrings of a moral sense evident in the child? What are
their signs? What emotional and intellectual abilities does the
child have at different ages, and how does this relate to his morality?
When does conscience come into play? What actions or omissions
does the child label as right or wrong? If research were done to
carefully observe and record these things, educational science would
have a lot of data from which to draw valuable generalizations. Mothers
especially should keep a diary to record progressive
pg 106
phases in their children's physical, mental and moral growth, paying
special attention to the moral aspect. Then they'd be able to
anticipate their children's character, and encourage every seed of
good, while being able to promptly suppress or restrain the bad.'
Fairy
Tales and How to Use Them
It's encouraging to see that Felix Adler restores the use of fairy
tales. He correctly says that a lot of the selfishness in the world
isn't due to real heard-heartedness. It's due to a lack of imaginative
ability. He adds, 'I believe that it's beneficial for a child to be
able to take the wishes from his heart and project them onto an
imaginary setting.'
But how should we handle these Märchen?
[Märchen is
German for fairy tales.] How should we utilize them to
suit our special purpose? My first suggestion is this: Tell the story,
rather than giving it to the child to read. As the child listens to the
tale, he'll look up with wide eyes at the person telling the story. The
newness in him will recognize and thrill to the touch of an earlier
race of mankind.' In other words, Adler feels that traditions should be
passed on orally, and he's right. This is an important point. His
second suggestion is just as important. He writes, 'Don't take the
moral plum out of the fairy tale pudding. Let the child experience and
enjoy the whole, complete package. Treat the moral aspect casually. Go
ahead and emphasize it, but act as if it's incidental. Pick it as you'd
pick a wildflower along the highway.'
pg 107
Adler's third suggestion is to eliminate from the stories anything
that's only superstitious, or a remnant of ancient spiritism, or
anything morally offensive. Related to this, he discusses the
controversial question of how much we should expose children to the
existence of evil in the world.
'My own opinion,' he says, 'is that, when children are around, we
should only speak of the kinds of lesser evil that they already know
about. On these grounds, that would eliminate stories about cruel
stepmothers, unnatural fathers, and such. Even so, most of us would
probably make an exception for Cinderella, and its charming German
ballet version, Aschenbrödel.
I also tend to think that fairy tales lose their spirit and charm when
they're specially adapted for children. Wordsworth is right when he
says that exposure to evil presented within the glamour of a fairy tale
is useful to shield children from painful, damaging shocks in real life.
Fables
Mr. Adler writes that fables
should be used for moral teaching in the second stage, about the time
the child is old enough to leave the nursery [preschool?] We've all grown up on Aesop's Fables. Stories such as
'The Dog in the Manger,' 'King Log,' and 'The Frog and the Stork' are
so familiar to us that they've become part of the fabric of society's
thought. But it's interesting to remember that these stories are even
older than Aesop himself and most of them originated in Asia. We should
remember where these fables came from because we need to use a little
discretion when we decide which to use for conveying moral concepts to
our children.
pg 108
Mr. Adler would reject fables such as 'The
Oak and the Reed,' 'The
Brass and the Clay Pot,' and 'The Kite and the Wolf' because they
teach Asian subservience and fear. But British nature is too proud to
bow before anyone or submit to any circumstance, so those life lessons
learned by the eastern culture might be especially helpful to English
children. Besides, some of the most charming fables would have to go if
we started removing any that seemed influenced by eastern wisdom. The
fables that Felix Adler especially recommends are those that portray
virtue as something admirable, and evil as something to avoid, such as
'The Stag and the Fawn' that teaches about cowardice, 'The Peacock and
the Crane' that teaches about vanity, and 'The Dog and the Shadow' that
teaches about greed.
Adler writes, 'In the third part of our course for primary-aged
children, we use selected stories from classical Hebrew literature [the Bible], and
later from classical Greek literature, especially the 'Iliad' and the
'Odyssey.'
Bible
Stories
Here's where we start to disagree with Adler. We shouldn't present
Bible stories as if they had equal moral authority with ancient Greek
mythology, and we shouldn't wait to introduce children to them only
after they've gone through moral lessons from fairy tales and fables.
Children should never be able to remember back to a time before sweet
Biblical stories filled their imaginations. They should grow up hearing
'the voice of God in the garden in the cool of the evening,' and being
awed at the vision of angels going up and down to heaven while Jacob's
head rested on a stone pillow. They should have felt like they were
with Jesus picking grain on the Sabbath, and sat amongst the hungry
crowds. These visions should be so far back in their memories
pg 109
that these and other sacred scenes form an unconscious backdrop for
their thoughts. To a child, anything seems possible. Their faith can
embrace anything, and they don't have the kind of difficulties that
adults do with Divine interventions in our world, difficult issues, and
poetic passages. I don't in any way mean that every Bible story is
suitable for every child because it's Scripture. On the other hand, we
shouldn't over-scrutinize or draw arbitrary lines between historical
fact and the kind of spiritual truth hidden in parables.
Children aren't analytical Bible scholars. They're more concerned with
moral teaching, spiritual revelations, and the Bible's beautiful
imagery. They can't have too much of those things. As Felix Adler says,
'Biblical text is full of moral spirit. The moral issues are clearly
seen everywhere in the Bible. Duty, guilt, the punishment of guilt, the
struggle between conscience and inclination, are leading themes
throughout Scripture. The Hebrew people seem to have been gifted with
what we might call a moral genius, and what they emphasized the most
were obedience and paternal duty--the very things that we need to
impress on young children.'
How does Adler suggest using Biblical text? We only have space to quote
a sentence or two as an example: 'Once upon a time, there were two
children. Their names were Adam and Eve. Adam was a fine, noble-looking
boy.' 'The weather was so warm that the children never needed to go in
the house.' 'And the snake kept whispering, Go on, just take a bite;
it's okay, nobody can see you.' 'Adam, you must learn
pg 110
to work, and Eve, you must learn to be patient and deny yourself in
order to
serve others,' etc.
I'll let you decide whether rewording improves the text, and whether
this is the kind of thing that will grip a child's imagination.
The
Rhythm of Biblical Phrases Is Charming to Children
John Ruskin says that his unique writing style is totally due to his
early familiarity with the classic stories of the Bible. It's a mistake
to translate Bible stories into careless English, even if the text
keeps the facts close to the original. The rhythm and cadence of the
original phrasing is as charming to children as it is to adults--maybe
even more so. Read the Bible story to the child bit by bit. Then have
him tell you what was read in his own words, but keeping as close as he
can to the words used in the text. If you want, you can talk about it
after that, but not much. Most importantly, don't try to imitate a
'practical commentary on every verse in Genesis,' like the title of a
recently published book. There are two points I'd like to emphasize.
Should
Biblical Miracles Be Used to Teach Children Morals?
Is it a good idea to tell children Bible stories of miracles in this
day, when the existence of miracles is so passionately debated? First
of all, the only real argument that the most advanced scientists have
against miracles is that they haven't personally witnessed such
phenomena. But they're the first to admit that nothing is impossible,
and no experience is final. Secondly, when it comes to moral and
spiritual teaching, it really doesn't matter whether the details in the
story are historical fact, or whether
pg 111
it's more like one of the parables that Jesus taught with. It's the essential truth that matters to the
child, not the historical truth of the story. When it comes to
historical truth, children are bold critics. They're ahead of even the
latest scientific research that thinks it knows, 'This might have happened, but that can't possibly have happened
the way the Bible says.'
Should
The Whole Bible Be Given to Children?
The second thing we need to consider about Bible teaching is, Should
the Bible be provided complete and undivided, or should we be selective
about giving children only the parts they can handle? There are some
accounts in the Bible that we would never allow our children to read if
they were in another book. It's a good idea to seriously question
whether we're justified in thinking that our children will be protected
from evil suggestions that we deliberately put in front of them when we
put the entire Bible in their hands. Is there some Divine Law that
requires that the whole Bible be given to a young, curious child as
soon as he learns how to read? The Bible is really a collection of
legal, literary, historical, poetical, philosophical, ethical, and
analytic writings of one nation. We shouldn't let a superstitious
reverence for the outward form of the Bible prevent us from dividing it
up into its 66 separate books in the same way that all other literature
is divided. And, at least for children, passages that aren't
appropriate should be 'expunged.' Perhaps even the driest parts, like
long genealogies, could be left out. What a joy it would be if, every
birthday, a child received a new book of the Bible, beautifully bound
and illustrated, and printed in a clear, easy-to-read type on good
paper. Each year the child could have a more difficult book to
correspond with progressive maturity. Imagine a Christian child
pg 112
collecting his own private library of sacred books with great joy and
excitement, and eagerly committing to spend the coming year studying it
diligently. The next best thing might be to read the Old Testament
aloud little by little, as beautifully as possible, and then require
the child to tell back the story, using words as close to the original
text as possible.
Moral
Rules from the Pentateuch
Getting back to Felix Adler, here's a good suggestion from him:
'Children should learn to observe moral pictures before they try to
deduce moral principles. But they should be given simple rules when
they're still very young. They need these rules to guide them. In the
rules from Moses, there are quite a few that are appropriate for
children. A collection of these could be listed to use in schools, such
as Don't lie, do not deceive each other, don't take bribes, don't
gossip about your friends,' and he goes on to list a total of sixteen
rules as an example.
Later in his book, he writes, 'The story of David's life is full of
dramatic interest. It can be arranged as a series of pictures. The
first picture would be David and Goliath, showing skill battling
against brute strength, or a bully getting his well-deserved
punishment.' Imagine how empty, commonplace,self-satisfying and
smug a person would be who learned morals on this kind of level!
The
'Odyssey' and the 'Iliad'
Mr. Adler makes some good points when he talks about the Odyssey and
the Iliad. One of Xenophon's characters says, 'My father was very
concerned that I grow up to be a good man, so he made me learn all of
Homer's poems.' And this gives us some ideas of how to use Homer's great
pg 113
epics as an example of life and lessons in manners.
What's more inspiring to an adventure-loving boy than the story of
Ulysses? What can stimulate courage, self-discipline, and presence
better than the hero's escapes? 'Ulysses illustrates clever wits as
well as bravery. His mind is full of ideas.' The ethical elements of
the Odyssey are usually listed as marital devotion, duty (in
Telemachus), presence of mind, and respect to grandparents (seen in
Laertes). I might also add friendly relationships with dependents,
which is seen in the lovely part of the story where the nurse Eurycleia
recognizes Ulysses even when his own wife doesn't know who he is and
sits coldly by. And friendship is shown when Achilles grieves for
Patroclus.
The
Main Problem With 'Secular Morality'
Felix Adler talks about Homer's stories with more grace and fondness
and less ruthless offense than he does about stories in the Bible. It's
another area where we see the weakness of 'secular morality.' The
'Odyssey' and the 'Iliad' are nothing less than religious poems. Their
whole motive is religious. Every incident in them is directed by
supernatural beings. It loses its heroic inspiration if we forget that
the characters do things and suffer with extreme courage and endurance
only because they resolved their will to perform and endure whatever
the gods willed for them. Their resolve to submit to whatever they
could discern of the will of the gods, even faintly, is what makes
Homer's characters so inspiring. This is one of the weaknesses of
'secular' ethics, along with teaching morals that are derived from the
Bible.
Lessons
About Duty
The third section of Adler's book is about Lessons on Duty. This
section has more
pg 114
excellent advice and wonderful examples. 'The teacher should always
take it for granted that morals aren't to be questioned. For example,
he should never lead his students to believe that they're going to
analyze whether hitting is right or wrong. He should work from the
assumption that lying is commanded against, and start by acknowledging
that we have an obligation to obey that command.' We agree with this
wholeheartedly, and we especially like his use of the word
'command.' It concedes the whole issue--that the concept of duty is
relative, and depends on a supreme and intimate Authority which
embraces the thoughts of the heart and the issues of the life.
A
Child's Inducements to Learn
The charming story of Hillel that illustrates the duty to learn is very
interesting to psychologists because it shows that humans are born with
a natural desire for knowledge. But the motives often listed as reasons
to learn are poor and inadequate. Succeeding in life, gaining esteem,
self-fulfillment, and maybe even helping others, aren't motives that
will compel the soul. If a child is encouraged to learn because
learning is the duty that God gave him for this time of his life and
this situation that God has put him in, then he'll have the strongest
motive of all. He's doing what is required of him by the Highest
Authority.
There's one weak tone that runs through the whole way Adler treats this
subject. According to him, a drowning man is supposed to advise himself
to 'be brave, because human beings are better than the forces of
nature, because Nature has no power over the moral power within you,
pg 115
because what happens to you in your private character is not important;
but it is important that you assert dignity of humanity to your dying
breath.' This may sound good, but an even better attitude is a person
who struggles bravely to save the life that God gave him.
The
Moral Benefit of Manual Training
Adler's chapter about the influence of moral training is worth
considering. The last sentence says, 'It's heartening and encouraging
to know that the technical labor that is responsible for our increase
in material goods, can also be a way of increasing the honor of our
youth, sharpening their intellect, and strengthening their character,
when it's included in their education.'
I've spent so much time going over Mr. Adler's book because it's one of
the most serious and effective attempts I know of for teaching
progressively graduated ethics lessons that are suitable for children
of
all ages. Although I don't agree with him on the important issue of
moral authority, I recommend that parents look over his book. Christian
parents will fill in the missing gap by presenting the concept that Law
is connected to a Law-Giver. They'll supplement Adler's many valuable
suggestions with their own strong conviction that our sense of 'ought'
is from the Lord.
Careless
Moral Teaching
But even Christian children can suffer from careless moral teaching.
When good people fail, it saddens and surprises moralists as well as
Christian souls who try hard but often fail. It's a fact that
temptation and sin can't be separated from our present condition,
pg 116
but how can earnest, sincere Christians habitually be prejudiced,
dishonest, unfair to the character and opinions of others, unkind in
their rebuke, and even spiteful in their criticism? That might not be
totally the failure of human nature, but the fault of defective
education.
The
Importance of Teaching Ethics
The concept of ethics in these vulnerable areas has never been fairly
and fully presented to the mind. An adult who is incapable of honestly
giving consideration to other people's opinions probably never learned
the duty of impartiality as a child. It's almost certain that careful,
systematic teaching of ethics with lots of examples and, not least of
all, inspiration by the thought that this is God's will, would help to
elevate the character of the entire nation if this kind of teaching was
provided to all children. That's why we're so grateful for a
contribution in practical ethics for children at home and school like
Mr. Adler's book about the moral education of children.
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.
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