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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 228
Chapter
21 - Suggestions Toward a Curriculum (For
Children under Twelve)
Part
II.--School Books
Books
that Supply the Nourishment of Ideas
H. G. Wells hit the nail on the head when he said that selecting the
right schoolbooks is a teacher's great task. I'm not sure that this
would
necessarily be the way to do it, though--or if even a whole team of
experts with a generous budget could really provide the kind of
schoolbooks that children connect with. Children are unpredictable.
They might dutifully plod through the volumes of dull texts that
qualify as 'schoolbooks' or 'educational,' but they don't allow those
books to reach their inner spirits and have access to their minds. A
book might be long, short, old, contemporary, easy, difficult, written
by a great man, or written by a lesser man, and still be the kind of living book that find its way into
the mind of a young reader. An educational expert isn't the best person
to choose because, in this case, it's the children themselves who are
the experts. Even reading a single page will be enough for the child to
make up his mind. Unfortunately, once he decides, he opens or
closes his mind. Many impressive and admirable textbooks
pg 229
that teachers dearly love are filed in the wastebasket of the
schoolchild's
mind, and that's why he doesn't absorb any of it, and can't produce
results from it. The teacher needs to have an understanding of the
difference between twaddle and simple clarity, and between excitement
and vital life. Beyond that,
he'll just have to test each book or see what kind of results other
teachers have had with different books. But one thing he can be sure of
is that a book only educates to the extent that it's vital and
essential. But I've already discussed this subject in another chapter.
Books
and Oral Lessons
Once the right book has been found, the teacher needs to let the book
take the lead, and be content to stay in the background. The book takes precedence over any lecture.
The teacher's role is to get the students in the right attitude about
the book with a word or two expressing his own interest in what's in
the book, or his enjoyment of the author's style. The students only get
knowledge when they dig for it themselves. Work paves the way for
assimilation, which is the active mental process of converting
information into real knowledge. The effort of working through the
author's sequence of thought is more valuable to a student than any
amount of oral lectures.
Do teachers understand the paralyzing, dulling effect that a deluge of
talking has on the mind? Yes, an inspired speaker can waken a response
so that his hearers listen with captivated attention, but not many of
us can claim to be inspired, and we're sometimes aware of how difficult
it is to hold our students' attention. We blame ourselves, but the real
fault is isn't with us, it's with the method we're using. It's the
diluted
oral lesson or lecture used in place of a living, compelling book
that's to blame. Oral lessons are sometimes needed to introduce,
illustrate,
pg 230
amplify or sum up a book. But they should be few and far between.
Children
will have to walk through life on their own, finding their intellectual
nourishment for themselves. We shouldn't start them off getting used to
crutches.
Using
Supplemental Resources
For the same reason, so we don't paralyze the mental ability of
children, we should be cautious about using supplemental appliances
(except for things like microscopes, telescopes, slide projectors that
enhance the child's own observations). I once heard a teacher who
taught in a town where ships were built say that he demanded and got
from the school committee a scale cut-away model of a warship. He said
that this model would be useful to his students when they went to work
in the shipyard. But, during their school years, I believe that this
would stifle their minds because the mind isn't able to conceive for
itself when it has an elaborate model as its basis. I recently visited
M. Bloch's impressive 'Peace and War' show at Lucerne. There were full
models and cut-away diagrams of torpedoes, but I still didn't
understand them. I asked the person I had dinner with to explain the
principle. He used his eyeglass case to illustrate, and, after a few
sentences, I understood what made a torpedo a torpedo. As it turned
out, the man had worked in the War Office and been involved with
torpedoes. The teacher's ability to illustrate his point with a coffee
mug or ruler or whatever he has at hand, and the blackboard,
seems to me to be more useful than even the most elaborate models and
diagrams that dull the senses and switch off the active mind as soon as
they're presented.
Coordinating
Subjects [The Unit Study Model]
Another point I'd like to make is that
pg 231
coordinating subjects shouldn't be based on the notion that they need
to be planned to prevent ideas from clashing and to assist their
formation
into clumps of 'apperception masses.' They should be coordinated solely
in reference to the natural and inevitable relationships to each
other. When reading about the period of history of the Armada, we
shouldn't devote math time to calculating how much food was necessary
to sustain the Spanish fleet. That would be an arbitrary, forced
connection, not a natural, inherent one. But it's natural to read
whatever history, travel books, and literature will make the Spanish
Armada come to life in the students' minds.
Our
Goal in Education
Our goal in education is to give children significant interests in as
many different subjects as possible--to 'set their feet in a large
room.' [Psa 31:8] The tragic
evil of our day, as I see it, is intellectual apathy.
If we truly believe that a child is in the world to get all he can of
the things that endure, and that his full, happy life and expansion,
expression, resourcefulness, ability to serve--in
other words, his character--depends on how much he recognizes the
relationships that are proper for him and grasps them, then we should
be gravely uneasy if a student graduates and has prejudices and only
cares
about sporting events instead of having essential interests and
pursuits. We
believe that our best students have principles that are credited as
much to their school as their home. Our failure in educational seems to
be more intellectual than moral.
Education
By Things
Students should be educated by Things
and by Books. Ten years ago,
utilizing Things in education
wasn't thought much of, except in games at
pg 232
boarding schools. But a great reform has taken place, and, today, the
value of Things is widely
recognize everywhere. Disciplinary exercises and artistic handicrafts
are valued as much in education as geography and Latin. Nature study
has been only a recent addition, but it's become accepted
enthusiastically. If that Sikh that Cornelia Sorabji quoted in Spectator, 2nd August 1902 visits
us again ten years from now, I hope that he wouldn't still say about
us, 'The very thoughts of the people are about merchandise. They
haven't learned the common language of Nature.' The teaching of Science
is getting a lot of attention, so I don't need to stress how important
it is in this book. Here and there, children are exposed to works of
art, and that will become a more widely used tool of education in the
future.
I don't need to repeat what everyone already knows. So much general
attention is being given to Things,
and it seems to be being implemented correctly so far, so I have
nothing more to add on the subject.
Education
by Books
The educational failure that we still have to deal with regards Books. We recognize that all the
knowledge and thought of the world is stored in Books, but we're overwhelmed by the
amount of knowledge and number of books. So we think we can take
selections here and there from this or that book, using fragments and
facts
of knowledge and distributing them in booklets to be studied for exams,
or oral lessons and lectures.
Sir Philip Magnus [an educationalist]
recently spoke about Headwork and Handicrafts in Elementary Schools,
and he said some things worth considering. Maybe he puts too much of a
priority on workshops in his ideal schools of the future, but he
certainly is accurate in singling out the weak point in
pg 233
elementary and secondary school work: the problem is that
students are 'memorizing scraps of knowledge, fragments of so-called
science.' And we agree with him when he emphasizes reading and writing. Through
reading and writing,
even school lessons will become something 'to delight in.' Of course,
learning to write comes from reading. Nobody can write well who doesn't
read much. In the April 16, 1903 issue of Education, Sir Philip Magnus says
this about schools of the future: 'We'll no longer require students to
learn scraps of history, geography and grammar by rote memory. We won't
teach them mere fragments of so-called science. Instead, the daily
hours set aside for these subjects will be applied to creating mental
aptitudes, and used to show students how to get knowledge for
themselves . . . In the future, education's main function will be to
train the hands, senses and intellectual capabilities so that students
will have an advantage in seeking knowledge . . . The extent of the
lessons will be broadened. Children will be taught to read in order
that they'll want to read. They'll be taught to write in order that
they'll want to write. The teacher's goal will be to create in his
students a desire for knowledge, and, as a result, a love for reading.
And, with proper selection of lessons, teachers will cultivate in their
students the enjoyment that reading can bring. The main component of
reading lessons will be to show the students how to use books, how
books can be consulted to find out what other people have said or done,
and how books can be read for the pleasure they provide. Storing facts
in the memory has no place in elementary school . . . It isn't enough
pg 234
for a child to know the mechanics of writing. He needs to know what to write. He needs to learn to
describe what he's seen or heard clearly, and to transfer his
sense-impressions to written language, and to express his own thoughts
concisely.'
I'd like to add one more thing to Sir Philip Magnus's vision. I'd like
to emphasize the habit of
reading as something that's important for students to acquire from
school. After all, it's only those who have read who do read.
The
Question of a Curriculum
Regarding curriculum, I'd like to emphasize what I said in an earlier
chapter. Perhaps the main part of a child's education should be
concerned with the great human relationships--history, literature, art,
ancient and modern languages, travel. All of these are the records or
expressions of people. Science is, too, when it's the history of
discoveries or an account of someone's observations that can be read in
books. But, for the most part, science is under the category of
Education by Things. Science
is actually too broad a subject to deal with here. But what's more
important than all of these is Religion, which includes our
relationships of love, loyalty, love and service to God. Maybe next
in importance is the intimate, individual relationship with ourselves
that's implied
when we talk about things like self-knowledge and self-control. We owe
children these kinds of knowledge because it seems to be the case that
the limit of human intelligence directly corresponds to how limited a
person's interests are. In other words, a normal person with deficient,
narrow intelligence is that way because he was never exposed to the
interests that were proper for him. A curriculum that provides what
children have a right to can be divided into six to eight groups:
religion, perhaps philosophy, history, languages, math, science, art,
physical exercise, and handicrafts.
pg 235
Religion
In teaching Religion, the
Bible is without question what we need to rely on because it's the
great storehouse of spiritual truth and moral impressions. In fact, a
child could receive a pretty generous education from reading nothing
but the Bible because the Bible contains such great literature within
itself.
At one time, the 'National Schools' educated their students on the
Bible, which is one of the three great collections of ancient classical
literature. Ever since miscellaneous 'Readers' have replaced the Bible,
there's been some decline in both character and intelligence in our
nation. It's not possible or even desirable to revert back to what they
used to do, but we should make sure that children get as much
intellectual, moral and religious nourishment from their books as they
did when their lessons were constructed entirely from the story of
Joseph in Genesis to the letters of St. Paul.
History
In history, students aged twelve to fourteen should have a pretty
thorough knowledge of British history, contemporary French history, and
Greek and Roman history. They should get their Greek and Roman history
from biographies. Perhaps nothing else besides the Bible is as
educational as Plutarch's Lives.
The wasteful mistake that's made so often in teaching English history
is in having children from about nine to fourteen read through several
short abridgments beginning with Little
Arthur's History of England [by
Maria Callcott]. But their intelligence at those ages is
sufficient to steadily work through a single more substantial book.
Language
By age twelve, children should have a good understanding of English
grammar, and they should have read some literature. They should have
some ability to speak and understand French, and they should
pg 236
be able to read an easy French book. They should have similar abilities
with German, but with considerably less progress. In Latin, they should
at
least be reading 'Fables,' if not 'Caesar' and possibly 'Virgil.'
Math
I don't need to discuss mathematics. It already receives enough
attention, and is quickly becoming a subject that's taught with living
methods.
'Practical
Instruction'
As far as practical instruction in subjects like Science, Drawing,
Manual and Physical Training, etc., I can't do any more than repeat our
convictions again. The PNEU believes that children in all social
classes have a right to be educated in all of these four subjects. For
students under twelve, the same general curriculum should be fine for
all of the children. I don't have anything to add to the way these
subjects are taught, which is pretty widely accepted by everyone.
Science
In Science, or, actually,
nature study, we place a high priority on recognition. We believe that the
ability to recognize and know the name of a plant or rock or
constellation requires some classifying, and includes a good bit of
knowledge. To know a plant by the way it grows, where it lives, when
and how it flowers and bears seeds, or to know a bird by the way it
flies, its song, and when it arrives and leaves, to know when you might
find a robin or a thrush, takes a lot of focused observation and the
kind of knowledge that helps understand science. Students keep a dated
record of what they see in their nature notebooks. They're allowed to
manage these notebooks however they want; the books aren't graded or
corrected. They take pride and pleasure in these notebooks and freely
illustrate them with dry-brush work paintings of twigs, flowers,
insects, etc. The knowledge
pg 237
it takes to make these nature records isn't taught from formal school
lessons. One
afternoon a week, the students in our 'Practicing School' [taught by the student teachers at
Charlotte Mason's teacher's college] go for a 'nature walk' with
their teacher. They notice things by themselves, and the teacher tells
them the name or gives other information only if they ask for it. It's
surprising how much knowledge about different things a child can gain
by the time he's nine or ten years old. The teachers are careful not to
turn these nature walks into an opportunity to give science lessons,
because they want the children's attention to be focused on their own
observations. They're allowed to notice things with very little
direction from the teacher. By doing this, children accumulate a good
collection of 'common knowledge.' Huxley thought that this kind of
general knowledge should come before formal science teaching. Even more
important, students learn to know and take pleasure in objects from
nature like they do in the familiar faces of friends. The nature walk
shouldn't be used as a chance to dispense miscellaneous tidbits of
scientific facts. The study of science should be taught in an ordered
sequence, and that's not possible or even desirable during a nature
walk. I think that an essential aspect of any living education should
be for all students of all ages to spend a half day every week
throughout the entire year, outside in nature. In almost every town,
there's some place where children can have the opportunity to observe
the changing seasons from week to week.
Geography, geology, the sun's course through the sky, the way clouds
behave, signs of the weather, everything that the open air has to
offer, are utilized on these walks, but it's all casual and incidental,
things are simply noticed as they happen to come up. In most areas
there are probably naturalists who would be willing to help with these
nature walks in one of the local schools.
This direct nature walk is supplemented with
pg 238
occasional object lessons, such as the different kinds of hairs on
plants, or the diversity of wings, and all the things discussed in
Professor [Bernard?] Miall's
wonderful books. But we rely on books
only as a subordinate supplement to outside observation. We use books
by authors such as Mrs. Fisher, Mrs. Brightwen, Professor Lloyd Morgan,
Professor Geikie, and, for students over fourteen, Professor Geddes and
Thomson. With these books and others like them, the student is put in
the position of being an original observer of biology or some other
phenomena. They learn what to look for, and they make observations for
themselves that are original, at least for them. They get into the
right frame of mind to observe and make deductions, and their alert
interest is awakened. We're extremely careful not to burden children's
verbal memory with scientific names. They learn about pollen, antennae,
and whatever, casually as these things appear to them and they need to
know its name. Only those children who are curious about it should have
the opportunity to see tiny structural wonders that come up in their
reading or walks under a microscope. A good microscope lens is a great
investment and almost indispensable in nature observation. I think
there can be too much of a priority given to education by Things. Although that is
tremendously valuable, a certain lack of atmosphere tends to result, as
well as a tragic lack of any standard with which to make comparisons,
and the principle of reverence for nature. The distinction of an
education that relies only on Things
and leaves out Books seems to
be the kind of attitude that 'We're the only people who ever mattered!'
Drawing
In pictures, we avoid mechanical aids like grids and directional lines.
We don't use
pg 239
black lead pencils because they tend to encourage the copying of lines
instead of the free rendering of objects. Children tend to always work
in the round, whether they're using charcoal or drybrush. They also
illustrate stories and poems, which aren't usually impressive as far as
drawing skill goes, and don't lend themselves to art instruction.
Still, they're useful exercises.
Picture
Talks
We believe that our picture talks have a lot of value. A reproduction
of an appropriate picture, perhaps by Millet, is put into the
children's hands, and they study it by themselves. Then, children from
ages six to nine describe the picture, giving all the details and
showing with a few lines on the blackboard where a certain tree or
house is, seeing if they can guess what time of day the picture
depicts, and discovering the story of the picture if there is one.
Older children can also study some of the lines of the composition,
light and shade, the particular style of the artist, and draw certain
details from memory. The purpose of these lessons is to help students
appreciate art, not to create it themselves.
I don't have enough space to go into more detail about a curriculum;
you can see curriculum more fully illustrated in the appendix.
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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