When Children Love to Learn (eBook)

Preface

By Elaine Cooper, General Editor

At first glance, the reader may feel somewhat overwhelmed at the task of foraging through this tome. We prefer to think we have been thorough in our treatment of the subject at hand. Some or many of the ideas in this philosophy of education may be new to you. It is our purpose to present a fresh way of thinking about the parent and child, the home and school, the learner and the teacher. Many who read Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s book For the Children’s Sake were moved to write asking for ways of implementing the vigorous ideas presented in that little classic. Their main questions were:

“What does a Charlotte Mason education look like in this century?”

“What in the world was the PNEU?”1

“How can I be sure my child is really learning when there is such an emphasis on reading ‘living books’?”

“And in any case, what are ‘living books’?”

“What about the three R’s?”

Several of us have come together to try to offer some answers to these questions. Three of the major contributors bring years of experience in the classroom. All three have been principals of schools. As a result the guide will reflect their particular perspectives on their calling as educators. We offer no technique, but rather the simple proposition that children are best educated through careful relationships on the part of the adults—the parents and teachers— who are themselves in a lifelong process of learning and subject to the same duties and freedoms within a Christian worldview. Beyond that, each parent, teacher, or school needs to make thoughtful application of the many ideas presented in the following pages to the specific concerns and goals particular to their situations. In this guide are many practical suggestions and resources from which to choose.

We would like to draw attention to several historical observations that shape the context of this book. The first is that great educators of the past have often made strikingly similar observations about children, the way they behave and learn. So any current and serious approach to education falls within a long tradition of prior thinking, questioning, and practice. We also know, however, that the great ancient, literate civilizations of the past, both Western and Eastern, educated only a small elite of their populations to function as priests/scribes, tax collectors, and lawyers—that is, those who would communicate and perpetuate the religions, cultures, and economies within which they lived.

Secondly, as we look back to the classical period, we notice that while the Greeks and Romans contributed vital insights and asked profound questions regarding the nature of man,2 the purpose of education and law, the best organization of society, and the role of aesthetics in personal and civic life, teachers were not conferred with any social status, and their character or reputation was of no great consequence in the education of Greek children. The Romans, however, were distinct in their emphasis on virtue in both private and public behavior. They strongly emphasized the importance of nurturing virtue within family life. However, both societies also cultivated many unhelpful concepts about what confers worth and value to the individual. Their notions of heroism and paideia (the upbringing of children) never addressed, for example, the fact that they functioned essentially as slave societies.

Lastly, we are struck by an entirely different view of man presented in the Bible in ancient Israel—namely that men and women are made in the image of God. The significance and ramifications of being human rested simply on this premise and was in stark and striking contrast to the surrounding cultures of the time. These cultures viewed only a few select kings, pharaohs, and other rulers as possibly made in a god’s image. (For example, Alexander the Great declared himself a god, and later some Roman caesars and emperors did too.)

This biblical revelation of human origin and identity was further defined by the great commandments revealing God’s character and man’s right relationship to the one true and living God. Consequently, every person in ancient Israel was responsible to know the law and to act upon it. This law (later perfectly embodied and lived out in Jesus Christ) was to be treasured within the hearts and minds of all age-groups, through teaching, reading, memorization, festival, and ritual— to be passed on faithfully from generation to generation (Deut. 6).

The child was part and parcel of this reality. Children enjoyed a special place in the learning and commemoration of God’s dealings with the nation. The Hebrew child’s right to life, unlike in many other cultures, was protected by law. This heritage of a living culture and sacred view of the person formed the backbone of much of Western society until more recent times. It is the bedrock of any thinking about Christian education.

The Hebrew perception of the person and of human behavior was radically different from that of surrounding nations (then and now). Other peoples believe, for example, that a person’s worth is primarily achieved through being either an honorable soldier, highly educated, athletically superior, gifted in speech or looks, vastly wealthy, or, best of all, all of the above. Thus most children remained insignificant, ignorant, small, and powerless and could be treated or shaped in a variety of ways, depending on the ends to be achieved. They enjoyed no inherent status.

While When Children Love to Learn affirms the value of good and great achievements in a wide variety of fields, this book soundly rejects the view that a child’s ultimate worth lies in either intelligence, material circumstances, what he or she might become through grooming or talent, or anything else except in this remarkable fact—that he or she has been made in the image of a personal and infinite God and is especially confirmed by Jesus: “. . . of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:14). “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, . . . Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 18:1-3).

Charlotte Mason was unequivocal on the most crucial starting point of education—that the child is born a person. This pillar of her thought is balanced by another: “We allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and ‘spiritual’ life of children, but teach them that the Divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their continual Helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life.”

Miss Mason was profoundly Christian, rooted in Scripture and immensely practical. This is what gives her philosophy and practice its unique combination of “form and freedom” (a phrase Dr. Francis Schaeffer used to describe the proper tension between the reality of moral law on the one hand and individual freedoms and creativity on the other). She drew her view of human beings and especially of children from Holy Writ: “And first let us consider where and what the little being is, who is entrusted to the care of human parents. A tablet to be written upon? A twig to be bent? Wax to be moulded? Very likely; but he is much more—the Bible shows the deepest insight into what is peculiar to the children in their nature and estate. . . .”3

She studied widely and wisely. She was able to harness many truthful observations and practices written by previous thinkers on education and accept them as part of the common grace given to all people. She was sharp in rejecting the false ideas of child-centered “freedoms” popularized by Rousseau and followers of the Romantic movement and was not sentimental or idealistic about children. Her attitude was realistic but patiently loving. She was equally clear in her exposure of adults who lord it over children merely on the grounds of a child’s dependence and ignorance. She maintained that people need to be careful not to use children to fulfill adult agendas.

Miss Mason herself did not leave many personal notes or diaries. Her written legacy is contained primarily in the six volumes of her educational philosophy and practice, and also in her six volumes written as a meditation on the Gospel of St. John entitled The Saviour of the World. She opposed any adulation of herself, but focused attention instead on the body of work she felt she had been given to do “for the children’s sake.” This was her unbending goal. She wanted all children to know about their heritage of being made in God’s image—sinful obviously, but nevertheless able to enjoy to their own best ability in a fallen world and in many diverse life circumstances, the life-giving relationship with God through the Savior and the Spirit, and also relationships with others, nature, art, and music.

This guide attempts to follow a tradition of giving serious thought to what Christian education today means for all children everywhere, to enable them to be learning for life and everlasting life. This is education for a purpose and not as a status symbol. Of course it means having skills to earn a living, but it also means glorifying God and enjoying Him forever (The Shorter Catechism, 1647).

Neither is this book offered as a monument to an exceptional person...