For the Children's Sake Read Along: Ch 6
The final chapter in Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's landmark book on Foundations of Education for Home & School
Macaulay’s book introduces us to the life and work of Charlotte Mason (1842-1923). Mason’s philosophy of education wasn’t just for a certain time and a particular culture but is an enduring legacy that may be applied in the here and now.
When I first read For the Children’s Sake in 1988, home education was practically invisible here in Australia, but in the last 36 years it has been growing steadily and now Charlotte Mason’s work is readily available thanks to the work of the Ambleside Online creators and others such as Charlotte Mason Poetry who freely share resources on Mason’s method and her principles.
From the founding in 1887 of the Parents National Education Union (PNEU), Mason’s influence has steadily grown. At the age of sixteen, Charlotte Mason was orphaned and poor. Now her educational method is being put into practice in many parts of the world, in homes and schools. The PNEU’s motto, given by Mason as an encouragement to rise above the faults and weaknesses to higher things in the formation of habits,* states:
“I am, I can, I ought, I will.”
I am, I ought, I can, I will'––these are the steps of that ladder of St. Augustine, whereby we
"rise on stepping stones
Of our dead selves to higher things."'I am'––we have the power of knowing ourselves. 'I ought'––we have within us a moral judge, to whom we feel ourselves subject, and who points out and requires of us our duty. 'I can'––we are conscious of power to do that which we perceive we ought to do. 'I will'––we determine to exercise that power with a volition which is in itself a step in the execution of that which we will.
I am - a person should know about their worth, that he is accepted and valued; be realistic and accept his/her limitations. This is the basis for loving, accepting and serving others. Being truthful about our own knowledge & intellectual limitations allows the fresh air of truth and openness to reach our children & help them accept themselves.
We hinder the child’s assurance of his worth…when we set up artificial development schedules into which we try to cram the child grade by grade. The program then matters more than the child…
We really do have to try to get away from our success-consumed society where people bolster their selfish egos by comparing their achievements as being better than someone else’s. (FTCS pg. 149)
As home educators there is a temptation to advertise our ‘‘successes.’’ Our child was accepted into a prestigious university, or entered university at age 12 etc. I read comments by a home educator who compared the reactions of others to two of her children. One of her daughters was very academic, worked hard and was accepted into university to study something very elite. Everyone praised her achievements & congratulated her mother. However, her sister was an exquisite needleworker, but her work was overlooked and not valued in the same way. Her mother recognised her daughter’s ability & achievement but it was not that valued by others. I’m all for children doing their best and being acknowledged for their efforts, but every child is unique and has their own abilities and I would say vocation. They are not all going to be highly academic but that shouldn’t make them feel less a person. We need skilled carpenters, plumbers and cleaners. We need good farmers, scientists and surgeons. The issue is that ‘Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for (the approval of) others.’ (Colossians 3:23) As Macaulay points out…
We allow peer pressure in this materialistic and godless culture to become like a row of vultures, judging the child with beady eyes.
I Can - some people feel they can, others feel they can’t. Parents and teachers have the responsibility to build up children by helping them turn into ‘‘can’’ people. Sometimes we have to nudge our children. One of my sons was learning to play the double bass. He already played the electric bass and acoustic guitar, so I organised an audition with the youth orchestra where his older sister played the violin. He was not keen as he didn’t think he was good enough. They welcomed him with open arms - double bass players are fairly scarce - and he quickly gained confidence and joked that he was the leader of his section (his was the one and only double-bass). He would never have taken the step on his own, but he just needed to get over the hump of ‘‘I can’t” and experience the freedom of ‘‘I can.”
I Ought - ‘‘ought’’ isn’t a word we like to use; it’s like ‘‘duty’’ and in a world where ‘‘I want’’ is much more common and acceptable, it isn’t very attractive. We don’t impose arbitrary standards and we need to understand behaviour that is appropriate at certain ages and stages in a child’s life so we don’t discourage them. We don’t ask ‘‘What do I/you want?’’ but we need to ask ‘‘What is right?’’ and then determine what we ought to do.
I Will - once we understand what is right, we can then choose what is right.
The adult can ease right-doing by making basic patterns habitual. Consider this: would you be willing to cut off the brainwashing of the media to help the child? No or little TV? Giving your home so much vitality, life, through your creative time and effort that it becomes the ‘‘center of gravity’’ in the child’s life? (FTCS pg. 152)
Home as the centre of gravity means that it has more influence than peer pressure!
This chapter concludes with the idea that we all have limitations and problems; nothing in this world is 100 percent whole, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t do what we can. I love Susan Schaeffer Macaulay’s concern for disadvantaged children. Wherever we are we may make a difference in a child’s life - and not just in our own children. It’s easy to become unmotivated if we focus on the ‘‘I can’t’’ rather than on what we ‘‘can’’ do. Our child might have to go to a less than ideal school but we could read to them. We might not live in the countryside but we could visit a park.
Something that Charlotte Mason expressed but I don’t think is generally understood is that all education is self-education. We provide nourishment to the child but it is his/her job to learn. Mason’s work with children in the industrial slums of England proved this time and again. We don’t undervalue the child but provide relationships & mental nourishment and let the child do his own growing.
The last three pages of this book discuss Parental Liberty in Education and was written by a constitutional lawyer. It’s an important fundamental right that we should keep in mind.
*When Children Love to Learn, 2004, Elaine Cooper, General Editor, pg. 88
Thank you, Carol. Inspiring and deeply helpful to me as a home educator of a 15-year-old.