Never before has it been so necessary for parents to carefully weigh principles and adopt a method of education for themselves. Continual scientific “advancements” in this area have disrupted parenting traditions, and each generation is confronted with new theories. Parents must be prepared to judge these theories of education, to see whether they adhere to natural law or to other agendas.
Education adheres to natural law by method rather than by system. While a method utilizes all aspects of life to develop the child’s entire being, a system applies rules to achieve desired skills and behavior in a single direction.
Favorite Quotes
“What do you propose that education shall effect in and for your child?”
“Again, method is natural; easy, yielding, unobtrusive, simple as the ways of Nature herself; yet, watchful, careful, all-pervading, all-compelling. Method, with the end [goal] of education in view, presses the most unlikely matters into service to bring about that end; but with no more tiresome mechanism than the sun employs when it makes the winds to blow and the waters to flow with only shining.... Does the child eat or drink, does he come, or go, or play—all the time he is being educated, though he is as little aware of it as he is of the act of breathing.”
“Though system is highly useful as an instrument of education, a ‘system of education’ is mischievous, as producing only mechanical action instead of the vital growth and movement of a living thing.”
Cross Reference
related passages from other educational volumes by Mason
In this useful passage, Mason further elaborates on the differences between a system of education (which is “fussy and zealous”) and a method of education (which is wisely passive). The following passage is found in chapter sixteen, “Discipline,” in Mason’s book Parents and Children.
“In the first place, we have no system of education. We hold that great things, such as nature, life, education, are ‘cabined, cribbed, confined,’ in proportion as they are systematized. We have a method of education, it is true, but method is no more than a way to an end, and is free, yielding, adaptive as Nature herself. Method has a few comprehensive laws according to which details shape themselves, as one naturally shapes one’s behavior to the acknowledged law that fire burns. System, on the contrary, has an infinity of rules and instructions as to what you are to do and how you are to do it. Method in education follows Nature humbly;° stands aside and gives her fair play.
“System leads Nature, assists, supplements, rushes in to undertake those very tasks which Nature had made her own since the world was. Does Nature endow every young thing, child or kitten, with a wonderful capacity for inventive play? Nay, but says System, I can help here; I will invent games for the child and help his plays, and make more use of this power of his than unaided Nature knows how. So Dame System teaches the child to play, and he enjoys it; but, alas, there is no play in him, no initiative, when he is left to himself; and so on, all along the lines, System is fussy and zealous and produces enormous results—in the teacher!
“Method pursues a ‘wise passiveness.’ You watch the teacher and are hardly aware that he is doing anything. The children take the initiative, but, somehow, the result here is in these and not the teacher. They develop, become daily more and more of persons, with
‘The reason firm, the temperate will,
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill.’
“Such are the golden fruits which ripen under the eye of the parent, who is wise to discriminate between the role of Nature and that of the educator, who follows sympathetically and dutifully the lead of the great mother.”
° “Nature” and “mother (Nature)” is understood by Mason, not as a pantheistic force, but as a personification of the natural laws that operate under the ruling hand of God.
Study Questions
1.Contrast four or five theories with later, perhaps sounder notions.
Charlotte Mason lived during a revolutionary time when traditional theories of parenting and education were being completely overturned by scientific and psychological “advances.” The new world was being “made for children.”
Children had been spanked for misbehavior; now physical punishment was not admissible for moral training. Children had been fed a plain, unvaried diet with no catering to their appetite; now children enjoyed as nourishing and varied a diet as their parents, and their appetite (within certain limits) was considered a sound guide. Children had been trained to endure through fatigue and exposure; now children were shielded from anything hard. Children were expected to do their duty and to take pleasure as they were able; now the pleasure of children was given more importance than their duty. Children had been subject to elders; now elders gave place to children.
2.Point out the opposite characters of a system and a method.
A method has an idea in view for its end; a system has definite, precise, and calculable results. A method utilizes all aspects of life to develop the child’s entire being; a system applies rules to achieve desired skills and behavior in a single direction. A method by its nature adapts to each child; a system attempts to constrain all children to the rules, the schedule, and the results.
3.Why is a system tempting to parents?
A system of education is tempting to parents because it offers convenience and security; it is a closed education with certain rules calculated to produce certain results. A method of education, however, is open and adaptive and takes all of life for a lesson. Parents fear this means continuous, conscious effort on their part to ensure a good education for their children. These parents do not realize that a method of education, when understood, is applied as simply and spontaneously as the natural law of gravity.
Personal Notes
As I have been reading Mason’s books, I have been following the commentary at Sparrow Tree Square. The reviewer, Ms. Friel, found Mason’s distinctions between a method and system “muddled and contradictory.” “At this point,” she writes, “Mason begins to make a distinction between ‘method’ and ‘system’ that isn’t really present in the denotations of these words. In my opinion, Mason never really succeeds in explaining why these two terms are so different, as she seems to be relying on some sort of personal definitions rather than on dictionary definitions.”
This was very interesting to me. When I first encountered Mason’s argument, I already recognized very definite connotations that agreed with (and were elaborated by) Mason. I conducted an informal family survey to see whether my parents or siblings recognized any differences between the words. It was interesting to see how they agreed or differed in their attempts to define the differences, but all of them did recognize a difference. Our fragmentary explanations were almost a word-association game.—
method: general guidelines; a way of teaching or doing something (this was by far the most popular definition for ‘method’ and was never used to describe a system, where the focus was on its organization); focus on the end product; freedom; individuality; adaptive; “you can teach a method different ways” (details may be worked out differently)
system: sequential rules; the entire infrastructure of education (buses, building, teachers, books, etc.); straight and narrow; structured; uncompromising; “this is how it’s going to be”; instruction, schedule, and curriculum (scope and sequence); uniformity; a self-contained, complex whole (like a body); organizational machine; formula
It was funny that we home-schooled siblings had a closely aligned opinion; and our public-schooled parents together discussed it from a slightly different (though compatible) perspective. There was also some interesting discussion on whether a system could utilize several methods, or a method several systems. There was some disagreement here. ;-)
What differences, if any, do you recognize between a method and a system? I might go on to ask some friends this question, because I am finding the topic fascinating! If you would weigh in the comments, that would be wonderful.
It was true that our modern collegiate dictionary and thesaurus made practically no distinction between method and system, but it wouldn’t be the first time that modern usage has diluted the English language. I pulled out the 1828 Wester and found a subtle but profound difference in their definitions.—
method: “a natural or regular disposition of separate things or parts” (my rewrite: separate parts ordered in agreement with nature) One who is methodical is “disposed to a just [appropriate] and natural manner.”
system: “a whole plan or scheme consisting of many parts connected in such a manner as to create a chain of mutual dependencies” (my rewrite: a large-scale, contained arrangement of many sequential, correlated parts)
A search in the Online Etymological Dictionary uncovered even more telling differences.—
method: 1540, from M.Fr. methode, from L. methodus “way of teaching or going” ... originally “pursuit, following after,” from meta- (“after”) and hodos (a traveling, way) ...
system: ... from L.L. systema “an arrangement, system” ... “set of correlated principles, facts, ideas, etc.” first recorded in the 1630s.
I have the alternate ideas of traveling—with a map to give direction while allowing freedom to choose the route and enjoy the scenery; versus a list of instructions with a decided route (“take two steps to the left, then...”) and an expected arrival time.
Finally, I think (see under above heading, “Cross Reference”) a passage from another of Mason’s books was useful in further elaborating the distinctions Mason recognized between a method and a system of education.
The best education, Mason believed, was methodical—ordered by “a few broad essential principles.” What these principles are, Mason promises to set forth in the next chapters.
Personal Application
•What do I propose that education shall effect in and for my child? What is the desired end?
Resources
Other Home Education Commentaries
Becoming Three: Charlotte Mason Volume I Part I
Sparrow Tree Square: Charlotte Mason Monday Part 5
Next Time...
What is this little person entrusted to his parents? A tablet to be written on? A twig to be bent? Wax to be molded? What do the Gospel sayings indicate about The Child’s Estate?
A Method of Education [HE/1.2]
Friday, February 17, 2012
I am rereading Home Education, the first in Charlotte Mason’s six-volume series on her theory and method of education. This time I will expand my reading by narration and personal notes—guided by the study questions provided in the appendix.
You are welcome to join me! Mason’s complete series is available for free online reading at Ambleside Online. I’d love to read your thoughts in a comment or email.