EDUCATION AN ATMOSPHERE
According to the PNEU motto, ‘atmosphere’ accounts for an entire third of education. By ‘atmosphere’ more is suggested than mere physical environment; the concept encompasses the more important emotional and spiritual climate—the ‘thought environment’—that daily surrounds the child. Children naturally imbibe this atmosphere from the people and situations in their natural home setting; parents are chiefly responsible for inspiring in their children, by their own example, an appetency {desire, affinity} for the beautiful and divine.
The statement ‘Education is an atmosphere’ is a simple but important acknowledgement that the child’s ‘thought environment’ has an enormous {and unavoidable} impact on his education as a whole person. It is not a direction, Mason warned, to artificially manipulate the child’s environment in order to shape his intellect. The recognition of the atmosphere’s influence, however, will perhaps direct parents to a more deliberate and wise development of their home culture—in both physical and spiritual ways, as the two are inextricably intertwined.
Concision is not my strong point, and when I encounter conversational opportunities to share a passion of mine, I flounder between overwhelming my listener or confusing my thoughts. This post is part of an attempt to distill Mason’s main ideas in order to share with those who may not already be familiar with her philosophy.
• hiking the Everglades •
December 2, 2014