WCLTL: DISCUSSION 3
After the holiday season, our group met in January to continue discussing When Children Love to Learn. Here—at long last—are my notes from the chapter we discussed in November. Jack Beckman enlarges upon a theme that dominates all of our group’s discussion, the principle which Mason said was necessary to any valid approach to education: Children are born persons.
{CHAPTER TWO: Jack Beckman}
Even though our second chapter is written by university professor Dr. Jack Beckman, we begin with a little more Susan Schaeffer Macaulay, with a quote from her book For the Children's Sake.
'The first proposition of Charlotte Mason's educational philosophy may seem merely a statement of the obvious,' she wrote; and Beckman proposes in this chapter to unfold a little of what Macaulay calls 'a central truth in its own right.'
'Consider the first two years of the child's life,' Beckman invites us. Some of us are living with it now, or are near enough to remember clearly just how much personality these littlest ones exhibit.
An important characteristic of personhood, mentioned twice in this short passage, is that of 'affinities built in.' What are affinities?
Mason quotes her favorite poet when she said, 'Our business is not to teach him all about everything, but to help him make valid as many as may be of—
“Those first-born affinities
That fit our new existence to existing things.”’
Affinity is defined in today's dictionaries as 'a spontaneous natural liking or sympathy for someone or something.' I was so interested to learn that its original {c. 1300} meaning was 'relation by marriage'; certainly there is that sense of finding a 'soulmate' with a discovered affinity.
One of those affinities important to acknowledge is the desire for knowledge. Unlike those in her day who regarded children as 'oysters' who needed to be trained in affinities and faculties, Mason believed children's minds came as complete as their bodies—weak, immature—but whole nonetheless.
A little later, Beckman shares one of my favorite quotes from Charlotte Mason: 'The child's mind is the instrument of his education; his education does not produce his mind.'
The psychologist Erich Fromm {in his book The Art of Loving} wrote, 'The presence of... faith makes the difference between education and manipulation.' When we do not have faith in a person's affinity of knowledge, we manipulate him to work for inferior ends, Mason said—'for 'emulation... place... avarice... tangible profit.'
Knowledge-hunger is as natural as food-hunger. But, like physical hunger, it is a signal of need for nourishment. How might appetite be abused or destroyed?
'All the child requires is a rich and varied curriculum. He or she has the natural powers of curiosity, attention, retention and assimilation that comprise the ability for self-education.'
'We have witnessed the dull student, the bored student, the lazy student—but have we observed the delighted student, the interested student, the capacious student?' Have you?
We've been given a few examples the last two pages {p 52-53}. What did that look like? What were the conditions?
In the face of such a vision for education and for a student hungering for knowledge, we too might say—with the teacher described by Mason on page 54—'[I am] not sufficient for these things.'
What is your answer to this feeling of inadequacy?
Beckman invites us in the ensuing pages to look at specific area of educational practice, to see how we might acknowledge and respect the personhood of the child.
First we have ‘Principles of Authority’ {p 54}. This one paragraph doesn’t contain any of the material I would venture to say we all expected. What relation do you think it bears to a concept of authority? {Places and roles are known; the ‘who’ of the child is secure, and leads us to know what we should do. Authority=permission.}
Next, we consider ‘The Learning Space’ {p 55}. Let’s look at its physical aspect. What does a ‘learning space’ that ‘affirms the personhood of the child’ look like? Some {rather classroom-y} suggestions are given, but give me yours.
•quality materials {art, microscope, etc}
•beautiful, not trivialized, aesthetic
•open-ended supplies
•etc.
What is the emotional atmosphere of this learning space?
•support and safety
•love and acceptance
•humility and gentleness
•nurturing and caring
•interest and excitement
•challenge
•community
As for the cognitive aspect, what are we offering in this space?
•wide curriculum
•rich books
•narration
•wise planning {variety in subjects, alternating powers}
Let’s look at ‘The Child.’ What responsibilities do we learn to intrust to this person? The person is responsible—
•for his own education, his own learning {no one can do it for him}
•to be under proper authority
•to form good habits
•to love knowledge
What responsibilities do we have, as ‘Teacher or Caregiver’? We are responsible to provide—
•curriculum
•authority, with humility
•habit-training that is not arbitrary
•well-planned lessons
•a living example
So, we’ve planned our year, and it’s the first day of school. ‘What kind of year will it be?... Both teacher and students wonder.’
It depends a great deal on how the teacher answers these questions:
•Who is the learner?
•What is the teaching and learning process?
•What is the role of the teacher?
•What do I teach?
•How do I relate to the student?
They may be elevated questions, but they WILL be revealed in the ‘more mundane level.’ Alfie Kohn has pointed out that practice reveals theory, even if a teacher has never deliberated a theory.
Beckman illustrates this idea with a contrast between the fictional ‘Miss Green’ and ‘Miss Brown,’ two teachers who are confronted with the challenge of noise control in the classroom. Look at their differing methods; what does each communicate the the child {p 56}?
Miss Green
•impersonal stimulus {stop light}
•arbitrary {personal comfort}
•behavior-focused {quiet}
Miss Brown
•personal {relationship}
•principle for life {community}
•character-focused {respect}
Teachers have so many resources from which to glean or reject principles of thought and practice in the classroom. We have so many competing answers to the big questions in education. What we need to guide our decision-making is a ‘captain idea’ {a phrase of the poet Coleridge, adapted by Mason}.
The ‘captain idea’ that underpins Mason’s unified philosophy is ‘the child is born a person.’ By recognizing and accepting the child as an image of God—as he is, now—we are better prepared to ‘answer the big questions.’
‘With some feeling of awe upon us,’ Mason wrote, ‘we shall be the better prepared to consider how and upon what children should be educated.’
So, let’s prepare to learn more and be awed by ‘The Nature of the Learner’ {p 58}.
What is an ‘honest and realistic manner’ of seeing the learner? Tell me what you learned from pages 58-59, or observed in your own life.
‘Man, a Glorious Ruin’
Image Bearer
•intelligence
•logic
•moral sensibility and capability
•love
•faith
•hope
•appetency for knowledge
•aesthetic capabilities
•mercy
•patience
•forgiveness
Fallen Creation
•ignorance {and inexperience}
•anger
•willfulness
•selfishness
•possibilities for evil
Are you guilty of any aspect of the worldly perspective described at the top of p 60?
Beckman suggests five questions that should be discussed by anyone involved in a creation or restructuring of learning spaced. What are your thoughts on these questions? What question would you like to have discussed?
We move on to another and important section discussing the relationship of ‘Authority and Docility,’ a dynamic balance that appears in every one of Mason’s volumes. It’s a topic that will probably always arise when considering the personality of children. If we stand beside children in life, before God, what right do we have to tell them what do do, in education or life?
Beckman calls authority: ‘natural, necessary, and fundamental.’ ‘True authority,’ he explains on p 62, ‘seeks to work in relationship with those under its mantle.’
Authority and the child’s corresponding docility {defined as teachability, readiness to learn, from L. docilis, docere, ‘to teach’} are compared by mason to the scientific principles that keep the earth in orbit. Likewise, these principles allow days to go on, smoothly.
Two conditions are necessary for a unified and peaceful relationship of authority and docility.
1.Authority must not be arbitrary.
‘Notions of convenience or expediency are to be cast aside.’
Inconsistent rules are replaced by ‘habits of heart, minds and body.’
Students should witness important modeling from authorities.
2.Children should have a sense of their freedom and responsibility in education.
The responsibilities of teacher and student present a high view of each that eliminates the fallacy of superiority or inferiority. We see this condescension towards children when—
•We talk down to them.
•We pamper them to make then always ‘happy.’
•We take care of their every difficulty.
Beckman gives a contrasting example to the last point. Here is an example of ‘Masterly Inactivity’ in parenting.
{Share blog Elevating Childcare by Janet Lansbury, based on Geber’s RIE method.}
Affirmation of the ‘sacredness of the chid’s personhood’ is often opposed to the desire for control. Proper authority is not about control; its goal is self control.
Control is characterized by—
•manipulation {by guilt, fear, love}
•strong suggestion or influence
•undue play on one desire {ex. vanity, avarice}
Perhaps our most pervasive and socially acceptable form of manipulation is that of rewards {including praise} to ‘motivate’ for school and good behavior. The short term effects are seductive, but the long term effect of ‘undue play on one desire’ is that others atrophy, and suddenly we have to appeal to the desire for rewards because the desire for knowledge and goodness has withered. It’s dehumanizing; it treats us as less than we are, and we end up being less than we can be.
We have another classroom contrast: Mrs. Appling and Mr. Glenn. {I love Beckman’s thematic pairings! :-P} How do their differing world-views express themselves in practice?
We have one main section left, on Mason’s mottoes for teachers and students.
For teachers we have, Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life, and—Mason later added—a science of relations. We can look forward to a more thorough examination of the motto in the next chapter, but let’s review each point briefly.
1.Education is an atmosphere.
Mason preferred the word atmosphere over environment, because she wanted to conjure more that merely physical surroundings but also the thoughts and attitudes a child absorbs from those around him.
2.Education is a discipline.
But Mason also warned against the resulting weakness of an education based solely on atmosphere. Habit training is an important part of a CM education.
3.Education is a life.
Life requires proper, nourishing sustenance.
4.Education is a science of relations.
Relationship has two main expressions in education: relationship of learners to knowledge—those ‘first-born affinities’ we discussed earlier. But also, it is the synthesizing process of the learner who connects what he learns to what he already knows in the search for meaning and connection.
The motto for students is I am, I can, I ought, I will. It is a reminder to them {and to us} that the as persons have possibilities, capabilities, responsibilities, and determining powers. Beckman shares a more modern expression of this timeless succession.
Narrate to me how you understand each step in this ‘Jacob’s ladder.’
• detail of 1921 cover for Good Housekeeping by Jessie Wilcox Smith •
February 2, 2016