The Popularity of Charlotte Mason
Intro
This is Time's Corner, a weekly newsletter by Christian Leithart. I’m the editor of Good Work magazine and the creator of Psalm Tap, a yearly colloquium for church musicians. By day, I teach, and by night, I edit this newsletter.
There weren't many replies to last week's Thursday question, so I decided to include them in this letter. Don’t forget about this week’s Thursday question, which you can find by scrolling to the very bottom.
Tim was the only one to answer the question:
I've always believed I received a quality education (Boy Scouts, homeschool, private Christian college, etc.). But how do I know? I asked ChatGPT3 for an answer in less than 100 words: "Receiving a good education involves acquiring knowledge, developing critical thinking skills, nurturing social and emotional development, and preparing for future careers. It is a combination of these factors that determines the quality of education received, and whether or not it has adequately prepared individuals for success in life."
I am suspicious of AI. Perhaps that means I'm well educated.
Well said.
John didn’t tell me about his own education, but he did reply to my question about Charlotte Mason and rewards:
I'm also really interested in Mason's educational philosophy. My sense of her thing about rewards is that it is part and parcel with the other aspects of her philosophy, particularly her emphasis on atmosphere. That is, It is that everything about the environment and pedagogy should be focused toward creating the impression in students that their education is a delight, a source of life.
One of my favorite bits of Mason is about atmosphere: “The atmosphere in which a child gathers his unconscious ideas of right living emanates from his parents. Every look of gentleness and tone of reverence, every word of kindness and act of help, passes into the thought-environment, the very atmosphere which the child breathes; he does not think of these things, may never think of them, but all his life long they excite that vague appetency...toward things sordid or things lovely, things earthly or divine.” (Parents & Children, 36)
Thus the external reward is just a distraction, making the child think that the delight of learning is not real and that even adults acknowledge this. I don't get the sense Mason's a hardliner on this, though. She doesn't think children are just 100% non-stop thrilled-to-be-in-school kinda people. Thus she says that entertainment and diversion are crucial parts of "atmosphere." "The best way to turn our thoughts is to think of or do some quite different thing, entertaining or interesting...after a little rest in this way, the will returns to its work with new vigour," (Towards a Philosophy of Education, 11).
Anyways, I am not a hardliner on this. I teach at a "Charlotte Mason Classical Christian School" and I use a rewards system in my Latin class. Still, I am a big Charlotte Mason fan!
The Popularity of Charlotte Mason
Why is Charlotte Mason suddenly so popular? I first heard her name about ten years ago from a woman at church who had started a Charlotte Mason school called Ambleside (after the town in England where Mason began her school) and was left with the impression that she advocated some form of child-led, anarchic education. Then, about four years ago, I tutored a homeschooler whose parents used a Charlotte Mason curriculum and became a little more intrigued. Her philosophy of education was centered around the child, yes, but she still had a paedeia, or tradition, that she insisted the child should learn. The name no longer left a bad taste in my mouth.
I’m glad, because her name has reappeared over and over again in the world of Christian education, to the point where it has almost become a trend. Is this yet another example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, the experience of buying a new car, then suddenly seeing the same model everywhere you look? I don’t think so. Whenever I mention Mason (or Miss Mason, as her disciples like to call her; I prefer “Lottie”), someone says, “I’ve heard of her,” or, “I like some of her ideas.” Mason has become a real trend, but why?
One friend suggested it’s because COVID sent everyone home. Parents were thrown into homeschooling without any preparation and had to scramble to find resources. Homeschoolers have been relying on Mason for decades now, so the newcomers found her books (or distillations of her books) and liked them enough to mention them to their friends. Google searches for “charlotte mason” skyrocketed in August of 2020, more than double what they usually are. (Interestingly, the state with highest search interest? Idaho.)
Another factor is that, as Josh Gibbs has pointed out repeatedly, the classical education movement is simply entering its second generation. Folks like myself who attended classical schools now have to decide whether to send their children to classical schools, which naturally results in a frank examination of the system. And, though some may strongly disagree, Mason’s approach, especially in the younger grades, is more classical than what most schools are doing now.
More on this in another newsletter.
Links
The latest book from Josh Gibbs is A Short Introduction to Classical Christian Education. Get a copy here.
Upcoming
The second issue of Good Work will be mailed to subscribers in April. Sign up to get your copy. It's free.
The fourth annual Psalm Tap will take place in Birmingham on July 19th. Registration opens soon. In the meantime, you can watch recordings of previous years’ talks here.
Up To
Reading: Chesterton’s Tales of the Long Bow. Fiction wasn't Gilbert's forte, but his brilliance shines through regardless.
Watching: Get Out, well-deserved winner of the 2017 Oscar for best screenplay.
Listening: My brother used to send me a mix-CD of movie soundtracks for my birthday every year. It was a game: he’d send me the CD, I’d listen several times and send him my guesses. Eventually, I’d give up and he’d reveal the answers (often they were movies I’d never heard of). I recently asked him to make another one for me, and he did, so I’ve been listening to, and trying to guess, mysterious movie soundtracks.
Thursday Question
Thursday’s issue will be devoted to your replies to this question, which is really for students and parents of students:
How did COVID affect your educational choices and experience in the fall of 2020?
About
I’m Christian Leithart, a writer and teacher living in Birmingham, Alabama. I’m not active on social media, but you can read my blog here. Use the button below to share this issue of Time’s Corner, if you so desire. Thanks much for reading.