Principle #2:
Children are not born either good or bad, but with possibilities for good and for evil.
As we try to understand this second principle of education, we must understand the cultural moment Mason was addressing. In 1859, On the Origin of Species was published and Darwin’s ideas of evolution were taking the world by storm and were being applied to many common areas of life, including that of childrearing, psychology and education. Some believed that children needed filling and stuffing to become a complete person. Many parents and educators believed that a child was born with their moral and intellectual abilities predetermined and therefore, it was hopeless to try to interfere. What this attitude generated was the fruit of neglect and passivity. “Why bother” seemed to be the sentiment. Children who were born “good” would be good all of their days and the same went for those born “bad.” These are the seedling ideas for eugenics that played out dreadfully through Hitler and continue to spread like cancer through Margaret Sanger’s legacy.
Mason was well read and kept up on these debates, discoveries and ideas. At first glance, our 21st century minds will take this second principle out of its intended context. But this is not a fair assessment because context, as we know, is important. When Mason speaks of “good or bad” she is not addressing salvation or the moral righteousness of a child. She is instead addressing the tension between the reality that we are image-bearers of God (good) and yet we sin (bad). We are also to be reminded that she is laying out educational principles and that “we put Education in her true place as the handmaid of Religion.” (Philosophy of Education, p 46) And here we come to the application.
Education supports religion here in recognizing the importance of teaching and training a child in good habits that will go well with him all of his life. If we apply the principle that children are born with possibilities for good and for evil, we will see that in education and parenting, there are ways we can support or hinder a child toward good habits or bad habits. Take chores as an example:
The child who grows up doing chores, being asked and then required to put his own toys away or help sweep the crumbs off the floor is cultivating a habit of service, a sense of belonging and pride in the place he lives. It is good to ask a child to do the things that he can do for himself and to do so in a habitual way so that he doesn’t need to think of it, it is simply automatic. “When I rise from the table, I take my plate to the sink.” On the other hand, the child who is capable of cleaning up after himself but is instead pampered and is never asked to contribute to the family life is robbed of the training the other child received. The first child may be more easily introduced to the idea that God made work good from the beginning and that there is satisfaction and even joy to be found in serving his family. The second child may not be able to grasp this truth as easily because work has been seen as something others do for the child’s benefit and not as a way to be the one who serves.
It is up to parents to discipline a child and to work to lay down the rails of habit that will encourage a child in the Right path. I wonder at our distaste of discipline as a culture. We tend to fall off both sides of the horse. One is too strict while the other is too soft. We lean on excuses for poor behavior in ourselves and children and then wonder why nobody stands on solid ground. It is true that homeschooling families are preserving the family and the Christian faith with it. And often that means building a family culture from zero. But what is the foundation? If we are building up from zero, who is there to help us find the lines to draw?
“Disposition, intellect, genius, come pretty much by nature, but character is an achievement, the one practical achievement possible to us for ourselves and for our children; and all real advance in family or individual is along the lines of character.” (Parents and Children, p 72)
Mason points to training of character. And, this training, she shares “rests with parents to ease the way of their child by giving him habits of the good life in thought, feeling, and action, and even in spiritual things. We cannot make a child “good”; but, in his way, we can lay paths for the good life in the very substance of his brain. We cannot make him hear the voice of God; but, again, we can make paths where the Lord God may walk in the cool of the evening.” (Formation of Character, p 141-142)
Principle #2 Applied in Modern Life
Mason was not the only educator to discover the truth affirming the good power of a child’s image-bearing nature while also recognizing their power to sin. This tension is alway present.
Dr. Jane Nelsen writes in Positive Discipline for Preschoolers: “…developing autonomy and initiative are among the earliest developmental task your child will face. And while parents may not exactly like it, even the youngest child has personal power – and quickly learns how to use it. If you doubt this, think of about the last time you saw a four-year-old jut out his arms, and say boldly, “No! I don’t want to!” Part of your job as a parent will be to help your child learn to channel his considerable power in positive directions – to help solve problems, to learn life skills, and to respect and cooperate with others. Punishment will not teach these vital lessons: effective and loving discipline will.”
When we find Mason’s principles crop up in other writings, such as here with a mother of seven and career family therapist, Dr. Jane Nelsen we begin to see that the principle is larger than the person articulating it.
Nelsen acknowledges the power of the child to do both good or naughty actions. But, as we recognize this tendency, instead of being bewildered, Nelsen and Mason both recommend that we have a vision for how to help the child harness their power to develop skills to work together and be a contributing member of a family and later of society.
The family is the foundation of society. When the family is strong and functioning in a healthy manner, the larger society will follow suit. Though the daily work of parenting and homeschooling our children as mother-teachers is challenging work and exposes our own failures and weaknesses, it is good work and does contribute to strengthen our communities as a whole. And, I want us to consider one more area as we look to develop habits in our homes. This habit seeks to counteract the individualist nature of our society through being an active part of a community.
When we think of the “habits of the good life,” let it include cultivating friendships and living in fellowship with others. Let our children have friends with whom they share inside jokes or quirky sayings. Let us be friends with other mothers who know our countenance enough to tell when things are off or share when we are over the moon with joy. Let our husbands have friends as well and not be wandering through the parenting years on a relational island. And may this habit of cultivating community and sharing real life together be such a habit, that in dark seasons of struggle our children go to their own friends and family for a hug and a cup of tea and not their phones or screens for help. We are embodied souls and living a full life means engaging with others so that, as scripture says we might sharpen one another as iron sharpens iron.
And let us apply this second principle in that we understand a child is born an image-bearer who is also born with a fallen nature. It is our duty to understand what is good and right ourselves so that we can lovingly correct bad habits of character and help a child return to the straight path. This work on our part does not save the child, but it does fulfill our duty that we not place a stumbling block in the child’s path so that “the Lord God may walk in the cool of the evening.”