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.”

Principle #1.

Children are born persons. 

“Who shall measure the range of a child’s thoughts? His continual questions about God, his speculations about ‘Jesus,’ are they no more than idle curiosity, or are they symptoms of a God-hunger with which we are all born, and is a child able to comprehend as much of the infinite and the unseen as are his self-complacent elders? Is he ‘cabined, cribbed, confined,’ in our ways and does the fairy tale afford a joyful escape to regions where all things are possible? We are told that children have no imagination, that they must needs see and touch, taste and handle, in order to know. While a child’s age is still counted by months, he devotes himself to learning the properties of things by touching, pulling, tearing, throwing, tasting, but as months pass into years a coup d’oeil (The literal meaning is “stroke of [the] eye”. It is mostly used (in English) in a military context, where the coup d’œil refers to the ability to discern at one glance the tactical advantages and disadvantages of the terrain.) suffices for all but new things of complicated structure. Life is a continual progress to a child. He does not go over old things in old ways; his joy is to go on.” Charlotte Mason, Volume 6

If you are like I was the first time I saw the statement “Children are born persons”, I thought “what in the world does she MEAN by that?” But with deeper reading and seeing this idea fleshed out a bit, I am gaining deeper understanding little by little. Children are born complete – immature, truly, but they have all they need from the start. WE certainly didn’t make them. They are born with imagination and curiosity. They have the ability to learn and grow and develop. They are whole image-bearers – they come WITH a complete soul, and of course, subject to sin. 

I admit that as I learn more about this principle, I see that while I agree that our children are precious image-bearers of God, and their own little selves complete with a personality that our Divine Creator placed inside of them, I can speak to them more like a machine to output what I input or brush them aside when I am busy with The Tasks of the Day. We deal with machines, computers and gadgets often and it’s easy to expect ourselves and our children to be as efficient, as predictable as a kitchen timer. But humans aren’t machines and relationships aren’t efficient. Treating children as persons requires us to take the time to coach, remind, speak kindly, wait, savor, laugh, wonder and perhaps even offer a tender hug when we are running late. What we do is the result of what we actually believe. And I’m enjoying looking for ways I need to grow in this principle that I might be able to love my children well and educate them in a way that honors them as persons made by God and placed into our family. Mason is not the only educator who came across this truth, Kim Brennamen wrote in her book Large Family Logistics, “Remember to guide and correct them with an attitude of encouragement… While there are helpful strategies we can employ in order to have a more peaceful day with our children, the number one thing we must do is to deny self and cling to the cross.”

When Mason says “children are born persons” we are reminded that children are not just to be educated for their academic life and mind. A person is both spiritual AND physical. A person is whole and embodied. In our age of social media and iPhones, we can try to separate ourselves from our bodies. But this is a mistake. We cannot simply try to educate the academic life of a child and neglect their need to play, run, hop, fiddle and explore. It is through play that a child learns and lives a full life. In our day, children are either pacified with a screen to sit still and be mesmerized or overscheduled with organized sports and activities. But play involves free, unscheduled time in the child’s own home.

I think we are anxious that our children will miss something – miss an opportunity or a skill that will make them great or allow them to get ahead. But in our desire to help, we stifle them and make them too dependent on us for their entertainment. We can protect their play by how we schedule the day and by keeping outside activities in check. This will look different for each family, but it is important that we consider this aspect of childhood and its importance to our children’s growth as persons. When they direct their own play and have the freedom to lose themselves in their imagination, this builds a foundation for self-directed education and exploration as they mature and grow. 

One of the marvelous things I love about children is they carry a sense of wonder about the common things of the world. Things that are common to man – the height or breadth of a huge tree, the glitter of the stars and the shapes they make in the skies, a bird landing nearby and “OH! I almost touched it!” are all a wonder and new to a child. My daughter was once out alone on a trail in the woods behind our home. She came running back to announce that a stag had leapt across the path she was on directly in front of her! It wasn’t just the excitement in her voice but the wonder and humility of the statement that was so striking. These are the ways we learn from them – to be like little children in their humility and wonder. 

In this way, we see that the child’s mind, as Mason puts it “is an instrument of his education and his education does not produce his mind.” She goes on to explain that the brain is an instrument of the mind as a piano is an instrument of music. The piano is not music itself. Children use their minds to learn and grow. And, as a plant needs sun and water to grow and thrive the mind needs to come into contact with other minds through the medium of ideas. 

Mason again, “We must either reverence or despise children; and while we regard them as incomplete and undeveloped beings, who will one day arrive at the completeness of man, rather than as weak and ignorant persons, whose ignorance we must inform and whose weakness we must support, but whose potentialities are as great as our own, we cannot do otherwise than despise children, however kindly or even tenderly we commit the offense.” (The Story of Charlotte Mason, p 223)

As mother-teachers, we don’t want to go around spinning our wheels. We want the work we do to be the right work and to walk forward with confidence. It is the job of Satan to obscure and muddle the waters of parents, but thanks be to God, He has given us the Holy Scriptures to guide us and know what we are about! Mason reminds us that, “The parent, the mother especially, who holds that her children’s rule of life must be “children obey your parents for it is right!” certainly secures obedience as she secures personal cleanliness, or proper habits at table, because she has a strong sense of the importance of these things. As her reward, she gains for her child the liberty of a free man, who is not under bondage to his own willfulness nor the victim of his own chance desires. The liberty of the person who can make himself do what he ought is the first of the rights that children claim as persons.” (The Story of Charlotte Mason, p 227) And it is this sort of liberty we want for ourselves and our children. 

Up next, we will explore Principles 2 “children are born neither good nor bad but with possibilities for good and evil.”

It is important for us, the mother-teachers, to develop our philosophy in such a way that we act from what we believe and not simply react in the moment. A philosopher is a “lover of wisdom”. Philosophy is the study of truth, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge. It is the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty. “The teacher,” Stratford Caldecott says in Beauty in the Word, “must be the one who submits first. He must submit to God, and to the objective truth he hopes to teach.” To put it another way, as mothers, we must lead our children by our example. They imitate us and mirror our virtues and also our vices. It’s our calling and privilege.

What we believe as our philosophy should come out in what we do. These are the principles that guide our actions. What we do is a result of what we believe about ourselves, others and the world. Ideas have consequences. The intentional pursuit of wisdom is found throughout human history and begins in our own hearts as is eloquently demonstrated in this passage: “The men of old wanting to clarify and diffuse throughout the empire that light which comes from looking straight into the heart and then acting, first set up good government in the their own states; wanting good government in their states, they first established order in their own families; wanting order in the home, they first disciplined themselves, desiring self-discipline, they rectified their own hearts; and wanting to rectify their hearts they sought precise verbal definitions of their inarticulate thoughts in the tones given off by the heart; wishing to attain precise verbal definitions, they set to extend their knowledge to the utmost.” Confucius, Great Digest (Ezra Pound translation) a la The Way of Ignorance, Wendell Berry).

Now, I must point out that this wisdom we seek, will not be found inside ourselves. It is a fallacy of our age, where we parrot “follow your heart” or “be the best you” or “you do you and I’ll do me.” These statements are destined to fail because the root is self. Self indulgence, self-gratification and self-discovery lead to death. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:9&10) But if not inside, where shall we discover this wisdom? C.S. Lewis observes, “In a savage community you absorb your culture, in part unconsciously, from participation in the immemorial pattern of behavior, and in part by word of mouth, from the old men of the tribe. In our own society most knowledge depends on observation… But the Middle Ages depended predominately on books… reading was in one way a more important ingredient of the total culture.” (Discarded Image, C.S. Lewis). Lewis shares here, what we have suspected, we must be oriented outward and not inward. Now we come to see that our philosophy (the pursuit of wisdom) will be shaped by our theology (the study of God).

I have been struck, as I work through the 20 principles of education that Ms. Mason puts forward, at how challenged I am by these principles as I examine my actions and home atmosphere, disciplines and ways of life at home. I’ve been looking to see where my attitude, reactions and ways of speaking to my children contradict these principles. What areas do I cling to self and seek, comfort and convenience instead of the good of others and glory for the Lord. The heart is certainly deceitful and this is where prayer and reading God’s word can be both instructive and restorative. And so, as I work through these principles, I hope to share both the challenges I find in keeping them and the ways that they have helped guide me when I’m unsure what to do. And of course, we keep in mind that the Holy Spirit is our great educator and instructs and guides us as we trust in the God who made us and are sustained by Christ who allows us to walk in freedom with His death. As Stratford Caldacott eloquently states, “Only those who love can educate because only those who love can speak the truth which is love. God is the true teacher because ‘God is love.’” This is the question that I have as I look at the 20 principles, “Do I live this way? Do I love thoughtfully and understand my duty to my children?” I suspect I have much to learn and opportunities for growth!
 “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24)

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Next up: Children are born persons – let’s get practical

Charlotte Mason (1842–1923) was born in the age of Queen Victoria and lived to witness the impact of industrialization, America’s War between the states, World War I and the flu epidemic of 1918. An educator, author, speaker and philosopher Charlotte Mason’s impact on education is now growing throughout the world because the ideas she put forward have stood the test of time, for those willing to consider them.

Because of our modern love of catchy phrases and simplified headlines, Mason is now associated with booklists and getting children outside. Modern home educators may think that if they are reading aloud and going on nature walks their child is receiving a “Charlotte Mason Education”. However, to stop there would leave our culture, our homes and our nation sparsely tended. There is a richness and depth – a great bounty waiting to be harvested that Ms. Mason worked out over her lifetime as an educator and philosopher. Parents and educators willing to take the time to work out these ideas for themselves in their own time and place will learn how to live fully and lead their children to that fullness of life as well.

After teaching, writing and lecturing for 30 years in Bradford, Mason settled in the town of Ambleside in the Lake District in Northwest England. She bought a large home there and operated the “House of Education” from that location until her death. She named it so, she wrote, because “household life as a means of culture is much to be preferred to college life.”  Already a well received author and lecturer, Mason had the means to act on her dream. She was a middle class educational entrepreneur. The local town housed a school where her students, who were women studying to be teachers and governesses, would work out the ideas and practices. Mason kept her own staff. She employed cooks, a driver, teachers and many others to help run the house. It was a labor of love and though she didn’t become wealthy by the world’s standards, at the end of her life she declared:

“I am an old woman, a very old woman, but also I believe a multi-millionaire, and, as we are beginning to understand, millionaires are people of many perplexities. It is not an easy thing to know how to make use of vast wealth. My vast wealth would amuse a rich man, for it consists of a few, a mere invigorating, exhilarating powers that have already been of some use in the world and should help to solve most of the problems which perplex the world today.

 Therefore I shall do my best to put them down in “black and white.” (The Story of Charlotte Mason)

And of course, she did write down what her “vast wealth” consisted of and how we too can attain it. Her sixth volumes survive as such a guide. Toward a Philosophy of Education (volume 6) being the final and most complete of the series as far as explaining the education of philosophy she worked to grasp throughout her lifetime.

Ms. Mason was a Christian and in all of her work the presence of God and His active hand in the lives of ordinary people should be understood to be interwoven as the thread that binds it all together. You can’t have a complete education without the Knowledge of God. To remove God and call it a “Charlotte Mason Education” is to remove the foundation for which her ideas stand.  It is unfortunate that today we use the term “Charlotte Mason Method” or the like since she herself was striving to understand principles outside of herself or her own creation. To say that she “discovered” the 20 Principles of Education laid out in her books, articles and speeches is more appropriate. These principles can help all educators of all time periods, backgrounds and means to understand the Natural Laws of Education (credit, In Vital Harmony, Karen Glass). 

As a Christian, Mason understood mankind, as image-bearers of God were to have honor, dignity and respect. During her lifetime, the rise of machines, factories and the need for factory workers dehumanized children in particular. Very young children were often hired to do work and would spend hours inside the walls of a factory. Thus, their education became utilitarian. The need to develop good workers – those who could obey immediately and last hours on doing the same repetitive tasks became commonplace. There was hardly any consideration about what was good for the child. The goal for the economy was focused on yielding and generating the most profit. Education followed suit. The wealthy were not without their own poverty, those children were “seen and not heard.” They were physically sectioned off at the top of the home with a governess who would “bring them down” for an hour a day and “present” them to their parents. 

The family also received its greatest hit with mother’s leaving the home in droves to work in factories during The Great War. On the whole, they have yet to return. Mason saw the impact of the educational trend of the day and sought to offer something better – not from the power of her own personality, but what was true for all children. She continually put forward the 20 principles. They were worked out with many children and proved to be faithful guides time and time again.

It is fruitful to study Mason’s writing and to consider her methods because she worked to discover universal truths that could be applied to all children in every place and time. We may get caught up in the particulars of how one family or school implements her ideas and say “that’s not for me.” But I hope to show that the ideas she puts forward and the principles she articulates have wisdom and truth that can be applied to all of us. 

The distinctives of an education that seeks to implement the the principles that Charlotte Mason puts forward in her writing will seek to equip parents and teacher to:

• Show respect for the child.
• Trust the child and their in-born curiosity to self-educate. This includes trusting the child to learn from mistakes and failures. It may also include providing support for interests and aptitudes.
• Have confidence in the interconnectedness of life and how through these relationships, we learn and grow.
• Allow a child to receive this education primarily through books. Books should be excellent and put a child in touch with the greatest minds on each subject.
• Offer Knowledge of God: Reading the Bible and teaching theology are essential to giving 
• Offer Knowledge of the Universe: Science and the study of nature will serve the child to learn about God’s world. Learning about General Revelation will allow the child to explore how vast the imagination of God is and to recognize that one lifetime isn’t enough to learn about all of His wonders. The study of mathematics and astronomy are included here.
• Offer Knowledge of Man: The study of history is taught from primary sources and well-written books – often biographies and lively stories that allow the people in them to be real to the child. This too will bring a child to see God at work in all times, people and places. 
• Use Narration: The practice of telling back what one has read helps a child to process the information for themselves and tell what they know. This practice has been commonly used since Plato and helps a child make the knowledge their own.
• Care for the body: The use of physical training in the support of a whole education has also been used since antiquity. Mason used Swedish Drill in her schools. We can find ways through running, hiking, CrossFit, eating well, dancing and the like to use our whole bodies to care for them well.
• Incorporate Habit training: As any young mother will quickly learn, the use of routine will quickly help to guide a young child through a day most smoothly. So it is with all of us. The lines we lay down for ourselves will become ingrained. It is the thoughtful mother who sees a poor habit and works to correct it by setting up a new line. Habit training is intentional and thoughtful.
• Study foreign languages so as to be hospitable and sympathetic to neighbors.
• And all of this can be accomplished in one childhood because Mason utilized short lessons. Some can be 10 minutes, others 20-30 minutes. But the idea is to command full attention the first time so as to not be wasteful in the work set out for the day.

This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of the principles or practices that were used or can be used by someone seeking to implement Charlotte Mason’s principles. It is good to remember that each family in each time, place and circumstance will have their own needs, interests and ways to apply these truths in their families. There are many ways to raise a child right! My intention is to offer a taste of the reasoning that supports the practices that are spread far and wide across the Internet and, I hope, to inspire you to learn about these principles of education for yourself. It is a fruitful endeavor.