The philosophical foundation of a Charlotte Mason education is that “children are persons”. She seems to have understood this personhood of the child in the sense of them being one substance, fully human and neither good nor bad from the beginning. By the time Miss Mason was writing her six volumes there had already been philosophical attacks on the nature of the person from philosophers such as Descartes (d.1650) and Locke (d.1704) who defined (and thereby restricted) personhood to those behaving in a rational way and autonomously. These views along with Neitzsche who had died in 1900 left the personhood of all vulnerable people up for grabs.
Charlotte was holistic in her approach. Children are fully human, fully persons in their own right, made in the image of God with an inherent dignity. This flies in the face of the elitist moderns who were busy seperating out human from person so that Margaret Sanger and Marie Stopes could try and decide who should live and who should be sterilised and treated worse than farm animals.
But that was then and surely having seen two world wars and the utter devestation left by socialistic governments we have learned our lessons?
Apparently not.
What exactly IS the philosphical foundation of the school system we have today? It doesn’t appear to be that children are persons. There does seem to be a view that children are blank slates ready to be filled with whatever propagan…information the Government sees fit. They are to be shaped and adjusted so that they can attain targets and be ready for the workplace.
And that seems to be it.
The word “individual” gets banded around a lot but children are individual what? Persons? Cogs for the machine?
Crosby (see end links) writes that personhood and freedom are inseparable and he recognises that those who are out to restrict freedoms tend not to refer to people as persons.
If we as parents want to hold on to our rights and freedoms and protect our children from the ever growing tentacles of Government interference in our family lives and how our children learn; then take back the language.
We are persons with freedom and dignity not individuals to be moulded and shaped to fit the economic machine. Tick box education does nothing to recognise the dignity of the person whether a child or the teacher.
I am afraid I think too many parents fall into the view that their children are only to be judged as ‘good’ if they fulfil the shaping of school. How many parents do you meet who are proud of their children for ANY OTHER REASON than what they have achieved at school?
“John is so good. He got 4 A levels you know.”
“This is Beccy she is doing 12 GCSEs this year. Isn’t she great?”
I hate this. How can children grow up recognising their own inherent dignity when they are seen only through the eyes of academic achievement? No wonder so many kids cheat! Honesty is valued in a person; not a machine cog.
I don’t value my children by what exams they might or have sat. I value them as persons.
Diane Irving on the scientific and philosphical arguments of personhood.
Thinking Love, No Twaddle 