Quotes Worth Pondering: Education is an Atmosphere

Some of the ideas I am savoring as we continue on our way through Charlotte Mason’s 20 Principles….

 

Towards a Philosophy of Education (Volume 6), Charlotte Mason

“It is not an environment that these want, a set of artificial relations carefully constructed, but an atmosphere which nobody has been at pains to constitute.  It is there, about the child, his natural element, precisely as the atmosphere of the earth is about us.  It is thrown off, as it were, from persons and things, stirred by events, sweetened by love, ventilated, kept in motion, by the regulated action of common sense.”  p.96

 

For the Children’s Sake, Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

“It is true that atmosphere is produced out the ideas held by the parents and/or teachers.”  p.74

 

“The child should enjoy an atmosphere where life can be explored in a rich way.  Little holy hedges are not what is wanted.  Understanding the objective certainty of the truth of God gives an atmosphere that is free from fear.  We can face up to people’s ideas.  Questions can be asked.  We can talk about them right in the open.  Indeed, the child should be able to know, read, or listen to people who hold all sorts of ideas.  As they mature, it is absolutely imperative that they be trusted to have access to current ‘worldly’ thought.  Some of it has true greatness (say a play, essay or book).  They should be able to enjoy what is good, and yet be able to see what ideas are wrong.  This open, frank atmosphere can only be achieved when those who produce it are aware of what is good, pure, and of a good report (cf. Philippians 4:8).”  p.74-75

 

“The Atmosphere of Home”, MF Jerrold (Parent’s Review)

“There are many important aspects of home-life from first training to highest education; but there is nothing in the way of direct teaching that will ever have so wide and lasting effect as the atmosphere of home. And the gravest thought concerning this is that in this instance there is nothing to learn and nothing to teach: the atmosphere emanates from ourselves – literally is ourselves; our children live in it and breathe it, and what we are is thus incorporated into them.  Atmosphere is much more than teaching, and infinitely more than talk.”

 

“Children and Books”, Mrs. Conyers Alston (Parent’s Review)

“The ideals which children gain from books are their constant associates, and mould their characters even more than human companions.  They live with them not only while they read, but also while they are otherwise engaged; and suggestions so subtle as to pass almost unnoticed linger in the mind, to influence emotions and express themselves in action.”

 

“And it is in the nursery that the key to the palace of good literature is opened.  The reason why so few people have developed the critical faculty with regard to reading is that so few have grown up in the company of good books – only good books – but have been allowed, while their minds were growing, to read any printed twaddle within the covers of a book or magazine.”