Charlotte Mason (philosopher)
Charlotte Maria Mason (born January 1, 1842 in Bangor , † January 16, 1923 in Ambleside ) was a British upbringing and education philosopher at the turn of the 20th century, who dedicated her life to improving the quality of education and upbringing . Their revolutionary methods led away from a pure benefit orientation towards an education and upbringing of a child on the basis of living ideas.
Life
Charlotte Mason moved to London at the age of 18 and entered the only teacher training institution of the time, the Home and Colonial School Society . This was founded in 1836 with the aim of further developing Johann Pestalozzi's educational foundations . Already during her apprenticeship she did pioneering work as a school principal at one of the first pre-schools in Great Britain and then at a secondary school for girls. During this time she developed her vision for a "liberal education for all", liberal in the sense of a generous, comprehensive range of subjects for all children, regardless of social class.
She wrote books for and about school, starting with geography books about England, Europe and the world, and was soon called up as a speaker and instructor at a teacher training college. Her experiences with parents led her to give a series of lectures on the basic principles of parenting. These lectures were published in 1886 under the name Home Education . Together with five other volumes, this made up the famous Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series .
- Home Education (1886)
- Parents and Children (1896)
- School Education (1904)
- Ourselves (1904)
- Formation of Character (1905)
- Towards a Philosophy of Education (1923)
In these six volumes, Charlotte Mason presented her complete concept with all principles (especially those that were refined in the last volume).
During the time of her first volume, she also founded the rapidly expanding PEU (Parents' Educational Union), whose members she kept up to date with the help of a magazine ( parent report ). These local associations became so successful that they soon had to include the 'N' for National in the name (PNEU). These associations also began to found schools based on the model of Charlotte Mason. It was also at this time (1891) that the House of Education was founded in Ambleside, a training center for educators and everyone who had anything to do with children.
Over the years, more and more schools have adopted their educational philosophy and methods and the House of Education has become a teacher training facility for the schools founded by the PNEU and also for exchange programs for British parents overseas.
After her death, the school became Charlotte Mason College , in the 1990s it was taken over by Lancaster University due to financial pressure and today it is incorporated into the University of Cumbria .
Educational philosophy
At the beginning of the above-mentioned volumes, the educational philosophy of Charlotte Mason is summarized. Two maxims are: "Upbringing and education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life" and "Upbringing and education is the science of relationships". She believed that children are personalities from birth and should be respected as such; they should also be taught the way of will and the way of reason. Her motto for the children was: "I am, I should, I can, I will."
Teaching methods
Living Books: Perhaps Mason's best-known method was the use of living books for every possible subject, instead of dry, factual textbooks or books that were "customized" for the children. Living books are written by a person who has both a passion for the subject and good language skills, as well as the ability to communicate great ideas in a literarily engaging manner.
- Retelling: Children are expected to tell what they have read. The retelling can be spoken, written or drawn and should be done after reading the material just once. This method requires the child to deliberately train their attention, to summarize everything that has been read, to organize the material in their memory and to determine how what is remembered is best communicated in their own words. "Corrections must not be made during the retelling, nor should any interruption be allowed."
- Habit Formation: Charlotte Mason believed that forming good habits was an indispensable part of her parenting method. That is why it was mentioned under point 7 in its short version of the educational philosophy in the foreword of each of the six volumes on education and upbringing: “7. When we say that education is a discipline, we mean the formation of habits that are clearly and carefully formed, be they habits of the mind or the body. Physiologists tell us about the adaptation of brain structures to habitual chains of thought, that is, to our habits. ”She believed that practicing habits was a powerful help for the independent and self-determined education of children. Mason specifically encouraged children to learn the following habits: attention, perfect execution, obedience, truthfulness, balance, neatness, kindness, order, respect, punctuality, kindness, cleanliness, and others.
- Lessons: For younger children, Mason advocated short and focused lessons, rarely longer than 20 minutes. As children grow older, children become more proficient in their powers of attention, so the lessons gradually become longer. The children were given timetables so they knew how long they had to finish the lesson. Mason believed that these short, focused, and focused lessons encouraged the habit of full attentiveness, and that acquiring them early would help children receive a wide range of topics, like an orderly feast. Charlotte Mason also recommended alternating lessons so that the brain would not tire - for example, mental arithmetic would follow handwriting instead of two history lessons in a row.
The subjects can be roughly divided into languages (handwriting, prepared dictations, poetry, Shakespeare and Plutarch, grammar, foreign languages - French, Latin, German), arts (viewing art, understanding music, handicrafts), mathematics and sciences (nature studies and experiential education, mathematics) , Social sciences (Bible, history, geography).
scout
Aids to Scouting was included in the curriculum of the PNEU schools by Robert Baden-Powell in 1905 after Charlotte Mason recognized the educational potential in it. This in turn moved Baden-Powell to give higher weight to the educational potential, which led to his eleventh book Scouting for Boys and the actual founding of the scout movement .
Web links
- Timeline of Mason's life
- Informal Education Biography
- Parents' Review articles online
- The Original Homeschooling Series online
- Simply Charlotte Mason Curriculum Guide and resources
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cholmondley, Essex (1960) The Story of Charlotte Mason, (1842-1923)
- ↑ charlotte mason , infed.org
- ↑ liberal. (n. d.) The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/liberal
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mason, Charlotte |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mason, Charlotte Maria (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British philosopher of upbringing and education |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 1, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Bangor |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 16, 1923 |
| Place of death | Ambleside |