These days, within the homeschooling community, there has been an
emergence of two branches of a Charlotte Mason education. Typically, the
Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling had been associated with Conservative
Christian homeschoolers. In recent years,
many secular families have been creating a homeschool experience within the
same framework as a CM education, but, for example, without the Bible classes. What has been unique about the secular Charlotte
Mason community is an emphasis put on social justice and diversity education
approached by using the Charlotte Mason method.
There’s
an article/essay by Professor Patrick Deneen that has made its rounds
throughout the internet lamenting the loss of common historical knowledge. The
article argues for a return to classical education as a remedy for this predicament. I am not opposed to classical education, in
and of itself, and yes, I do believe that it is an incredibly successful way to
learn history and writing, in particular.
What bothered me was that after the author was espousing the great virtues
of a classical education, he then went on to lay the blame for this loss of
knowledge on diversity education. (And
that right there is a perfect example of white supremacy that is disguised to
not appear as white supremacy.) So, it would seem to Professor Deneen that
learning the classics and getting a solid foundation of historical details
would be incompatible with receiving an education which encompasses a more
diverse curriculum.
And
this is where the secular Charlotte Mason community has been proving that knowledge
of history of western civilization does not need to negate learning the history
of eastern civilizations nor the history of disenfranchised minorities within
the West. In fact, I would argue that
the CM Method of education is the perfect vehicle for encompassing and uniting
diversity education with classical education.
I’m
going to touch briefly on what it is about other methods of homeschool
education that fail to meet this
standard. First, let’s consider
unschooling. In terms of diversity education, unschooling would appear to be
very friendly to diversity education and therefore very successful at it. But the embracing of diversity education
within unschooling is left to the discretion of the family itself. Many unschooling parents will make the effort
to expose their kids to issue of social justice and racism, but, not all will. The very foundation and premise of
unschooling, which promotes student-interest in learning, becomes an antithesis
to social diversity education. A parent
could not require their student to learn about The Holocaust for example. That
is one that I seriously wonder about within the unschooling community. What if
your child never develops an “interest” in learning about The Holocaust? What if your child never develops an “interest”
in learning about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States?
I believe
that Waldorf education comes extremely close to meeting this ideal of learning
an indepth history of western civilization as well as learning what would fall
under the umbrella of social diversity education. However, I would still argue
that CM is more successful in this matter largely because there are so many
more topics covered in a CM education, and, therefore, more opportunities to
include western and non-western lessons.
The
reading of biographies is considered to be one of the cornerstones of a solid
CM education. This is the perfect opportunity
for homeschooling families to introduce their children to people from both the classical
western tradition and from minority and eastern traditions. A student could read a biography of Pericles
and a biography of Harriet Tubman in the same year. I am sure that somebody will want to interject
here that you could do this while following any other method or philosophy of
education. Of course you can, but no
other method or philosophy requires the readings of biographies throughout the years of education as CM does.
So if a non-CM family does choose to incorporate biographies it is a personal
decision on the part of the family.
Other opportunities to increase diversity
within the curriculum fall under topics such as artist study, composer study, and poet study. Traditionally, these had been studies of
mostly White men and their artistic accomplishments. The secular CM community has seized on this
opportunity to include works by artists, composers, and poets of various
nationalities and ethnicities. Including
a more diverse list of artists does not mean excluding white/western artists,
composers, and poets.
There
are some neo-classical curricula that do include biographies, and do include
diverse biographies. There are
Christian CM curricula that also include biographies by prominent
African-Americans and links to slave narratives. But not all Classical curricula include
biographies throughout the years, whereas, this is a staple of all CM
curricula.
So far, I’ve addressed the issue
of social diversity within the curriculum.
Now, let’s consider what Deneen is lamenting as our loss of collective
culture. I agree with his sentiment that
we have lost a knowledge of history that used to common knowledge. One needs only to watch the late night shows
where people on the streets of America are being asked basic questions about
history and are completely dumbfounded. Granted, this could in part be due to
the pressure of having a camera in their face. Nonetheless, it does show a
concerning lack of understanding of basic history. Here is where classical education
shines. I will give classical education
full credit for an excellent and indepth curriculum of western history that should
not be lost. But, where secular CM comes
in, is in the retaining of classical knowledge (through readings of Shakespeare and Plutarch, for example) and teaching it while simultaneously
including diversity and social justice within the curriculum.
None of this is to say that there is no value in other educational methods. I might never have discovered the works of Elsa Beskow if it hadn't been for learning about Waldorf education. I might never have been able to see the correlation between tree climbing and business education if not for unschooling. For matters concerning embracing both classical history and a modern, diverse knowledge of history, I do believe that the methodology set up by Charlotte Mason and interpreted by the secular Charlotte Mason community does form the best framework for embracing and complimenting these two philosophies.
None of this is to say that there is no value in other educational methods. I might never have discovered the works of Elsa Beskow if it hadn't been for learning about Waldorf education. I might never have been able to see the correlation between tree climbing and business education if not for unschooling. For matters concerning embracing both classical history and a modern, diverse knowledge of history, I do believe that the methodology set up by Charlotte Mason and interpreted by the secular Charlotte Mason community does form the best framework for embracing and complimenting these two philosophies.
For more information on secular
CM curricula, I recommend http://wildwoodcurriculum.org/ and https://ursaminorlearning.com/.
