Secular Charlotte Mason: Classics and Diversity

  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.

For more information on secular CM curricula, I      recommend http://wildwoodcurriculum.org/ and https://ursaminorlearning.com/.