Is Charlotte Mason Classical?

The question of whether or not Charlotte Mason is classical is frequently asked in Charlotte Mason circles, and the answer varies depending on who you ask and how they define classical education. In order to understand why this question matters, we need to look briefly at the history behind the modern classical education movement.

What Is Classical Education?

Classical education in the traditional sense began around 400 BC with the Greeks. Influential thinkers of the time included Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. Intellectual pursuits and philosophical theories of education began to take shape and be discussed in ways they never had before. A cultural shift toward valuing the education of the whole person—body and mind—was beginning to take root.

Students during this time were given a broad education in the seven liberal arts: the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy). This period also marked the formalization and increased value of higher education.

We often hear words like virtue, truth, beauty, and goodness associated with this educational era. Students were given a rich, broad, and rigorous education across a variety of subjects. Education was not a system in which students crammed for exams or regurgitated meaningless information. Many valuable contributions to mathematics and science were made during Classical Greece. Practices such as the Hippocratic Oath, Socratic-style seminars, and early models of astronomy originated during this era and continue to influence us today.

Immense value was placed on logic and rhetoric, and theatre flourished. Greek artists, particularly sculptors, created "figures in stone and bronze [that] have become some of the most recognizable pieces of art ever produced by any civilization."^1^

The Modern Classical Education Movement

The modern classical education movement began around the time Dorothy Sayers delivered her famous essay, The Lost Tools of Learning, at Oxford University in 1947. This was the first time the trivium was clearly delineated into specific ages and stages, a framework commonly associated with classical education today (often referred to as neo-classical education).

In this modern interpretation, the grammar stage emphasizes memorization, with the belief that these memorized facts serve as "pegs" on which later learning can be hung. Dorothy Sayers described this stage by saying:

"What that material actually is, is only of secondary importance; but it is as well that anything and everything which can usefully be committed to memory should be memorised at this period, whether it is immediately intelligible or not."

This view stands in stark contrast to Charlotte Mason's principle of the Science of Relations and her belief that children's minds should be nourished by living ideas. While Charlotte Mason may not have agreed with every aspect of Sayers' framework, both women recognized that the educational system of the mid-twentieth century was in serious need of reform.

Inspired by Sayers' ideas, Douglas Wilson opened a classical school in 1981 (the same year David Hicks published Norms and Nobility). A decade later, Wilson published Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning, calling for a resurgence of classical education to restore what he believed to be a lost moral and intellectual foundation. In 1994, he helped found the Association of Classical Christian Schools. A few years later, in 1997, Leigh Bortins began what would eventually become Classical Conversations.

There are many individuals and movements that have contributed to the rise of neo-classical education in the late twentieth century. While it may be difficult to pinpoint a single person or event responsible for its renewed popularity, understanding this historical context can help us better refine and articulate our own educational philosophies.

Charlotte Mason's Thoughts on Classical Educators

So what did Charlotte Mason herself think of classical education? The truth is, she never explicitly claimed to be a proponent of classical education. However, she drew heavily from the great thinkers associated with the classical tradition.

In her sixth volume, she writes:

"I have attempted to unfold a system of educational theory which seems to me able to meet any rational demand, even that severest criterion set up by Plato; it is able to 'run the gauntlet of objections, and is ready to disprove them, not by appeals to opinion, but to absolute truth.' Some of it is new, much of it is old."^2^

In other words, Charlotte Mason agreed with many ideas rooted in the classical tradition while also contributing ideas that were uniquely her own.

In Parents and Children, she references the well-known Greek aphorism, "Know thyself," attributing it to Socrates. She writes that acquainting a child with himself—what he is as a human being—is a vital part of education. Later in the same volume, she emphasizes the importance of virtue when she states that Plato believed knowledge and virtue to be fundamentally connected.^3^

It is clear that Charlotte Mason agreed with the ultimate goal of classical education: the cultivation of virtue and character. When describing Plato's educational aim, she quotes Samuel Taylor Coleridge:

"He desired not to assist in storing the passive mind with the various sorts of knowledge most in request, as if the human soul were a mere repository or banqueting room, but to place it in such relations of circumstance as should gradually excite its vegetating and germinating powers to produce new fruits of thought, new conceptions and imaginations and ideas."^4^

The Value of Classical and Mathematical Study

The following quotation is lengthy but offers valuable insight into Charlotte Mason's perspective on classical education:

"It follows that the first three lustres (fifteen years) belong to what we may call the synthetic stage of education, during which his reading should be wide and varied enough to allow the young scholar to come into living touch with knowledge of the earth, history, literature, and much besides. These are necessary for his intellectual life and for providing material for the second stage—the analytic—which continues throughout life. It is in this second stage that the value of the classical and mathematical grind comes in. It produces a certain sanity of judgment and capacity for affairs, an ability to examine questions that distinguishes the public schoolman."^5^

Why It Matters

So, is Charlotte Mason classical—and does it matter? The answer is: maybe. Charlotte Mason aligns with many of the principles and goals of traditional classical education, yet much of her philosophy does not fit neatly into the neo-classical framework.

Perhaps the better question is this: How does our educational philosophy uphold our family's values? And how are our daily educational decisions—both big and small—being shaped by that philosophy? These are questions worth prayerful consideration as we seek wisdom in educating our children.

As parents, we are ultimately responsible for shepherding our children's education, and this responsibility should not be taken lightly. Choosing a school or methodology—and more importantly, defining our personal educational philosophy—is a crucial part of discipling our children. Let us be intentional every step of the way.

Sources

Khan Academy, "Greek Culture"
Charlotte Mason, A Philosophy of Education, p. 6
Charlotte Mason, Parents and Children, pp. 243, 272
Charlotte Mason, School Education, p. 126
Charlotte Mason, Formation of Character, p. 381