CMP Review 2023-10-17
October 17, 2023
We’ve all heard the story of how “a class of children in a mining village school awoke simultaneously … at the touch of knowledge.” We’ve heard the story of when the Charlotte Mason method was introduced at a school “where the children came from among the poorest and most disreputable part of slumland, familiarized with evil and having little knowledge or hope of better things.” We’ve heard the stories of ordinary parents around the world awakening their children’s hearts through Charlotte Mason method at home.
But what happens when the Charlotte Mason method is introduced into perhaps the most unlikely place of all?
In the 1930s, preparatory schools existed for one and only one purpose: to qualify boys for acceptance by the famous, historic, and elite Public Schools of Britain — St Bees, Sedbergh, Rossall, Shrewsbury, St Edward’s Oxford — and ideally, to qualify the boys for scholarships.
Could the Charlotte Mason method thrive in an environment where one (or both) eyes is always on the upcoming school entrance exam? Would the programmes and principles remain the same? Or would they become co-opted and coerced in the service of a different aim?
One such preparatory school existed, only an afternoon’s walk from Ambleside, near the shores of Lake Windermere. With the help of a House of Education student and a decorated war hero, the school attempted to adapt the Charlotte Mason method to perhaps its greatest challenge yet: a school whose mission was to get students to the next school.
Could these boys too be awakened “at the touch of knowledge”? Read or listen to the surprisingly honest and refreshingly candid address by a headmaster of the Craig Boys’ Preparatory School and then let us know your thoughts. Was it a step forward or backward? And more importantly, does it offer insight for the education of boys and young men today? Find it here.
@artmiddlekauff