CMP Review 2026-06-18

June 18, 2026

I’m always delighted and bit surprised when I open a Parents’ Review volume and find an article written entirely in French. The latest one I found is by Louise Ghysen, a young House of Education graduate residing in Belgium. When an Educational Congress was held there in 1920, Miss Ghysen represented the PNEU.

“Miss Mason,” she began, “m’a demandé de venir aujourd’hui pour exposer les principes de sa belle œuvre” = “asked me to come today to explain the principles of her fine work.”

To her appreciative audience, she presented such familiar concepts as “L’Éducation c’est l’ambiance, la discipline, la vie” = “Education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life,” and “un cahier special” = the nature notebook. She also talked about what she did at the House of Education: “le programme comporte les livres de Miss Mason” = “the curriculum consists of Miss Mason’s books.”

What I find most interesting are her closing remarks, which discuss how Mason’s ideas could be applied in Belgium, and other countries: “Si l’on veut, sur le continent, adopter cette méthode il ne faut pas la copier servilement. II faut en effet tenir compte de la différence de race et par conséquent de mentalité et de besoins.”

Or to translate: “If one wishes, on the continent, to adopt this method, one must not copy it slavishly. Actually, it is necessary to take into account the difference of culture, and consequently, of mentality and needs.”

That was Belgium in 1920. How much more so in America, or anywhere else in the world, in 2026.

Her second warning is just as apropos: “la méthode de Miss Mason dans nos pays latins devrait être étudiée par des éducateurs non routiniers, non inféodés aux vieilles conceptions qui nous sont transmises de génération en génération.”

That is, “Miss Mason’s method … should be studied by educators who are not set in their ways, not bound to old conceptions that have been passed down to us from generation to generation.”

New ideas for the whole world. Thank you, Miss Ghysen, for expressing that in a way we can all understand.

@artmiddlekauff