CMP Review 2026-07-14

July 14, 2026

“A person is not built up from without but from within,” writes Charlotte Mason; “that is, he is living, and all external educational appliances and activities which are intended to mould his character are decorative and not vital.” With these words Mason challenges the instinctive and traditional desire to see education as primarily an outside-in activity. What are the implications of Mason’s insistence that “life is sustained on that which is taken in by the organism, not by that which is applied from without”?

These are the questions I explored in my plenary session over the weekend at the Living Education Retreat. It led to a journey from Athens, Greece all the way to a public high school in Michigan. Hear my message, recorded live, here.

@artmiddlekauff