Children as Persons
The following is adapted from my speech at my graduation from the Master Teacher Training Program with Ambleside Schools International.
“Children are persons.” A friend of mine would say “It’s just basic Mason,” but this foundational principle has become ingrained in me through myriad aspects of life. I think about it in a way that has become a part of me and frames my interactions with my children foremost, my husband, and the persons with whom I regularly interact. I have come to realize that it’s not just a “Mason thing,” but changes my brain and my view of others in a gospel-centered way – seeing others as Christ sees them. I have been given words for things that have seemed amiss in traditional education and ways of relating with education and I am immensely grateful.
I was homeschooled for most of my own education and went to a small Christian school for college. I naturally loved learning, but now know I was also seeking affirmation for the sake of pleasing my teachers and getting the answer right. My affections had not been trained toward the beautiful for the sake of beauty, but a manipulation into being an “easy” student. I took pride in being the compliant child who did not cause issues. While it wasn’t all a wash, I do see significant motivation in my own education through the lens of Mason and my unrest is more clear after delving into her work.
After being an education major, I thought that being Christ-centered in teaching meant “Biblical Integration.” While cutting umbrellas out of paper plates for a craft for my student-teaching first graders I thought, “THIS is the reason people get burned out on teaching.” I begrudgingly continued cutting and pasting and received grades on my bulletin board ideas rolling my eyes all the while. While sitting with a sweet mother whose first grade son continually had “red lights” for his behavior, I now feel for her when she knew his deep desire to do what was right, but no support in his weakness was being offered. There was no goal set before him other than “do better”, no coming together to ally ourselves with him and them. This bothered me then, but I could not put words as to why.
When I was introduced to Mason at my first teaching job I was elated. I saw children fully engaged and in relationship with their peers and teachers. This was done without twaddle and it was a delight! As the school went more classical than CM, I kept coming back to “Is this truly treating the children as persons?” It felt increasingly like it was drifting away from Mason’s principles and I longed to be trained and know if I was on method or not. I found refuge with Ambleside Schools International where I not only found this philosophy for students, but for teachers. Others were pouring in to me to help me grow so I could in turn do the same. I went back to my previous school after I got married with the hope of infusing more CM into their model, but eventually chose to use my limited time to help others learn the model.
Mason quotes Ruskin’s experience horseback riding as formalization of a skill being the death knell to joy. As I have worked with children through tutoring and homeschool I can see where something that would have come naturally and been life-giving has ended in a relationship with that subject broken or at least deeply marred. As I have worked with students as I have been trained myself, I have become a more gentle teacher. I can not “ought” a child into a flawless narration or understanding a concept. The power is not in me to ensure a student’s perfect attending to a text, but it is indeed my responsibility to think about the child as a person and lay the feast of ideas responsibly.
The idea of children as persons makes needless the endless labels we give students and persons of all ages. If this is a model based on growing one’s weakness by intentional support, then I do not need to have letters or a name associated with a syndrome. In coming alongside a child I can see her habit of attention is weak. I can see what is needed to support the habit of attention. I can give the “I can” to the child by spreading an inspiring idea before her. Children surpass our expectations of them all the time. Why would I limit someone and rob them of personhood by a label?
Parents are frequently concerned about the academic success of preschoolers. Many ask me desperately seeking formalized schooling for little ones because they are told that this is the best thing for their child (“socialize them!”) and themselves (“get some ‘me’ time!”). If the chid’s affections are trained through relationships and attachment, who better to do this than the parents? So many mothers innately know the little souls want to stay home, but send them and try to do the hard thing for their good. Instead, they miss out on precious time of formation with their children.
While the idea of raising persons may sound similar to raising children, the approaches differ greatly. The view of the child today is not fully-formed but having the potential for greatness. Mason’s view is that the full personhood is already there and it is latent capacity, not the tablet on which still needs writing. The thing I had to realize is that I myself am in a state of growth. I have not “arrived” in my understanding, but am grateful to be on the road with others at my side and supporting one another in weakness while taking joy in one another’s journey.
