Interesting, but perhaps lacking in detail

I’d not heard of Charlotte Mason, nor read much about educational philosophy before, so I was curious to listen to this audiobook.

I found it interesting, and think that there are aspects of the “classical tradition” which could usefully and easily be included in a more typical modern teaching syllabus. However, it might be difficult for teachers not taught according to these principles to develop the knowledge and skills required to encourage “synthetic thinking” by their students. And

Sadly, this book does not give much advice on how to develop a synthetic thinking approach, nor how to teach it. I felt it spent a lot of time extolling the ideas in general terms, and provided little in the way of the evidence teachers might find helpful to encourage them to seek to introduce this approach. Persuading parents, university tutors, employers and the like that such an approach is of value in a highly competitive culture where grades are paramount (and very easy to assess) in students and young people getting access to opportunities is another matter altogether.

I was grateful that the more “theological” discussion was gathered into a single, late section, as, being a humanist and agnostic, I would have found the book very hard to be engaged by had it been a constant feature.

Personally, from early childhood I’ve been interested in a wide range of subjects, despite an education prioritising science. I was taught Latin for two years, during which I learned a lot about English grammar which had been overlooked earlier in my education. I’ve not read any of the Greek or Roman writers or “great books”, and wonder how relevant these are today, given the difference in cultures, and the difficulty of translation capturing the subtler aspects of the works. I personally suspect that the adult one grows into is the result of multiple inputs and influences, with things we learn, and the people we learn from, whether teachers, role models or others, and our social experiences along the way.

I’m not sure that the ideal of education resulting in developing into “virtuous” adults fully encompasses the needs of young people entering our world and society as adults. Aside from the fact that “virtuous” is subjective and varies between cultures, I think we need to educate young people to be able to join and contribute to society, with suitable technical skills to use technology safely, understand that they’ll need to carry on learning simply to keep up with the pace of change, and having the critical skills to question the “sales pitch” offered by so many public figures.

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