Philosophy of Education Vol. 6 Ch. 8

“The Way of the Will”
The function of the will is to choose or to decide and when the decisions take more effort the weaker the general will becomes. It seems that we tend to take on the opinions of society and the habits we develop are those of convenience but it is acceptable, so that is all we think is necessary for a decent and orderly life. But the one thing we should achieve is Character. Character is shaped like fine metal which is repeatedly beaten into shape and beauty by the force of “will”. Our aim in educating our children should be placed less on conduct and more on character. To quote Charlotte “Conduct may be arrived at, as we have seen, by indirect routes, but it is of value to the world only as it has its source in character. The will has only one action and that is to choose. Every choice we make we grow in force of character.
All of our lives we will be exposed to the opinions of others, whether it is in how we should take care of ourselves physically or what we should teach to educate the mind. The tendency is to accept what “makes sense to us” and follow the path of least resistance. Charlotte felt very strongly that teachers should not intrude on the minds of children but to “afford to each child a full reservoir of right thought of the world to draw from. For right thinking is by no means a matter of self-expression.” The “right thoughts” should come from ideas in great books about the lives of other men, nations, inventions, etc. Charlotte says “to fortify the will is one of the great purposes of education.” Parents need instruction on strengthening the will. It won’t just come as second nature to us. We should carefully expose them to characters, real or fiction, who are impulsive, self-pleasing, self-seeking, those who are willful, verses those examples of characters who are governed by will. “The will” cannot be exercised for personal gain repeatedly and grow strong. It needs to think outside ourselves to become powerful. The Bible tells us to “choose you this day whom ye shall serve.” Charlotte says there are only two services to choose from: 1 God, which includes others or 2 self. There is no act of will to serve ourselves because our desires are always there to show us what to choose but when our goal is to serve God first we are always watching to choose between right or wrong ideas that present themselves.
Charlotte says that “What we get in our youth we keep through our lives”. Although the “will” effects all our actions and all our thoughts it really only has one role of function and that is to accept an idea or reject it. Our consciences and reasons have an effect but our “will” is the supreme and our behavior will be determined by all the principles and opinions we have formed from our youth. When an unworthy idea presents itself that is supported by public opinion or we can reason it justifiable, and the will is weary of choosing, how should we handle this? By diversion- think of something else, even if it is something trivial, as long as we don’t think of how we “ought” to think about the idea in question. The weary will does not need arguments of support but rest. After a short time of rest the will is ready to choose the right path, even if it is a difficult or tiresome path.
Charlotte Mason says “the way of the will is a secret power of self government “. She says the statement of our will being a “free will” is true. Our will can only be free no matter if the choice is right or wrong. But many take “free will” to mean “free thought”. We forget that it is “the will” that orders our thoughts. If we belong to Christ we are not our own and are not free to think however we choose.
The ordering of the will does not happen suddenly. It is the “outcome of an ordered education” full of examples from the lives of great men. However the moment of choice is immediate and the action of the will is voluntary. The object of education is to prepare us for the immediate choices of everyday life. In training the will we need to be careful to not use words like “self-knowledge or self control” because Charlotte Mason says that education must be “outward bound” because the mind that focuses on “self”, even if some of the thoughts are righteous, misses the highest purpose of life. Duty and service to God and others is good reason to put our children through the training of their will, even though it is hard work.