Philosophy of Education Vol. 6 Ch.10

Section 1: The Knowledge of God
This Chapter begins with a look at the “curriculums” taught in most school systems in Charlotte’s day, which are not unlike our own. They focused on teaching material at the elementary age to “test well” enough to enter a preparatory school for high school, then in high school to test well enough to enter a university, and in the university we teach the student based only on his future work without realizing that this alone doesn’t make him profitable to society. We should aim for a program that is “wide” rather than to pick and choose what the child is taught. Charlotte said “because the relationships a child is born to are very various, the knowledge we offer him must be various too.”
Section 1
The Knowledge of God
Of all three kinds of knowledge: the knowledge of God, of Man, and of the Universe, the knowledge of God is the most important. Charlotte says “mothers are on the whole more successful in communicating this knowledge than teachers who know the children less well and have a narrower, poorer standard of measurement for their minds.” It was common thought that in the educational publications of the day that we need to “bring concepts down to their ‘little minds’.” Charlotte calls this “foolish prejudice” and says we should be “astonished at the range and depth of children’s minds." Teachers do not have the same “tender opportunities” that mothers have to point out the love God has for each child as she walks through day to day events.
One point Charlotte makes is that the teachers adopted a view point that didn’t expect that “kiddies” could be expected to learn and know and so the children “lived down” to those expectations.
The PNEU schools began formal education at 6 years of age and the students were expected to make a conscious mental effort of telling again what they had been read to or heard. The process of “tell again” is how we all learn, by repeating what we want to remember –i.e.; phone numbers, conversations, etc. Charlotte says this is “as old as the mind of man and it is a shame that it has been used very little in education today.”
When giving the children knowledge of God we need to first use the Bible, not someone else’s interpretation but the real word of God. Both old and New Testament passages will be listened to with delight by the six year old child. Charlotte did use a type of commentary to give historical background to the scripture passages.
Between the ages of 6-12 the children are read the whole of the Old Testament. Students 12-15 years old read the Old Testament to themselves along with a book that presented the history of the Old Testament and included questions to think about. From ages 15-18 they would read the whole Old Testament again, along with an in-depth commentary. The New Testament was approached the same way. Children 6-12 were read Matthew, Mark and Luke. Students 13-15 added John and Acts along with the chosen commentaries. The upper grades or “forms” read a 6 volume set that arranged the New Testament in chronological order. The 17-18 year olds also added the Epistles and Revelation.