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An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education: A Liberal Education for All: An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education, by Charlotte M. Mason—A Project Gutenberg eBook

An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education: A Liberal Education for All
An Essay Towards a Philosophy of Education, by Charlotte M. Mason—A Project Gutenberg eBook
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table of contents
  1. Front Matter
    1. Contents
    2. Foreword
    3. Preface
  2. A Short Synopsis
  3. Introduction
    1. I
    2. II
    3. III
  4. Book I
    1. Chapter I: Self-Education
    2. Chapter II: Children Are Born Persons
      1. 1.—The Mind of a Child
      2. 2.—The Mind of a School-Child
      3. 3.—Motives for Learning
    3. Chapter III: The Good and Evil Nature of a Child
      1. 1.—Well-Being of Body
      2. 2.—Well-Being of Mind
      3. 3.—Intellectual Appetite
      4. 4.—Misdirected Affections
      5. 5.—The Well-Being of the Soul
    4. Chapter IV: Authority and Docility
    5. Chapter V: the Sacredness of Personality
    6. Chapter VI: Three Instruments of Education
      1. I.—Education Is an Atmosphere
      2. 2.—Education Is a Discipline
      3. 3.—Education Is a Life
    7. Chapter VII: How We Make Use of Mind
    8. Chapter VIII: The Way of the Will
    9. Chapter IX: The Way of the Reason
    10. Chapter X: The Curriculum
      1. Section I: The Knowledge of God
      2. Section II: The Knowledge of Man
        1. a. History
        2. b. Literature
        3. c. Morals and Economics: Citizenship
        4. d. Composition
        5. e. Languages
        6. f. Art
      3. Section III: The Knowledge of the Universe
        1. a. Science
        2. b. Mathematics
        3. c. Physical Development Handicrafts
  5. Book II: Theory Applied
    1. Chapter I: A Liberal Education in Elementary Schools
    2. Chapter II: A Liberal Education in Secondary Schools
    3. Chapter III: The Scope of Continuation Schools
    4. Chapter IV: The Basis of National Strength--a Liberal Education From a National Standpoint
      1. I: Knowledge
      2. II: Letters, Knowledge and Virtue
      3. III: Knowledge, Reason, and Rebellion
      4. IV: New and Old Conceptions of Knowledge
      5. V: Education and the Fullness of Life
      6. VI: Knowledge in Literary Form
  6. Supplementary: Too Wide a Mesh
  7. Back Matter
    1. Index
    2. Footnotes:
    3. The Full Project Gutenberg License

-stuff, 259;
forces which act in education, 259;
we must believe in, 260;
moves altogether when it moves at all, 276;
demands method, 334

miracles, 148

Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley, 36

Montaigne, on history, 169

Moral, impulse, 17;
offences bred in the mind, 188;
training, 58, 59

morality, school, 188

morals, everyday and economics: citizenship, 185-189

Mornings in Florence, by John Ruskin, 323

Muirhead, Professor, 3

Munich, 285, 306;
Schools, 125, 280, 286

‘Murdstone, Mr.,’ 81

Music, 329

Musical Appreciation, by Mrs. Howard Glover, 217, 218


Napoleon, 5;
a great reader, 305, 306

Napoleonic wars, 125, 279, 283

Narration, 99, 115, 165, 166, 180, 182, 190, 258-261, 291, 292;
method of, xxx, 6, 15-17, 29, 30, 51, 64-65, 155, 163, 172-173, 191, 241, 244, 304;
v. reproduction, 18, 30, 272;
of slum children, 45, 63;
depends on single reading, 6, 15, 171, 241, 258, 261, 263, 267, 291, 293, 304;
a preparation for public speaking, 86, 124;
literary expression in, 90;
Dr. Johnson on, 160;
must not be interrupted, 172, 191;
in the teaching of languages, 211-213, 276;
a natural power, 191

National Gallery, The, 215

natural history, the teaching of, 220

natural selection, 4

Nature Note Books, 217, 219, 223

Nature Study, xxx, 73, 154, 219, 328

needlework, 234

New Testament, 165, 187;
teaching of, must be grounded on Old, 161

Newton, Sir Isaac, 231

Nietzsche, 3

Nightingale, Florence, 141

Nineteenth Century and After, 270

note-taking, 245, 257


Obedience, natural, necessary and fundamental, xxix, 68-79, 97, 134;
dignified, 70;
willing, 70;
the test of personality, 134

obligation, 17

obscene passages, 341

Old Testament, 160-165, 341;
as a guide to life, 273

opinions, v. ideas, 110;
of teacher, 288

opportunity, doctrine of equal, 92, 179;
universal, a fallacy, 343

oral lessons, xxvi, 15, 271

order, how to keep, 45

Ourselves, Our Souls and Bodies, 188, 189


Pagan, The, 250

‘Page, Ann,’ 331

Paget, Dr. Stephen, on suggestion, 82

Paley, 9

‘Paracelsus,’ 331

Parents and Children, 108

Parents’ Associations, xxviii

Parents’ National Educational Union, xxix, 6, 9, 23, 62, 79, 159, 171, 217, 253, 268, 270;
mission of, to all classes, xxvii

P.N.E.U. Philosophy, xxix;
fits all ages, satisfies brilliant children, helps the dull, secures attention, interest, concentration, 28

Parents’ Union School, xxviii, 13, 45, 78, 212, 217, 223, 233, 235, 254, 269, 275-277, 293;
books in, 271;
education free to Elementary Schools, 296

Parthenon Room, 175

Pascal, 256

Pasteur, 318

Paterson, Mr. A., 118, 119, 121

patriotism, a sane, 174

Paul, St., xxvii, 188, 309

Pelmanism, the indictment of, 250, 252

‘Pendennis, Arthur,’ 159

People’s High Schools in Denmark, 283-286

Person, a child is a, xxix, 13, 18, 29, 36, 44, 238;
chief responsibility of a, to accept ideas, xxxi;
marks of an educated, 1, 100;
the more of a, the better citizen, 3, 76, 147;
the measure of a, 10, 80;
a, built up from within, 23;
a, is a mystery, 238;
a, measured by the wide and familiar use of substantives, 261;
a, brought up first for his own uses, then for society, 329;
a, who ‘lives his life,’ 329;
nobility of a, 334

personality, respect due to, xxix, 24, 81-84, 97, 100, 125, 129;
development of, 5, 147;
of teacher, 7, 172;
undue play of, 78, 82, 129;
in narration, 18, 260

Perthes, Friedrich, 341

‘Peter Pan,’ 59

Pett Ridge, Mr., 119

‘Petulengro, Jasper,’ 224

Peveril of the Peak, 282

philosophy, 43;
a, necessary to life, 334;
a consummate, 337

physical training, xxx, 48, 72, 154, 233, 255

pictures v. descriptions, 340

picture study, 214-217, 275

Pied Piper, The, 48

Piozzi, Mrs., 160

platitudes, 326

Plato, 25, 27, 59, 148, 187, 337, 340;
on ideas, 10, 105, 108;
on knowledge, 127, 235

‘play way,’ a, 251, 255;
not avenue to mind, 38

pleasure, grand elementary principle of, 248

Plutarch, 109, 185-187;
on history, 274

poetry, 59, 72, 157

Poland, 184

Prayer Book, The, 169

prejudices, 326

‘Prettymans, the Miss,’ 251

progress, fetish of, 297

Promethean fable, 322

Protagoras, 25

Prussia, 5, 279, 306

pseudo-knowledge, 340

psychology, English, 4;
mythology of ‘faculty,’ 4;
said to rest on feeling, 5;
v. sociology, allied to pathology, 27;
modern, 66;
little known of, 253

Public Schools, 1, 74, 78, 85, 91, 105, 120, 188, 251, 252, 265, 266, 297, 301, 308-313, 326, 344;
our educational achievement, 308;
ignorance of boys, 309, 310

public opinion, 314, 320

Punch, 34, 95


questionnaire, dangers of, 54, 257

‘Quickly, Mrs.,’ 331


R’s, the three, 63

raconteur, a good, 173

reading, a single, 6, 15, 171, 241, 258, 261, 263, 267, 291, 293, 304;
desultory, not education, 13, 189;
in order to know, 14;
and writing, 30, 244;
must be consecutive, 261, 267

Reason, 259; the way of the, xxxi;
present in the infant, 37;
must not be deified, 55;
justifies any notion, 55, 143;
confounded with right, 56;
does not begin it, 140;
brings infallible proofs of any idea, 139, 315;
works involuntarily, 142;
is subject to habit, 147;
is fallible, 150, 314;
and rebellion, 314;
cannot take the place of knowledge, 314

reflection, 25

religion, 14, 40, 43, 46, 64, 73, 79, 239, 289;
teaching of, 159-169;
two aspects of, 160-161;
difficulties in, 162, 164

Rembrandt, 63, 215

Renaissance, The, xxv, 9, 54;
Italian and French, 311;
Schools, 343

Repington, Colonel, 232, 252

reproduction, 259

‘Responsions,’ 311

retention, 259

revision of lessons, 6, 9, 15, 171, 241, 245, 262

rewards, 7

Richard III, 143

Richelieu, 90

Roberts, Lord, 141

Rosetta Stone, 63

Rossetti, 340

Rousseau, J. J., 325, 338, 339

Ruskin, John, 110, 152, 230, 322, 323, 326

Russia, 320;
Soviet, 145


St. Cross, 332

Salisbury, Lord, 281

Saviour of the World, The, 167

Scandinavia, education in, 123, 125

scholarship, an exquisite distinction, 310;
v. knowledge, 305

schools, not merely a nursery for the formation of character, 264;
find substitutes for knowledge, 266

Schwärmerei, 49

Science, xxx, 14, 31, 40, 42, 51, 59, 154, 157, 239, 256;
teaching of, 218-230, 275;
approached by field-work, with literary comments, 223, 256;
fatal divorce between, and the ‘humanities,’ 223, 318;
must rouse wonder, 224, 317;
the mode of revelation granted to our generation, 318;
waiting for its literature, 318;
of relations, 327;
of the proportion of things, 327

Science, Social, 14

Scott, Sir Walter, 110, 182, 190, 261

Scottish philosophers, 11

scrupulosity of to-day, 101

Secondary Schools, 127;
a liberal education in, 250-278

self-authority, 17, 71, 74, 75, 76

self-culture, not an ideal, 133

self-direction necessary, 131

self-education comes from within, 23;
education must be, 26, 28-32, 38, 77, 99, 240, 241, 289

self-expression, 66, 108, 276, 326, 327

Self-Help, by Dr. Smiles, 248

self-knowledge, 131, 137

sensory activities, 2, 48

Shakespeare, 55, 124, 143, 167, 170, 182, 183, 245, 270, 274, 314, 341

Shaw, Mr. Bernard, 27

Sisyphus, 240

‘Skimpole, Harold,’ 231

Socialism, 320

Socrates, 49, 302, 332;
use of questioning, 17

Sophocles, 124

soul, well-being of the, 63;
the Holy of Holies, 63;
satisfaction for, 64

specialisation, dangers of, 53, 254

spelling, 271

Spirit, Divine, xxxi;
is the man, 5;
education is of the, 12, 26, 30;
born of spirit, 39;
use of term, 65;
acts upon matter, 100;
is might, reveals itself in spirit, works only in freedom, 125, 284

spontaneity, condition of development, xxxi

‘Squeers, Mr.,’ 101

stability, mark of educated classes, 179

Statue and the Bust, The, 133

Stein, 279

Steinthal, Mrs. Francis, xxv

stops, use of, 191

Stuart educational ideals, 326

“Studies serve for delight,” xxvi, 7, 19, 266;
make for personality, 5

Suggestion, xxxi, 82, 83;
a grave offence, 129;
weakens moral fibre, 129;
causes involuntary action, 129;
weakens power of choice, 130

superman, 3, 4

Sweden, 285

Switzerland, education in, 125

syllabus, points to be considered in a, xxx, 154, 268;
a wide, 256;
the best, 268;
a, must meet demands of mind, 256;
sterile, of schoolboy, 268

sympathy of numbers, 247


‘tales,’ 30, 132, 190

teacher, part of, in education, 6, 19, 118, 130, 237, 240, 241, 246, 260, 261, 304;
personality of, 7, 48, 78, 82, 129, 172;
intellectual apparatus of, 11;
not a mere instrument, 32;
must understand human nature of child, 47;
underrates tastes and abilities of children, 52, 238;
must read aloud with intention, 244;
comes between children and knowledge, 247;
finds education a passion, 251

teaching how to learn, a farce, 348

Tennyson, 138, 333

things, “are in the saddle,” 7, 260;
children occupied with, 31

thinking, not doing, a source of character, 278

thought, not simply a function of brain, 2, 4, 260;
great, necessary for children, 5, 12, 130;
alone appeals to mind, 12;
begets thought, 12, 303;
action follows on due, 24;
our, not our own, 60, 137;
right, not self-expression, follows upon an idea, 130;
socialistic, fallacies in, 144-147;
sins committed in, 188;
common basis of, 264, 298

Thucydides, 124

Timon of Athens, 44

‘Titanic,’ 335

Trades’ Unions, 315;
Guilds, 319

Traherne, 34, 36, 37, 40

Training, intellectual, 2, 24, 147, 255;
physical, 2, 6, 20, 48, 255;
vocational, 2, 3, 5, 6, 287, 302;
not education, 255

Treitschke, 3

Trench, 167

Trollope, A., 251

truth, justice in word, 61

Tudor women, 311

Tugendbund, 6, 279


Ulysses, 41

Undine, xxv

Universities, People’s, 123

unrest comes from wrong thinking, 60;
Labour, 92, 179, 286, 297, 300, 319;
Indian, 184


Van Eyck’s, ‘Adoration of the Lamb,’ 322

Vasari, 54

Vaughan, 35

verbal understanding v. dealing with books, 172

Vienna, Congress of, 170

village community life, 286

Vittorino, 310

Voltaire, 156


Waverley Novels, The, 63, 325

Wellington, The Duke of, 102, 308

Whichcote, xxix, 33

Whitby, 223

White, Gilbert, 223

wilfulness, signs of, 37

Will, the way of the, xxxi, 128, 131;
function of, to choose, 128, 129, 133;
action of, is character, 129;
the safeguard of a man, 130;
and danger of suggestion, 130;
education must fortify, 131;
the governing power of man, 131;
fallacies concerning, 132;
nourished upon ideas, 132;
must have objects outside self, 133;
the function of man, 133;
implies understanding, 133;
a free agent, 133;
is supreme, 135;
needs diversion, 136;
free, not free thought, 136, 137;
ordering of, 137;
is the man, 314

Witte, Count, 130

words, beauty of, 151;
vehicle of truth, 151;
use of, 316

Wordsworth, William, 35, 93, 166, 180, 238, 276, 320, 322

work, the better man does the better, 282

working men and their leisure, 42

worship, a sublime ideal, 317

Wren, Sir Christopher, 54

writing, 30


Yorkshire, Drighlington School, xxv, 236

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