Charlotte Mason on the Power of Story
Charlotte Mason believes that, no matter what social class a child is, the curriculum we offer him needs to meet three requirements:
- He requires much knowledge, for the mind needs sufficient food as much as does the body.
- The knowledge should be various, for sameness in mental diet does not create appetite (i.e. curiosity)
- Knowledge should be communicated in well-chosen language, because his attention responds naturally to what is conveyed in literary form.
In this post, we want to look a bit at why it’s crucial to communicate our lessons in “well-chosen” and “literary” language.
The Power of Story
Let me repeat that: the knowledge that we “feed” our children needs to come in excellently-written language. Charlotte Mason tested and found that children’s minds respond best to literary or story form. This is why we use a lot of “living books,” or books that are written by somebody who is passionate and an expert in a given field, and also written in a literary way.
Compare the following passages:
Passage 1. The following format is common in many textbooks or lessons for children.
Faith is an important trait for everyone to have. You have to believe that something good is coming in the future, even when you don’t see it with your own eyes.
An analogy of faith is the caterpillar. Although it starts off like any ordinary worm, crawling along on the ground, someday it will turn into a beautiful butterfly.
Remember, you are like that caterpillar, too. Someday, you can soar on wings like a butterfly!
Passage 2. This is an excerpt from Margaret Gatty’s Parables from Nature. This story opens with a dying butterfly leaving her eggs in the care of a caterpillar sitting on the same cabbage leaf where the eggs are:
“Well, then, first of all, I will tell you what these little creatures are to eat”–and the Lark nodded his beak towards the eggs. “What do you think it is to be? Guess!”
“Dew, and the honey out of flowers, I am afraid,” sighed the Caterpillar.
“No such thing, old lady! Something simpler than that. Something that you can get at quite easily.”
“I can get at nothing quite easily but cabbage-leaves,” murmured the Caterpillar, in distress.
“Excellent! my good friend,” cried the Lark exultingly; “you have found it out. You are to feed them with cabbage-leaves.”
“Never! ” said the Caterpillar indignantly. “It was their dying mother’s last request that I should do no such thing.”
“Their dying mother knew nothing about the matter,” persisted the Lark; “but why do you ask me, and then disbelieve what I say? You have neither faith nor trust.”
“Oh, I believe everything I am told,” said the Caterpillar.
“Nay, but you do not,” replied the Lark; “you won’t believe me even about the food, and yet that is but a beginning of what I have to tell you. Why, Caterpillar, what do you think those little eggs will turn out to be?”
“Butterflies, to be sure,” said the Caterpillar.
“Caterpillars! ” sang the Lark; “and you’ll find it out in time;” and the Lark flew away, for he did not want to stay and contest the point with his friend.
Can you see the difference between a passage comprised only of dry-facts (Passage 1), and one in which the idea is told in story form (Passage 2)? Share your observations about their differences in the comments below!
