CM Conference Notes: 4 Pillars of CM and The Child is a Person

The theme of this conference was relationships, although it took me awhile to figure that out. Yes, it was in the notebook, but it didn't really 'click' until well into the second day of the conference (because I'm dense). Looking at it from that perspective, these notes made a lot more sense than they did when I took them. :/

The Four Pillars of a CM Education and "The Child is a Person"

This was a tag-team session by Billy and Carrie Creech and Betsy Kester, who teach at a CM school (Redeemer School).

A teacher's perspective of the nature of children - does she see them as her equals, or as her inferiors? - will influence the way she treats them. It can even influence the eye contact that she communicates. A good teacher can afford to be real and transparent with her students, and doesn't fear that she'll be knocked off a pedestal. Teachers shouldn't compare students, but the pressure to compare infiltrates even CM schools.

All education is built on the philosophies revolving around how the teacher views the child/student. Education is more than the external part that we see (such as test scores, curriculum, school distinctions). It's about what holds the school together, and about how we answer the question, 'Why do we educate at all?'

The foundation of a school is its theology, and might be found in its doctrinal statement.

The ground floor if the school's philosophy, which is built upon its theology.

The ceiling is the school's mission and vision. What does the school hope to accomplish in the children it educates? What does the school hope to see in the fabric of the child's being as a result of its philosophy?

The roof is the external stuff like curriculum, schedules, and methods that distinguish the school. Those things are selected according to the school's theology/philosophy/vision.

The pillars in a CM education (that hold up the roof?) are atmosphere, discipline, life, and relationships. With these pillars, the school's school's philosophy 'puts on flesh and blood.' Behaviorism has no place in a CM school. Everything about a CM school should respect the personhood of the child, since that's so foundational to CM. Here are the four pillars explained:

Atmosphere: children are learning wherever they are. They don't suddenly start learning because we create an artificial idealized environment for them.

Discipline: the rails of good habits.

Life: ideas that nurture the life and growth of the mind - this would be the school's living curriculum.

Science of relations: we enable this by training the child to do things, and exposing him to books so that he'll have relationships with all kinds of things and people.

All good teachers understand that the child is a person - even if they've never heard of CM.

People are created in God's image. People are social beings, so they need to discuss what they learn. People are creative, purposeful, rational.

In the Wind in the Willows, Mole represents a "learner" and Rat represents the "teacher." Mole is busy in his narrow life tending to the details of his mundane existence until he ventures out after catching a glimpse of something wider. He doesn't know how to interpret everything he sees, and he needed a friend (Rat) to take him on adventures. All learners are people who are created by God in His image. Children are not empty vessels that teachers need to fill. They never were. They are learners, and they need to learn to exercise dominion over their time, their sin nature, etc.

We need to look beyond a school's externals and ask what the motivation behind it is. CM's Volume 6 pg 65, 66 (this is the modern paraphrase) "We also need to be familiar with the raw material we have to work with if our education is going to be effective. So we need to know about children, and what they need--but not their needs based on how we can make them useful cogs in society's wheel, or based on the standards of the current culture. We need to know their requirements based on their personal potential and unique needs." Teachers should keep Psalm 139 in mind when dealing with their students.

Dr. Mel Levine wrote the book "A Mind at a Time" that says that individuals have different kinds of minds for different purposes and callings. All children won't fit the mold because they aren't supposed to - they're unique. God created them that way. It's tragic when we abuse a child by forcing him to fit a mold he was never created to fit. Adults allow themselves to focus on what they're good at and avoid what they can't do - so why do teachers treat children as if they need to be good at everything in order to be well-rounded? Kids get teased and bullied when they don't excel at sports, and they're made to feel like failures when they can't grasp a subject.

The point was made to help teachers understand the God-given uniqueness of their students (their personhood), but it seemed to me to make a better case for radical unschooling than CM. And yet - when this concept was repeated the next day by someone else in another session, a light bulb went off and I had an 'aha' moment - but I'll explain that when I post those notes.

Volume 6, pg 36 (using the modern paraphrase again) says, "a child's mind is like the instrument that education plays upon; his education doesn't produce a mind in him. His mind was already there and active before he ever entered the classroom."

(complete list of conference posts here.)