We have never been so rich in books. But there has never been a generation when there is so much twaddle in print for children.
Interpretation
Although we have access to many books, much of what is published for children lacks quality and substance.
Charlotte Mason highlights a paradox in modern publishing: despite an abundance of literature available to children, much of it is superficial or lacking in value. She emphasizes the importance of quality over quantity, advocating for a discerning approach to the materials provided to young readers.
In practice
Using this quote in a discussion about children's literature at a library event.
Therefore, teaching, talk and tale, however lucid or fascinating, effect nothing until self-activity be set up; that is, self-education is the only possible education; the rest is mere veneer laid on the surface of a child's nature.
As for literature β to introduce children to literature is to install them in a very rich and glorious kingdom, to bring a continual holiday to their doors, to lay before them a feast exquisitely served. But they must learn to know literature by being familiar with it from the very first. A child's intercourse must always be with good books, the best that we can find.
In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a motherβs first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet and growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it for the most part spent out in the fresh air.
The teacher who allows his scholars the freedom of the city of books is at liberty to be their guide, philosopher and friend; and is no longer the mere instrument of forcible intellectual feeding.
Let children alone... the education of habit is successful in so far as it enables the mother to let her children alone, not teasing them with perpetual commands and directions - a running fire of Do and Donβt ; but letting them go their own way and grow, having first secured that they will go the right way and grow to fruitful purpose.
We talk of lost ideals, but perhaps they are not lost, only changed; when our ideal for ourselves and for our children becomes limited to prosperity and comfort, we get these, very likely, for ourselves and for them, but we get no more.
There is no education system in the world - none at all - that's better than its average teacher.
We should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit.
A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.
I have no interest in teaching writers how to sell. I want to teach them how to write. If the process is sound, the product will take care of itself, and sales are likely to follow.
Words and ideas work in the short run to get you through school and to impress educators and employers. But they do not work in the long run or in the deep run. We soon find ourselves separate and without wonder.
It is the duty of the State to educate, and the right of the people to demand education.
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