Charlotte Mason and the Rise of Public Schools

Can the Charlotte Mason Method be successfully used in school classrooms? Perhaps, but this would not be your typical school. It is as if this method were custom-made for a homeschool environment. It is not unschooling, but it certainly does lack the strict structure of a common public school classroom. A school that utilized the Charlotte Mason Method would be unique indeed!

Now, Charlotte Mason got her start teaching in the British school system in Worthing, UK. She then went on to teach adults how to teach. Most notably, she gave a series of lectures call “Lectures to Ladies in 1885 and 1886. This series led to the founding of a parent’s union, a teacher’s college, a journal, and a new curriculum. 

But it was around this time that advocates of public schooling began to advocate for more standardization. This was a response to increasing industrialization and an associated need for workers who do standardized work. You might say that the philosophy of Charlotte Mason was quite at odds with the goals of the captains of industry who were funding the move towards compulsory standardized public school systems. 

Supporters of compulsory education within a hierarchical strictly age-segregated public school system will argue that the public school movement was motivated by the desire to educate the masses for their own sakes. No doubt there was those in that movement who sought mass education for the benefit of individuals. But the rise of industrialization required an educated workforce. The convergence of thinkers during the Progressive Era and the industrialists led to the system we have today–not one of mere utility, but also not one that fostered individualism not Charlotte Mason’s idea that “there is no education but self-education.” 

Today, Charlotte’s methods are not widely used in schools as a sole educational approach, even while individual teachers may infuse their lessons with this educational philosophy. There are some successful Charlotte Mason schools. For example, Ambleside Schools International has a network of schools across the world.