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We live in a society that constantly sends contradictory signals. We are repeatedly told that what we watch, what we listen to, and what we look at has no effect on our minds or the minds of our children. At the same time, companies and manufacturers are willing to spend hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions, of pounds to buy 30 seconds of time on Saturday night TV to be sure that you look at and hear about their products. Perhaps they think that it does matter what we look at after all.
There is a concerted effort to "dumb down" virtually every aspect of life. We are confronted by an unending row of "celebrities" whose primary claim to fame is that they didn't have anything else better to do for nine weeks. Most of them are forgotten in less time than it took to make them "famous". Children walk around with earplugs seemingly imbedded into their heads listening to a steady stream of lyrics, most of which could have been penned by a competent eight year old (apart from the growing suggestiveness of many of them). Minds are not challenged, stretched, or exercised in positive ways.
Charlotte Mason always maintained that if you want your child to develop a great mind, you must be willing to let them dialogue with the great minds of history. That's why her reading lists included Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Plutarch, and the Venerable Bede, and many others--and that for children from the age of 7 or 8 and up. She also highly recommended that children be immersed in the biographies of individuals who had proved their spiritual, moral, and intellectual stature in some significant way. By reading the exploits of a David Livingstone, William Wilberforce, Florence Nightingale, or Amy Carmichael, children have their visions expanded to see what just one life can mean to humanity and in the eternal scheme of things.
We are in a battle for the mind. The Christian author A.W. Tozer once said, "In order to act rightly, we must first think rightly." When we take a moment to look at the mental diet that most children feed on these days, is it any wonder that their actions and behaviour are what they are? We are given a wonderful opportunity to help shape the mind and actions of our children. If we can help our children develop their thinking skills and their understanding of our world and how it works, so that they are able to navigate their way through the morass of ideas and concepts that are rapidly rising on all sides, and become people who are glorifying to their Creator and helpful to their fellow-humans, then we will have succeeded greatly.
The best place to start is to raise their sights by introducing them to "living books," as Charlotte Mason called them, and helping them to stay away from the mindless "twaddle" (another Mason term) that seems to be everywhere these days. For a few practical suggestions, you could start by taking a look at two great online reading lists. You can find them at: amblesideonline (this gives a thorough year by year reading list for all subjects, and it is a "twaddle-free" zone) and the Great Books Academy (look for the Good Books List under the Books section).
The resources are out there. It's up to us to take the initiative and say we're going to do it "for the sake of the children."
Bruce Garrison
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