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Foundational Principles of Education
- Children are to be trained in the habit of attention.
They are required to narrate after just one hearing or reading, so
as to reinforce their natural ability to focus attention.
Repetition, summarizing, and having the teacher ask questions
dissipates this natural ability, causing the child's mind to become
lazy. Children trained to give attention are able to learn
more, as time not wasted on repetition can be more usefully spent on
new knowledge.
- The "way of the Will": Children need to be taught the
difference between "I want" and "I will". To exercise the Will
is to turn away from doing only what one wants, and to choose to do
that which is necessary but not necessarily immediately gratifying.
Children must learn to distract themselves from doing what they
want, but which they know is not right, by means of thinking of or
doing something else that is interesting enough to occupy their
minds - a diversion. After a short diversion, the mind is
refreshed and able to continue in the way of the Will.
- The "way
of Reason": Children must be taught not to rely too
heavily on their own reasoning, because the function of Reason is to
logically demonstrate an idea or a mathematical truth. In
mathematics Reason is an infallible guide, but in the realm of
ideas, Reason is an unreliable judge - capable of confirming any
idea, no matter how erroneous, if we truly wish to believe it.
- Since Reason alone cannot be trusted as the final authority in forming
opinions, children must learn that their greatest responsibility is
choosing which ideas to accept or reject. Good habits of
behaviour and lots of knowledge will equip them with the discipline
and experience necessary for this task.
- We do not separate the 'intellectual' from the 'spiritual'. Rather, we
teach children that all truths are God's truths, and that secular
subjects are no less divine than spiritual ones. The child
does not straddle two worlds when focussing on God or on school
subjects; rather, there is unity among all subjects, because all are
of God, and whatever children study or do, God is with them.
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