Lessons from Miss Suzy

As a parent and educator I am ever thinking about how I might help my children love what they ought to love and in the proper degree. I wrote a little about that some months ago. Recently an online friend wrote about books being one of the most effective tools to help our children develop this moral imagination. And though I am usually thinking about literature and the ideas it embodies, developing the moral imagination of my children, this week, as I neatened up a bookshelf in our home and came across a favorite childhood book of mine, I pondered how it had influenced my moral imagination.



"Oh I love to cook, I love to bake, I guess I'll make an acorn cake!"

I thank my mom for introducing me to good books. Miss Suzy was one of a number of books she purchased for me on subscription from the Parents' Magazine Press. And while Miss Suzy may not be classic literature it was a beloved story of my childhood, of my sibling's childhoods, and my children's childhood.

When I was young, I loved the idea of coziness and Miss Suzy's existence was, to me, the epitome of coziness. Her home was fitted simply but cozily with homemade acorn cups, a maple twig broom, and firefly lamps, and sat at the tip, tip, top of a tall oak tree.

"At night Miss Suzy climbed into her bed and looked through the topmost branches at the sky. She saw a million stars. And the wind blew gently and rocked her to sleep. It was very peaceful."

The picture of Miss Suzy, snuggled under her thick comforter, looking out her window, is etched in my memory.

Unfortunately, a band of marauding red squirrels ran Miss Suzy out of her home and she escaped to the attic of an old house. In the attic she found an old doll house, elegantly fitted with flowered carpets, china dishes, and gold chandeliers. As the house had been vacant and everything was covered in dust, Miss Suzy set about cleaning and putting everything in order.

Next, she found a box in the attic and upon opening it discovered a band of toy soldiers. Set free by Miss Suzy, they came to live in the doll house where she cared for them, cooking their meals and tucking them in at night with a story.

As time passes, Miss Suzy became increasingly homesick for her little house in the oak tree; she told the toy soldiers the story of the her home and how the red squirrels had chased her away.

"Late that night the captain woke his men and gave them their orders. There were only five of them, but they were very brave, and their hearts were full of love..."

The toy soldiers chased the red squirrels from Miss Suzy's home so she moved back in and made the soldiers promise to come for dinner once every week. Miss Suzy then went to work setting her little home in order;

"she had to work very hard to make her old home as neat and cozy as it had been before, but she didn't mind."

I chuckled to myself as I reflected on this story, which was formative in my life, as today it would definitely not be considered politically correct: a female protagonist finds contentment in cooking, baking, and caring for her home. She then devotes herself to caring for a band of male toy soldiers, who in turn fight for her when she needs them. Interestingly, I noticed on Miss Suzy's Amazon page that this book has received 133 reviews--132 readers rated it with five stars and one rated it with four. Maybe there is something to this homemaking business? I'm buying a copy of this book for each of my children to take with them into their future homes.

Turning to Learn

While many ceremoniously began the school year last week with special breakfasts, school orientations, and new uniforms, our efforts at education commenced inauspiciously: I overslept and by late morning we were still taking stock of the supplies we needed to purchase at the nearby maktabi (office supply store).

As I did last year, I began our season of study by reading aloud this essay by George Grant. Just slightly different than the Knowledge is Power philosophy that I was raised on, Mr. Grant's essay reminded us that the beginning of true and right learning is repentance, a humble turning of ourselves away from ourselves, towards community and the pursuit of truth:

"At the beginning of every academic year I like to remind myself and my students that true education is a form of repentance. It is a humble admission that we've not read all that we need to read, we don't know all that we need to know, and we've not yet become all that we are called to become. Education is that unique form of discipleship that brings us to the place of admitting our inadequacies. It is that remarkable rebuke of autonomy and independence so powerful and so evident that we actually shut up and pay heed for a change.

C.S. Lewis said it well: "The surest sign of true intellectual acumen is a student's comprehension of what it is he does not know; not what he does know. It is a spirit of humility that affords us with the best opportunity to grow, mature, and achieve in the life of the mind. It is knowing how much we do not know that enables us to fully embark on a lifetime of learning; to recover to any degree the beauty goodness and truth of Christendom."

Likewise, G.K. Chesterton asserted: "I am always suspicious of the expert who knows he is an expert. Far better to seek the wisdom of the common, the ordinary, and the humble--for God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble."

Active Son, Artist Son, and I are beginning our year with readings and discussions from Plato's Republic, which by the way, should be read and discussed, at least in part, by every high school student. As we considered Plato's proposals for the desired education of philosopher/kings, i.e. the idea rulers, we again found this idea of turning:

Socrates: Then here is how we must think about these matters, if that is true: education is not what some people boastfully declare it to be. They presumably say they can put knowledge into souls that lack it, as if they could put sight into blind eyes...But here is what our present account shows about this power to learn that is present in everyone's soul, and the instrument with which each of us learns: just as an eye cannot be turned around from darkness to light except by turning the whole body, so this instrument must be turned around from what-comes-to-be (things we know by our own senses) together with the whole soul, until it is able to bear to look at what is and at the brightest thing that is--the one we call the good. Republic 518b:5

Plato's Republic

Priming the Pump, II

I first read The Abolition of Man some years ago but since I know my tendency to not grasp Lewis's profound ideas the first time around and also my need to be reminded of truth once grasped, at least in part, I decided to read it again a few weeks ago.



The Abolition of Man, How Education Develops Man's Sense of Morality

And now, after 19 years of raising children I am coming closer to articulating one of the fundamental truths for affecting the lives of my children. Just in time, as a friend and mother of four small children is coming over tomorrow to ask me about child-rearing and home education. And, about time: it takes me a long time to synthesize and articulate my own philosophies so I am thankful for clear thinkers such as Lewis, who do the hard work, giving words to my intuitions and daily practices. And because there is nothing new under the sun, I am glad to consider the view of the ancients, as does Lewis, in his essay, "Men Without Chests".

In his critique of modern education, Lewis laments that in our attempts to protect children from propaganda by fortifying their minds against emotion and with mere knowledge that we famish their natures. Says Lewis, "the right defense against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments". (p.24)

Lewis cites examples from ancient wisdom:

~"St. Augustine defines virtue as ordo amoris, the ordinate condition of the affections"--or, ordering of affections--" in which every object is accorded that kind of degree of love which is appropriate to it."

~"Aristotle says that the aim of education is to make the pupil like and dislike what he ought."

~"In the (Plato's) Republic, the well-nurtured youth is one 'who would see most clearly whatever was amiss in ill-made works of man or ill-grown works of nature, and with a just distaste would blame and hate the ugly even from his earliest years and would give delighted praise to beauty, receiving it into his soul and being nourished by it, so that he becomes a man of a gentle heart. All this before he is of an age to reason; so that when Reason at length comes to him, then, bred as he has been, he will hold out his hands in welcome and recognize her because of the affinity he bears to her."

It is this proper ordering of sentiments/emotions which give men chests:

Again drawing from Plato's Republic: "As the king governs by his executive, so Reason in man must rule the mere appetites by means of the 'spirited element'. The head rules the belly through the chest--the seat, as Alanus tells us, of Magnanimity, of emotions organized by trained habit into stable sentiments. (Italics, mine)

And thus, it is this proper ordering of affections, learning to love what is love-worthy, which should be our greatest goal as we raise and educate our children. An online friend who has been living this and writing about this idea for some time recently summed it up like this, per her notes from a recent conference:

"In his reflections on classical education he (John Hodges) makes the point that education is not just To Know something but rather To Love something. Education is the shaping of the sensibilities (Ordo Amoris). Truth, beauty and goodness cannot be separated. That is a pretty cool idea, no?

So, where to begin? As a Christian parent and educator, I begin with God's Word:

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things..." ~Philippians 4:8 (ESV)

Do we know, perfectly, what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise? I don't think we do, which is probably a good thing or else someone would write a curriculum or textbook about it. But we are not lost in the cosmos: God's revelation of Himself, the perfection of all these qualities as given to us in His Word and His Son, Jesus, provide the perfectly veiled clues which lead to discovery for those who humbly approach Him; It is His Word which leads us in the joyful 'work' of making these discoveries of truth in community with others and, particularly with our children as we seek to teach them to love all that should be loved and in its proper order.

Priming the Pump, I

This summer, for the first time in a long time, I've enjoyed the leisure of time; time for study, contemplation, and planning for the coming school year. Approaching the year with some general goals in mind, I find that before I fine-tune the schedules and curriculum details for the year--which often are fine-tuned as I go along--I need nourishment for my educator-soul. And so it is to books which will help me to consider and reconsider the big-important-ideas and to ask the big-important-questions I turn.

One of the books that has been helping me to prime the pump:

The Art of Assertion



Who would have thought I would have been so deeply inspired by a rhetoric book which applied the art to the academic essay? It was the author's high vision of good and right language as a manifestation of love in relationship, care for souls, that drew me in:

Particularly inspiring is the author's consideration of Plato's explanation of rhetoric as "the art of soul-leading by means of words." ( Phaedrus 261a) : "Such soul-leading is a liberal power, one which in its finest and fullest manifestation is a form of love: the finest rhetorician not only loves wisdom, but also loves others who do so. The finest rhetor, then, is a friend...The best university is a rhetorical community of friends, and the ultimate purpose of this book is to teach the reader how to live within such a community with words so full of care that they release the light of brilliance." p. 13

-and- "The care of words and things--that is, the care of things through the care of words--is a generous, disciplined forum: this human activity is rhetorical throughout, the true influence of friends who have, as Phaedrus puts it at the close of the Phaedrus, 'everything in common' (279c), in particular the shared motion toward the real. pp 13,14 (I think I need to read Phaedrus now, too.)

These ideas prompted me to dig out an old audio tape by author and educator, David Hicks, on the logos:

The study of language is connected to the formation of character.

The goal of education is a good person speaking well.

"Everything behind or beyond the logos is a mystery to us. Only when the mystery speaks, when it is clothed in the language of the law or the flesh of the Savior can we begin, and only just begin to comprehend it."

The big-important-ideas: language as love, soul-leading, discipleship, relationship, virtue, revelation of God