In volume 2 of the Charlotte Mason series she does a short summary of parents and children. One of the points she makes is "The Parent as schoolmaster. Children should learn self-control well before school age. An undisciplined child allowed to run wild and free will be difficult for a school teacher to teach." Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old: he will not depart from it." We're living in a society today that's the most undisciplined that's ever existed in the history of our country. Many of our young children today that enter school are very undisciplined. Many parents of this generation seem to think it's the responsibility of daycare, pre-school, and the public school system to raise their children. They've delegated responsibility to our school systems to raise, teach, and discipline our children. Being a teacher is one of the most stressful jobs there is today because of unruly children as well as a lack of support from home.
When should the education of our children begin? Long before kindergarten. Parents have the first role to play when it comes to the education of their children. If the child's first educational experience begins at kindergarten, they'll be behind when they start school and they possibly may have to repeat a grade. It's not the role of the teacher to be the parent, baby sitter, and disciplinarian. There are certain values that need to be instilled in children prior to entering school. Children today are hardly disciplined anymore. It makes the job of the teacher almost impossible. One of the major problems in our homes today when it comes to raising children is the lack of discipline.
What is discipline? Discipline is twofold. When we hear of discipline, we automatically think of punishment. That's what comes to our mind. I've heard parents use the phrase that they're "going to discipline their children for disobeying them." Punishment is one aspect of discipline. The other aspect of discipline is to instill, train, teach, and inculcate certain traits and habits in which children are to learn and practice for a lifetime. You're to aim a child in a certain direction and you're to discipline them and teach them good habits that will last forever. When a child fails to follow what you teach them, then that's where the punishment aspect of discipline comes in.
Before a child enters school, there are certain things a parent should teach them before entering kindergarten. They should be potty-trained, should learn how to speak, how to dress themselves, tie their shoes,etc. They should also be taught good manners, how to behave themselves in public, how to share, and not to interrupt when someone's talking. I believe children should learn their alphabet, numbers, and how to count. Those are a few things they should learn. Most importantly, they should be learning scripture and memorizing it. Their educational foundation should start with the Bible. They should hide it in their heart. The old New England Puritans used to teach their children the Bible.
The objective of the teacher in a school setting is to teach children academics--not babysit or be parents to their students. Students can't learn what they need to when they're unruly and undisciplined. Teachers can't teach students what they need to when they have to use instructional time to babysit and discipline students. It's true that since children are children, teachers will have to mete out discipline to their students. However, that should be classroom related. Back in 1940, the top school offenses were running in the hallway, chewing gum in class, talking in class, not throwing paper away in the proper disposable container, and the list continues. Today the violations are severe such as drugs, alcohol, vandalism, disrespect towards authority, cursing, teen pregnancy, etc. These are things that shouldn't be. When a school has to deal with the kind of problems they deal with today, that shows there's a clear breakdown in the home.
I'm certain schools have always had discipline issues to some degree. That's natural when you're dealing with kids. However, today's problems aren't child's play. Students in today's public schools are experiencing problems they shouldn't be facing. There's so much evil out in the world that Satan hurls at our children to destroy them. Parents must recognize it's their first responsibility to educate their children at home. They're to discipline their children and teach them values before the students head to school. An undisciplined child can't learn very much. In order for a child to learn, they must first be disciplined at home beginning at birth. There are certain values children should be taught prior to kindergarten. It's important that the parents breaks their child's will--not their spirit.
A child's will needs to be broken when they're very little. We as adults know what it's like to be practicing bad habits and how difficult it is to break them such as overreating for example. A child's will must be broken in order to teach their children good habits. A parent must establish their authority in that child's life as soon as they're brought home from the hospital. If a parent doesn't break a child's will, it will be very difficult to teach their children good and proper habits. Then when the child enters school, it will be an almost impossible task for the teachers to properly educate their students. Charlotte Mason was right on target. A child will be very difficult to educate if they aren't properly trained before entering kindergarten. If a child continues along the path being unruly and obstinate, that child will become nothing but a dropout and a castaway.
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