We recently read this excellent book with our 6-year-old daughter, The Emperor’s New Clothes, by Ned Bustard. It was filled with suspense, drama, and morale. She enjoyed it; we enjoyed it! She read it several times, unpacking more of the story every time. The story goes something like this. There was an emperor who loved clothing; his every thought was about them. One day, two men came into the city and claimed to be weavers of great skill; spoiler alert, they were thieves. They claimed to make unique clothing. The pattern is woven so that it is invisible to any man unfit for his work or simply stupid. The emperor thought this type of clothing would serve him well, so he gave the two men (the weavers) a large sum of money to begin working on it. The emperor was excited to see the new clothing but wanted to avoid looking at it first, fearing he might not see it and reveal he was unfit for his job. He asked his oldest and wisest advisers to look at the clothing first. None of them could see the clothing, but they did not say so out of fear.
The emperor could not wait any longer and insisted on seeing the clothing himself. Looking at the “clothing,” he saw nothing because they did not exist. Due to fear, he dared not admit he saw nothing. The emperor was so detached from reality that he believed this delusion and wore invisible clothing. Wearing nothing, he walked out to the townspeople to reveal this revolutionary clothing. Lacking courage, all of the people also pretended to see the clothing. One boy tugged his father’s coat and said, “Daddy, why is the emperor wearing no clothes?”
What is Nutritious Literature?
This story is an excellent example of nutritious literature. It is unpredictable and can be read over and over. It stimulates an adult’s mind; therefore, it would stimulate a child’s mind. It gets the reader to think and have to digest the material. Predictable, simplistic books do the work for the child, requiring very little work for the mind. Excellent books lay the foundation for the mind to work, feeding the mind what it craves: knowledge and undigested material. The mind wants to work to grow. The mind acts much like a digestive organ act upon food. The body develops strong muscles when it is well-fed and exercised. The same is true for the mind; it develops strong thinking when well-fed and regularly exercised. Children who are given excellent books engage their minds and learn how to put things together. This act develops a child’s ability to think for themselves, later becoming independent thinkers. Synthetic thinking is the act of relational thinking, putting things together, which will later help them to take them apart (analyze).
A much-needed skill later in life is when they must analyze or break down ideas presented to them. Analyzing is most effective when postponed until synthetic thinking has been established. For example, would a child understand how a frog’s internal organs function before understanding what a frog is? Letting the child watch and observe the frog’s daily activities is best. Putting together every detail of a frog’s being will prompt curiosity to take it apart and engage in its internal workings. Synthetic thinking and analyzing are not the only skills that need to be developed to become independent thinkers. Logic and reasoning must also be employed. These two skills are enriched and nourished by connecting with great thinkers, the heroes who have come before us. Many stories that hold the outcome of good and bad ideas are held in what modern-day times would consider difficult writings. Most of our children are no longer exposed to these writings; they have been traded for twaddle.
The ability to reason is also a fundamental learned skill; I will share more about that later.
What is Twaddle?
Twaddle is a term that can be defined as weak light reading and predictable writing, ultimately undervaluing a child’s intelligence. Reading a predictable story does not give a child the ability to think for themselves or reason. They are born with intelligence and the capabilities of logic, observation skills, alertness, moral sensibilities, love, faith, and hope. Why stunt the growth of a young mind by presenting simple text, shortening their vocabulary? Twaddle minimizes vocabulary, later minimizing the books they can read and comprehend. Most of the books we read today are at an 8th-grade level! Charlotte Mason (1842–1923) was a British educator who invested her life in improving the quality of children’s education. Her works were inspired by the writings of the Bible, John Amos Comenius, Matthew Arnold, and John Ruskin.
The Charlotte Mason method is fundamentally rooted in reading good, classic literature. She uses the word “twaddle” throughout her writings and thinks children should not be exposed to it. She believed children could handle good literature and should never be given “dumbed down” text. Her philosophy proposes that children read the King James version of the Bible, directly exposing them to difficult writings and word use. This prepares them for reading classic literature.
The consequence of Twaddle
The Emperor’s New Clothes by Ned Bustard is an excellent depiction of modern-day ideas that are being presented as truths. For example, our current culture tells our children they can choose their gender.
This is scientifically false and biologically impossible. Now, adults can decide to have plastic surgery to present themselves as the opposite gender; that is a choice and freedom. But lying to children, telling them they can choose their gender, is not only developmentally inappropriate but morally wrong. Children are born people but naïve to the world. Their minds are still developing, and they cannot sensibly make life-altering decisions. Furthermore, they are being exposed to things of sexual nature far too early and being robbed of the innocence they deserve.
Lastly, before I move on from these thoughts, suggesting we can choose our gender directly opposes nature and science. Mathematically, two plus two cannot equal five. Much like math gives us absolute truth, nature does, too. The body will reject this gender-altering attempt by continuously trying to heal itself naturally, returning to its born state, male or female. The extent to which a person will try to oppose nature will be the extent to which the complications lie.
The disheartening part is the underlying issue of body dysmorphia is not treated; it is masked. Should that not make us weep for the persons being led astray? The second disheartening part is this idea that gender can be chosen has been spread so widely in our popular culture that even people who have never placed such an idea in their mind now toy with this very thought. Perhaps at the forefront, the persons delivering this cringe-worthy message start with the statement, “You will be a lifelong patient.” Like the story, if people bend the truth, they can no longer see it. Also, like the story, a child can and will expose an adult’s foolishness. This fallacy will end at the expense of an entire generation. Our children will eventually uncover the truth as they mature in knowledge and wisdom.
Our culture has reasoned itself into thinking that bringing these ever-so-damaging ideas to our children is a good idea. Furthermore, this was not birthed from a grassroots, bottom-up group of people; it was birthed from the top down. Does this not make you wonder why this idea is being pitched to our youth?
Can reasoning be trusted?
“Children must learn not to lean too heavily on their reasoning. Reasoning is good for logically demonstrating mathematical truth but unreliable when judging ideas because our reason will justify all kinds of erroneous ideas if we want to believe them.
Knowing that reason is not to 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 behavior and lots of knowledge will provide the discipline and experience to help them do this.”
– Charlotte Mason
Ms. Mason’s writings do not need any altering. They are complete, but I will add “adults” to the above text. Adults must learn not to lean too heavily on their reasoning. The ability to reason is there to help us decide what we will choose. The will is the act of doing something. Therefore, we should only accept good-natured ideas, and reason will work them out to decide if they are worth pursuing.
Reason is an excellent tool, but it cannot be our master; it must be subservient to logic and rational thinking. Rational thinking is a skill that has to be developed over time. It is also a perishable skill; just like muscles can reach atrophy, the mind can too. By reading only good literature, we can connect with the best thinkers of all time who have already done much work and unpacked many of the “new” ideas being presented to us. Children have the capacity to read classics at an early age, not outsource their learning to a professor with a list of credentials. With some guidance, children can handle this material themselves.
What is education’s most important task?
Good grades, good job, money? Or should children develop synthetic thinking, analyze, reason, use logic, and learn to be independent thinkers? Should they be trained in vice and virtue, knowing the difference? This seems to be lost art in modern times.
What is our chief responsibility?
Our chief responsibility as a human race is to accept or reject good and bad ideas. This latest fad of being able to choose your gender is horrifically dehumanizing; it states we are born wrong, and another person can make this wrong right. Does this not give the power to the doctor, government, and not our creator? Again, this is in direct opposition to nature. It doesn’t, on any level, make sense. It does not make sense in the material world; it also does not make sense in the spiritual world. This is one of the many outlandish ideas that a child will face in a lifetime. Truths can only be discovered when we arrive at a place of no inconsistencies. That in every way, shape, and form, it works! Truth matters and can only be uncovered by independent thinkers; this is not a gift but a learned skill. The alternative is someone else will think for us and decide our outcome; this is happening more today than it was 100 years ago when Charlotte Mason was talking about it.
Final Thoughts
Exposing our children to twaddle and using this as their education base dumbs down their vocabulary. Shortening a child’s vocabulary disconnects them from reading the great classics that hold some of the best ideas of all time from some of the best philosophers. Giving our children good, excellent books helps them develop strong thinking and exercise their minds regularly. Developmentally, this produces synthetic and analytic thinking, which is the skill of independent thinking. The ability for a child to think for themselves is not a gift; it is learned and must be taught during adolescence. Many of the troubles we see today would not be accepted if one had learned to think for oneself during adolescence and weigh out these modern-day ideas to the very end, arriving at a sound conclusion that makes sense.
“In truth, a nation or a man becomes excellent upon one diet only, the diet of great ideas.” -Michael Angelo.