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This study has two goals. One is to begin to explicate the educational theories and practices of Charlotte Mason and the other is to determine whether or not her educational theories and practices are still useful in a 21st Century American School. The first goal is addressed in six essays that discuss major educational tenets of Mason’ s educational philosophy. The second goal is studied through a case study on The Children’s Community School. The six essays based on major tenets of Mason’s educational theories and practices begin with the principle, "children are born persons," which permeates all of her beliefs about teaching and learning. "Children are born persons" means that children change from within and not from without and, therefore, are discoverers of knowledge not vessels to be filled. Rousseau believed that children come with a good nature, but Mason contended that they come with a nature that is both good and evil, as all humans. Therefore children need to be educated to attenuate the evil nature. That is the second tenet. The third tenet is a discussion of authority and docility. If children have a good and evil nature then authority is necessary. However, since children are persons, they have a right to an education and they have a right to self-authority. The fourth essay discusses Mason’s beliefs about the sacredness of a child’s personality. In the fifth essay on pedagogy the discussion is concentrated on Mason’ s use of narration as an instructional tool. The last essay is on curriculum and includes a discussion of Mason’s views on curriculum and the use of the narrative in the curriculum. All of the essays bring to the discussion the thinking of other educational thinkers both past and present. At the end of each essay is the story of the implementation of Mason’s educational theories and practices at The Children’s Community School. The data collection for this case study is defined by Mason’s educational principles discussed in each essay. Data were collected on site at the school through observations, interviews and documents. All interviews were transcribed. Data from transcriptions, observations, and documents were then coded by the six major tenets discussed in the essays. Connections were examined between the theory of Mason and the practice in The Children’s Community School.

Although numerous studies examining variables related to child abuse have been done in recent years, little is known about how abusing parents perceive their abused children's attitudes and behaviors. The present study attempted to examine parental perceptions of personality characteristics of children as a function of whether the parent abused the child. The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) was utilized to obtain parental perceptions of their children's attitudes and behaviors. Twenty parents consisting of 10 abusers and 10 nonabusers were contacted through social agencies. Parents and children were matched for age, sex, and race. Of the 16 personality variables studied, only one significantly differentiated the two groups. Abused children were perceived as significantly more withdrawn than the nonabused matched sample. Results of this study suggest that various personality types are involved in the abusive cycle. Further research is needed to explore this promising area.

During the past 80 years, similar descriptions of a hyperactive behavior pattern in children have appeared in medical, educational, and psychological literature. Hyperactivity has been conceptualized as a character disorder, an organic disorder, and, most recently, as a behavior disorder. In this study, hyperactivity was explained in interactional terms, using Rotter's social learning theory of personality. Little consideration has been given in research to the influence of an abnormally high activity level upon personality development during childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the general influence of negative interactions associated with hyperactivity upon the organization of four personality constructs: locus of control, self-esteem, trait anxiety, and state anxiety.

"For several years the seemingly inevitable difficulties experienced by seventh grade youngsters in making personality adjustments when coming from the elementary school to the junior high school has been a personal challenge. Having been rather closely associated during their sixth year with approximately half of the seventh grade pupils studied, the writer is particularly interested in the personality adjustments evidenced by the groups considered in this paper. The problem was to discover both the personality adjustments of the seventh graders who came from an adjacent elementary school which provided a special program for all sixth graders, and the personality adjustments of the seventh graders who did not attend that particular elementary school"--Introduction.