"The Home is a School: The Law of Moral Infection” (Entry 03)

by Brian G. Daigle

The question of nature vs. nurture, regarding nearly all existing things, has been, I believe, adequately spoken to throughout our classical and Christian (albeit, Western) heritage, if we would only take the time to deeply understand and implement that wisdom. But first, we must recover this wisdom, for it has been buried under the rubble of modernity; I am thankful, for my own interests and gifts, to have found but a few beautiful stems shooting through this rubble, clear and beautiful enough to require that I would dig down to the root and source of such vivacious breakthroughs. While the previous installment accurately, though not completely, spoke to the nature of the child, the child as fully human, with a vocation to be fully human, this present entry will turn to just one important way we nurture the child.
              A home, like a classroom, is a work of art. More than that, it is a work of atmosphere. When I have the opportunity to observe a school or classroom, I approach it like a dinner guest. I approach it as someone invited to dine at a table I did not make, in an atmosphere I did not create, and be nourished by a meal I did not choose. I then, first, use my five senses to simply observe. I make lots of notes, akin to setting, character, and plot sketches from a great classic novel I’m reading. What do I hear? What do I see? What do I smell? Taste? Feel? What is the energy of the room or the school? What are the variant moods or emotions passing through the language, the relationships, the speech, the attire, the content, the art, the furniture, the protocol, the technology, the interruptions, the moments of quiet, the jokes, the facial expressions, the lighting, the things the characters touch and do. In doing this for many years, I have become deeply sensitive to a teacher’s slightest move and a student’s slightest response. And there are times I ask, “If my child were in this room, would I want them to be formed by and impressed with the nutrients of this academic and social meal, of this particular society and the leader who leads it, the teacher?”  

Read More