Ask Art #5 - The Motto

source: https://charlottemasonpoetry.org/ask-art-5-the-motto/

Only eternity will reveal how many lives were changed, hearts inspired, and works completed because of the motto of Charlotte Mason. Four powerful verbs - I am, I can, I ought, I will - recited, contemplated, and implemented for generations. But what is the origin of this remarkable motto? Did Miss Mason make it up? Did she change it? And was it further developed and expanded in her lifetime and beyond?

These are some of the questions I answer in "Ask Art #5 - The Motto." Join us as Mariana Mastracchio and I discuss the fascinating and intricate origin, history, and development of the motto, and touch on its wide and varied impact. No dry and dusty account, this is a living story of four powerful verbs, along with suggestions for how to apply them in your own life and in the lives of those you hold dear.

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Parents and Children p. 251

In Memoriam by Alfred Tennyson

" The Ladder of St. Augustine " by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

" The Badge And The Motto " by Elsie Kitching

" Habits for Life " by Art Middlekauff

Poems Read in This Episode

L'Umile Pianta, July 1906, p. 45, by Anonymous

I AM, I CAN, I OUGHT, I WILL.

I am a student full of fire,

And keen the youthful mind to fill,

To guide aright the young Desire,

It is my duty-and I will!

I can with never-failing tact

All furious tempers promptly still,

All evil habits counteract,

And so because I can-I will!

Dauntless and bold I start a school

With every subject freely taught,

Controlled by scientific rule,

Because I am, and can, and ought!

And when they ask the reason why

Against all odds I struggle still?

Nobly I make the proud reply,-

I am, I can, I ought, I will.

L'Umile Pianta, November, 1918, p. 16, by H. J. Hart

I AM, I OUGHT, I CAN, I WILL.

I am-what God alone doth truly know. I pray that He will of His goodness teach Me to myself that onward I may go And better, higher, ways of life may reach.

I ought-He gave a gentle voice to me, Conscience, which whispers to my wavering soul, Helps me the wrong way and the right to see And ever to press onward to the goal.

I can-what Conscience bids do, and I will. He Who did unto me His warning give And makes me right to see, doth still Give unto me the power aright to live.

I will-God helping-always choose the right, The old Saint's words my guide and watchword still And call to mind when weakening in the fight I am, I ought, I can, I will.

The Parents' Union in a Secondary School

E. Perceval Horsey describes the implementation of the Charlotte Mason method in a secondary school for boys in this vintage article from 1924.

The History of an Idea: Children Are Born Persons

Art Middlekauff surveys how Charlotte Mason's first principle was viewed in the centuries before and the century after Miss Mason's life.

The First Steps of Education

Rhoda Harrison explains how Charlotte Mason's ideas guide and inspire the first steps of education in this vintage article from 1936.

What Is Education?

Essex Cholmondeley explains the essential features of a Charlotte Mason education in this vintage text from 1925.

Where Virtue is the Goal

What does it really look like when virtue is the goal of education? Is virtue really the highest aim of Christian education?

The Parents' Union in a Secondary School

The History of an Idea: Children Are Born Persons

The First Steps of Education

What Is Education?

Where Virtue is the Goal

Common Place Company

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