Schoolboy Civility

As we all know, George Washington was our first president. Upon reading Colonial Manners by our first president ( http://www.history.org/almanack/life/manners/rules2.cfm ) , which was written while he was a teenager, the first thought that came to mind was ‘Who were his role models?’.

In those days ‘well-to-do’ children were often raised by slave nannies or hired governesses. It doesn’t really say in a discovered ‘alleged factual’ biography ( http://xroads.virginia.edu/~cap/gw/gwbio.html ) how young George was nursed or cared for until primary school, though it appears his childhood was less than middle class according to today’s so-called lower middle class families, given the ‘conveniences’ many of us now take for granted, such as electricity, running water, and in-house bathrooms or indoor plumbing.

It’s popular wisdom in child development that much of a child’s fundamental character or conditioning with regard to how they respond to the outside world is largely programmed by the age of five. Generally, I wouldn’t disagree. So what could be found about young George leaves a mystery as to the biggest influences of his most formative early years until he entered school. As to his schooling, it was rudimentary and non exceptional, having been sent to boarding school once elementary school was finished thirty miles from where he was born. It would also appear certain teachers were positive mentors as well. The only real evidence of this is how George turned out.

What this illustrates in comparison to modern times here is that for all basic purposes George’s elementary school education was not much different in terms of available resources in comparison to today’s poorest schools. What makes today’s poorest schools really ‘poor’ is the attitude, non-dedication, and lack of civility instilled in school administrations and teachers. Many home schooled children have even fewer tools, and exhibit higher grade level functioning and learning than children that attend most of today’s ‘public schools’.

Young George studied by the light of a candle and in daylight with a lower teacher to student ratio than today’s averages in an unregulated ‘churchyard school’. It’s been said that gifted children don’t need gifted programs as much as they need support, because they naturally challenge themselves and don’t require any special curriculum to excel. The balance of a healthy everyday life and access to learning makes for whatever an exceptional child may desire with an overwhelming curiosity and thirst for knowledge, unimpeded by various forms of negativity rampant in so-called ‘adults’ of today. Children today face countless obstacles to their developing self-esteem, without which asserting themselves to feed their otherwise healthy curiosities becomes abruptly stifled.

What young George also had that was a result of his times growing up was the opportunity to observe and listen. In reading his Rules of Civility, the observance and execution of ‘body language’ is frequently addressed, though not called by our modern term. Nuances our bustling world has all but forgotten are critical in the human interactions of young George’s time. Imagine traveling days for a critical meeting; there were no ‘second chances’ in negotiations that first affected George’s life, and later that of a nation.

It’s no wonder George became a respected statesman and first president. He watched, listened, planned, and recorded with thought and precision, and an equal priority on communication styles that create mutual benefit between individuals to countries (as some of the small colonies considered themselves to be at the time). These skills were cultivated steadily throughout life as George grew up, year by year, one baby step at a time. That kind of civility has been copied by high achievers and will for generations to come. The natural rules that create progress for humanity never really change. Young George remains one of our greatest teachers, for those who have the opportunity to discover what those like him created for us all. Practicing unrelenting true civility in numbers makes the world better, one gesture at a time.