Fact · Dictation
Charlotte Mason wrote that dictation, as commonly practised in schools in her time, was perhaps the most mischievous of the exercises children did at school.
Checked against its source on October 17, 2026
In the source's own words
“dictation, as commonly practised, is perhaps the most mischievous”
Home Education (Home Education Series, Volume 1), Charlotte M. Mason, Project Gutenberg, eBook 71087, 1886, Chapter XII, Spelling and Dictation.
Open the original- What it measures
- Mason's opening line of the chapter on spelling and dictation. She goes on to describe the common practice of dictating clause by clause and correcting each error in red ink, and to argue that this makes bad spellers.
- What it does not show
- A criticism of the common practice of her day, written before modern spelling research. Mason then describes her own version of dictation, which she supports.