[OnAMission]

In the context in which she lived, I believe CM was pushing back strongly against two big ideas of her time: the idea that children are a blank slate, and the idea that only children from wealthy families are capable of being educated or worthy of educating. Thus, the idea that “children are persons” and now the idea that they are born sinful, are capable of both good and bad deeds (as are we all), and that this idea is true for children from all walks of life. In other words, she wanted *all children* to have an opportunity to have a broad education, not just those from wealthy families.