Maria Montessori
1870- 1952
Physician, Philosopher, Educator, Genius
Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.
Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world.
If an educational act is to be efficacious, it will be only that one which tends to help toward the complete unfolding of life. To be thus helpful it is necessary rigorously to avoid the arrest of spontaneous movements and the imposition of arbitrary tasks.
If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual's total development lags behind?
If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.
Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.
One test of the correctness of educational procedure is the happiness of the child.
The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil.
The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, "The children are now working as if I did not exist."
The only language men ever speak perfectly is the one they learn in babyhood, when no one can teach them anything!
The task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility and evil with activity.
The teacher must derive not only the capacity, but the desire, to observe natural phenomena. The teacher must understand and feel her position of observer: the activity must lie in the phenomenon.
To aid life, leaving it free, however, that is the basic task of the educator.
We cannot create observers by saying 'observe,' but by giving them the power and the means for this observation and these means are procured through education of the senses.
We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being.
We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry.
We teachers can only help the work going on, as servants wait upon a master.
The concept of an education centered upon the care of the living being alters all previous ideas. Resting no longer on a curriculum, or a timetable, education must conform to the facts of human life.
For information about the Montessori Method, visit the Association Montessori Internationale web page. If you're interested in becoming an AMI trained Montessori teacher, visit the Montessori Institute of Atlanta.
Visit Dr. Steven Hughes' website to find out what a leading neurophyscologist thinks about classical Montessori education. http://goodatdoingthings.com/
For interesting articles about the practice and application of Montessori, visit http://mariamontessori.com/mm/
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