MONTESSORI METHOD 



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MONTESSORI METHOD 



confusion gives way to an atmosphere of calm 

 and a self-ordered activity which continually 

 approach perfection, and a spirit of harmony, 

 of mutual interest and of unselfishness gradually 

 arises among the children. 



This result can never be brought about by 

 the external commands of a teacher, but is an 

 inner development on the part of the children. 

 Indeed, it seems that just as in adult society, 

 where obedience to law is the rule, and delin- 

 quents are nearly all drawn from the diseased 

 or less-favored portions of the community, so 

 the discipline of the child is a natural charac- 

 teristic of the normal and well-grown per- 

 sonality. 



Scientific Aspects. The educational method 

 described will be seen to have its origin in a 

 very different conception of the function of 

 education, and to exert a very different effect 

 upon the individual from that of the former 

 pedagogy. In this method it is the inherent 

 forces of growth and development present in 

 the individual which are the central points of 

 attention. It is to help and nourish these 

 forces, providing them with the stimulus which 

 they need, and leaving them free in their de- 

 velopment, that is the central aim. All the 

 particulars of the method revolve about this. 

 The child is no longer looked upon as passive 

 material in the hands of the educator. The old 

 methods spoke of "developing character," 

 "awakening interest," "inculcating the moral 

 sentiments," and the like; the child's mentality 

 was transported indiscriminately, now to 

 mathematics, now to nature study, now to de- 

 sign, as though it were something inert, having 

 no natural activities of its own. These were 

 efforts characteristic of the old education the 

 determination to mold and fashion the grow- 

 ing individual according to the will of the 

 educator. 



In the new method the individual is regarded 

 as a being who contains in himself the forces 

 needed for his development, and who must 

 himself evolve according to his own laws. The 

 function of education is to study and observe 

 these, seeking to correspond to their needs, 

 tenderly nursing, so to speak, the growing life, 

 providing it with the means of growth, the 

 psychic stimuli which it needs, and waiting and 

 observing. In determining the action of peda- 

 gogy, so understood, Dr. Montessori considers 

 that the help of science is needed. It is science 

 which must study the growing life, determining 

 its needs and the help which may be given it, 



just as science determines the action of the 

 t 



modern gardener, defining the conditions of 

 soil and temperature which he must supply, 

 his intervention, etc.; but he must also wait 

 for the plant to appear, since it is life, and not 

 the scientific conditions, which brings it into 

 being. 



Hygiene has already done this work for the 

 physical life, but science must extend its action, 

 Dr. Montessori declares, to the psychic life. 

 It is a contribution, in fact, of this kind, which 

 she considers to be made by her method. It is 

 science which has established the means of 

 education herein used, proceeding by objective 

 study and by experiment to determine the 

 means and action of education in its nurture of 

 the growing life, which leads to its unfolding 

 in the fullest and most perfect way. This is 

 the function of education to secure the gen- 

 erous unfolding of life; to follow it in its de- 

 velopment according to its own laws, seeking 

 to correspond to its requirements, in order to 

 insure the fulfilment of its inherent powers. 



The freeing of the child's spirit must be 

 the first condition of such pedagogical action; 

 and for this reason the continual class instruc- 

 tion of the teacher can no longer have place. 

 The practical solution, in fact, of the problem 

 of liberty in the school lies in the didactic 

 apparatus, which enables each child to expand 

 his own energies, finding the outlet which he 

 needs for his muscular and mental activities. 



The activity of the teacher must be to put 

 the child into communication with this ma- 

 terial, setting him upon the path of his de- 

 velopment, but then retiring before his spon- 

 taneous self-activity for which she can do 

 nothing. Her aim is to follow this life which 

 unfolds, providing it with its needs, giving the 

 stimulus which starts a spontaneous work of 

 expansion; but she must also know when to 

 retire, to perceive the moment in which her 

 interference will hinder; to wait and to ob- 

 serve. She must have infinite faith to await 

 the gifts of life ; they will come. And this faith 

 increases with experience. She will also know 

 that any action which can help this unfolding 

 must of necessity be limited. Hers to give the 

 touch, the light cast upon the path; Life's to 

 unfold the great miracle of human activity and 

 expansion. 



The intervention of the teacher, in fact, is 

 limited by science. It is found from experi- 

 ment that too much interference on her part 

 hinders the child in his development, while too 

 little likewise retards it. Within limits, there- 

 fore, her activity may be exactly defined. The 



