This weekend marks the 149th anniversary of Maria Montessori’s birth – an occasion for which I am deeply grateful. Just think how our lives would be different if she had not been born at all, or if she had not been born to a family who could provide her with the upbringing that fed her tremendous intellect and spirit?
What if Maria Montessori had stayed true to her original educational course, pursuing an engineering degree? No doubt her brilliant mind would have afforded her academic success in whatever branch of engineering she chose to study. I would like to think that, as a fearlessly impassioned woman, she would have found a way to practice her craft in that male-dominated profession. Would we be celebrating her far-reaching designs and marking the occasion of her birth 150 years later? Perhaps…
What if she had been less resilient; what if she had taken to heart having her application to the University of Rome’s medical program rejected? What if she had not been appointed to a training center for teachers of children with special needs? What if she had not been given the challenge of working with young children of poverty?
What if there were no Montessori Method?
If we follow the lead of fiction writers and historians who provide us with intriguing and sometimes fanciful alternate histories, we might look to other child development theorists of the time to see if her complete faith in what she called the “omnipotence” of the child could have emerged without her influence. We might contemplate whether other theorists would have recognized the importance of “the work of the hand” in educating young minds. Was there was another who had not only the interest in education but also the technical background to apply the Scientific Method to design manipulative materials that make complex concepts accessible to young children? Would someone else have donned the mantle of working for peace through education of children? Alternatively, we might take a different exploratory path; we might simply look at a list of well-known Montessori graduates and wonder about what they would have achieved without their foundation in the Montessori Method. Would Montessori classmates Larry Page and Sergey Brin have created Google, would Jeff Bezos have created Amazon, without their early Montessori experiences? Each has certainly publicly acknowledged the effect that Montessori education played in their success and continues to play in their thinking to this day.
Of course, all of this is just so much speculation. I can say with far greater certainty the effect that Montessori has had on my own life and personal development. Were it not for Montessori, I would likely still be working dutifully in the corporate world – moderately good at engineering but terrible at corporate gamesmanship. But more than merely drawing me to a different career path, Montessori forever, inexorably, fundamentally changed my way of thinking about children, parenting, education, relationships with other adults, achievement and success, and my purpose here on Earth. It taught me the discipline of empowering others rather than seeking power over them and revealed just a bit of the tremendous strength and peace that come with authentic humility. While I am not sure that any of us can fully know our cosmic task – almost by definition – I have been blessed to have glimpses of mine over the years, to my great joy. Make no mistake – I still have a lot to learn from Montessori, enough to keep me inquisitive and growing for the rest of my lifetime! But I am eternally grateful for every uncomfortable moment of personal growth and for every mind-blowing revelation that I have experienced so far along the way. And I am equally grateful for all of the amazing humans that I have met as a consequence of this thing we call Montessori education.
REFLECTION FOR ADULTS
OPTION ONE: What would you be doing now if you had not found your way to Montessori? Who would you be without the “spiritual transformation of the adult” that you have undertaken since becoming a Montessori educator?
OPTION TWO: Have you experienced rejection or being told that you are in some way “not enough” while striving to fulfill your cosmic task? How can you be resilient in the face of these disappointments? When Montessori was turned away from the medical program at the University of Rome, she took additional coursework, gained some supporters, and reapplied to the university, this time successfully. Is there a similar proactive path for you? Can you better prepare yourself to try again? Can you find the support of others who believe in you to help you find your way?
REFLECTION FOR CHILDREN
OPTION ONE: What do you see as the difference between Montessori education and traditional education? What do you value most? Is there anything that wish was different? (Note to adults: individual children’s answer to this might surprise you. I once posed this question to a bright, inquisitive child who had recently transferred from a traditional neighborhood school, expecting him to talk about academic freedom or the wonderful materials. His answer was that at our school, he didn’t get beat up at recess for being different. Sometimes what children value about The Method is different from what we strive for and value, but none-the-less extraordinarily valid.)
OPTION TWO: Montessori didn’t back down when the University of Rome told her that they would not accept her to their medical program. She didn’t take “no” for an answer! She figured out what it would take to be successful and made it happen. Has there ever been something that you really wanted to be able to do or be, but you or someone else believed that you couldn’t? How can you be like Dr. Montessori and refuse to take “no” for an answer? What do you need to be successful? Experience? Knowledge? Training? Faith in yourself? Others who believe in you? How can you get what you need to be successful?
(For some entertaining alternative histories along other veins, see http://mentalfloss.com/article/54464/what-if-19-alternate-histories-imagining-very-different-world.)
“Never say that you can’t do something, or that something seems impossible, or that something can’t be done, no matter how discouraging or harrowing it may be; human beings are limited only by what we allow ourselves to be limited by: our own minds… Never be a victim of life; be its conqueror.”
– Mike Norton