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Life &Works of Dr. Maria Montessori
Dr. Montessori is recognized as the founder of Montessori Method and one of the pioneers in the development of early childhood education. She is also respected and reputed for promoting a substantial number of important educational reforms, which now have become integral components of 21st century's educational core. Montessori was born on 31st August 1870 to an educated middle-class family in Ancona, Italy. She was the only child of her parents. Her father's name was Alessandro Montessori and he was a conservative military man. On the other hand, her mother, Renidle Montessori, was a liberal lady and supported Maria' educational pursuit. Her father's frequent transfers gave Maria a chance to have education in big cities throughout Italy. Almost whole of Europe, in those days, was very conservative in its attitude toward and treatment of women. Italy was no exception but Montessori pursued medical and scientific education. Despite many years of opposition from her father, teachers, and male fellow students, she graduated with highest honors from the Medical School of the University of Rome, becoming the first woman physician in Italy in 1896. Thus, Montessori holds the title of being the first lady doctor in the history of Italy.
Work with Special Children
Montessori was always unwilling to enter education as a career as it was one of the three traditional roles open to women at that time: working with children, homemaking or the convent. But the ironic thing is that she became best known for her contributions in education. As a physician, Montessori specialized in pediatrics and the new field of psychiatry. Her approach was more scientific, rather than the familiar philosophical approach followed by many of the educational innovators who came before and after her. Montessori taught at the medical school of the University of Rome, and through its free clinics she came into frequent contact with the children of the working class and poor. Her experience with the children of poverty convinced Montessori that intelligence is not rare, although it seemed to present itself in many forms other than those recognized by traditional schools. I n 1900, at the elapse of just a short span of four years after her degree in medicine, Montessori was appointed director of the new Orthophrenic School attached to the University of Rome, formerly a municipal asylum for the "deficient and insane" (special) children of the city, most of whom would be diagnosed in the twenty-first century asautistic* or mentally disabled. One day she inquired from a nurse about their awful condition, to which she replied that they fought for food and threw themselves on the floor to catch breadcrumbs… that was how they got dirty. Thus, thec hildren were kept in a prison like room with less food and no hopes of recovery. She and her colleagues started a wave of reform in the institution. Montessori discovered that her young patients needed purposeful activities, which could stimulate their senses and mind, and add into their selfesteem, and the sense of achievement. Montessori dismissed the nurses and caretakers who treated those children with hatred and contempt. This caused a great scarcity of staff. However, Montessori set out to teach as many as possible of the less-disturbed children to care for themselves and their fellow inmates.
Maria Montessori Inspiration from Itard and Séguin
For almost a year (from 1900 to 1901), Montessori browsed the medical libraries of Western Europe seeking successful work previously done with the education of children with disabilities. During her hunt she got inspired by the work of two almost forgotten French doctors of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard (1775 - 1838) and Édouard Séguin (1812-1880). Itard is well known even today for his work with the "Wild Boy of Aveyron", a young boy who was found by some hunters wandering naked in the forest. The boy was, presumably, lost or abandoned as a very young child and thus spent many years of life alone in the forest. The boy could not speak and lacked almost all of the skills of everyday life. This boy had grown up outside of human society without the influence of interaction with his own kind. Itard started a study of the boy in order to shed some light on the age-old debate about what proportion of human intelligence and personality is hereditary (genetic) and what proportion stems from learned behavior (environmental influence). This experiment was a limited success. Itard found his wild boy uncooperative and unwilling or unable to learn most things. This led him to postulate the existence of developmental periods in normal human growth. He formed the hypothesis that, during these "sensitive periods," a child must experience stimulation to develop normally, or he will grow up forever lacking the skills and intellectual concepts not developed at the stage when nature expects them to be readily absorbed. In simple terms, if appropriate experiences are not available at specific times during development in early years, it may get hindered or does not take place at all. Although Itard's efforts to teach the wild boy were barely successful, his work had two important implications; 1) If proper stimulation and experiences are not provided during sensitive periods of development to a child, it may hinder or does not take place at all. 2) Furtherance of handicapped children is possible.
ÉdouardSéguin (1812-1880)
Montessori drew further confirmation of Itard's ideas from the work of Édouard Séguin, a French psychologist who was a student of Itard and carried on his research. His work, however, was far more specific and organized. He also managed to apply his ideas to the everyday education of children with disabilities. Working primarily with the blind, Séguin developed a methodical approach to breaking skills down into small steps, and was highly successful with a carefully developed collection of hands-on educational materials. Teens and Tens boards, now used as a Montessori material, were also originally designed by Seguin
The Orthophrenic School
From Itard and Seguin, in the real sense, Montessori took the idea of a scientific approach to education, based on observation and experimentation. She belongs to the child study school of thought. She continued her work with the careful practice and objectivity like that of a biologist studying the natural behavior of an animal in the forest. Montessori studied her mentally disabled patients with utmost zeal. She kept on trying Seguin's educational method, and carefully noted their response to her attempts as well as their progress in becoming increasingly independent and verbal. She almost startled the whole world when many of these mentally disabled children, after two years, were able to pass the standardized exams given by the Italian public schools. Gradually the children also learned to perform most of the everyday tasks involved in preparing the meals and maintaining the environment of the residential school. Just when her work with mentally challenged children got recognition and fame, another question began to haunt her mind… “What kept normal children back” in the exams. Montessori responded by suggesting that newborn human beings normally enter the world with an intellectual potential that was barely being developed by schools in the early years of the twentieth century. She challenged that if she could attain such results with children who were disabled, schools should be able to get dramatically better results with normal children. Montessori's work strengthened her humanistic ideals, and people began to regard her as a reformer. She actively supported various social reform movements. She was a highly respected and frequently invited guest speaker throughout Europe on behalf of children's rights, the women's movement, peace education, and the importance of the League of Nations. Montessori become well known and highly regarded throughout Europe, which contributed to the publicity that surrounded her schools, started just a little later.
Casa dei Bambini
Montessori, now, being intoxicated by the newest of her life, the desire to implement her method on normal children, began to look out for an opportunity to work with normal children. Unfortunately, the Italian Ministry of Education did not welcome Montessori's ideas, and she was denied access to school-aged children. However, the opportunity came to her itself in 1907, when she was offered the position of a the medical director for a day-care center that was being organized for working-class children who were too young to attend public schools. This first day-care center, named Casa deiBambini (House of Children) was inaugurated in1907 and was located in the worst slum district of Rome, and the conditions Montessori faced were horrendous. There was only one untrained teacher to teach her first class which consisted of fifty children, from two through five years of age. It was an extended day school and the children remained at the center from morning till evening while their parents worked. The children were also given two meals per day, bathed regularly, and given a program of medical care. The children themselves were the products of extreme inner city poverty conditions and ignorance of the parents. Almost all of them came to Children's House on the first day crying and reluctantly. Most of them were aggressive, impatient and cranky. At this stage, Montessori did not know if her experiment would work under such conditions. However, she, not caring about the odds, began by teaching the older children how to help out with the everyday tasks that needed to be done. She also introduced the hand-on materials of perceptual discrimination and puzzles and eye hand manipulative exercises that she had used with mentally disabled children. Montessori must have had some hope of success but the results surprised her. The materials seemed to be working miraculously. Unlike her mentally challenged children who had to be pushed to use her apparatus, the normal children were naturally attracted to the work she introduced. The aimless street wanderers began to settle down. They began to show longer and longer periods of constructive activity. They were fascinated with the puzzles and per ceptual training devices .Montessori introduced exercises of practical day to day living like cleaning, dressing, gardening, etc. and to her amazement, children aging three and four years took the greatest delight in learning practical everyday living skills. She noticed that such activities made them more independent and added to their selfrespect. Their interest was developing day by day and they progressed so rapidly that each day they pleaded Maria to show them more. The older children began to take care of the school. They also assisted their teachers with the preparation and serving of meals and the maintenance of a spotless environment.
Worldwide Response For Casa deiBambini
Maria Montessori's first Casa dei Bambini became famous in the entire world in a very short span of time. Thousands of visitors went away amazed and enthusiastic. After the success of her first school, she started the second one and then the third and so on. Her system worked everywhere in so many different settings. Montessori became the interest of leaders and scientists around the world. Even, in America, figures like as Woodrow Wilson, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford supported and praised her work. Numerous publication and articles written about and by Montessori, made her a well-known personality to parents and teachers. The most incredible thing about Montessori method is that her model center (Casa deiBambini) got duplicated everywhere, which is are attribute, as in this field many others had promoted opinions, philosophies, and models that have not been readily duplicated. The Montessori method is the most systematic system of education that gets applied very well to new settings. In the first thirty years of the twentieth century, the Montessori Method seemed to offer something for everyone. For instance, scholars from conservative school of thought valued the calm, responsible behavior of the little children, along with their love for work. People with liberal approach highly praised the freedom and spontaneity. Many political leaders and educationists saw it as a way to reform the old fashioned school systems of Europe, North America, and Asia, as well as an approach that they hoped would lead to a more hardworking, peace loving and disciplined population. Scientists of all disciplines praised Maria's objectivity and the experimental foundation of this method. At one time the wave of support and enthusiastic praise for Maria was so high that many began to anticipate a dramatic change in the face of education, which unfortunately did not happen that fast.
The Decline and Revival of Interest in Montessori Education
The number of Montessori schools soared up to 1000 by 1925 and many tens of thousands more around the world. But things took a dramatic turn by 1940. Montessori movement virtually disappeared from the American scene and declined in many other countries. In America, only a few schools had the courage to pronounce themselves Montessori school, although many continued to operate without using the name. It is hard to find Montessori's name in education related American textbooks of those times. However, since 1960s, there is a surprising revival and resurgence of Montessori movement in America. During this period, Montessori schools continued to expand in most of the rest of the world. The credit goes to Dr. Nancy McCormick Rambush who "rediscovered" and brought Montessori back to North America. Now there are thousands of schools again and hundreds of Montessori organization working in America. The leading names include American Montessori Society (AMS), Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE), American Montessori Society (AMS) and International Montessori Council (IMC). Several reasons can be postulated about the decline of Montessori movement in the US, some of which include; 1) During and after World War I and II, the transportation and travel disrupted greatly between America and Europe, which was mostly done through the Atlantic Ocean, and so was the sharing of knowledge. 2) In 1922 Professor William Kilpatrick of Columbia University published a book entitled Montessori Reexamined. He was considered to be one of the most influential scholars of his time and the book became equally influential. Unfortunately, he dismissed Montessori unfairly and unreasonably as outdated and based on no longer accepted theories of a faculty of psychology. Kilpatrick went to the extend of saying that Montessori was rigid, outdated, and mistaken in her attempt to educate the senses, suggesting that she was under the misapprehension that the brain and senses could be strengthened, like a muscle, by exercises in sensory training and memorization. Unfortunately, this and many other criticisms were groundless, primarily based on alack of accurate information and understanding, along with perhaps some bias against Montessori's popularity as she was a doctor and not a trained educator, and perhaps because she was a European and not an American.However, since the 1960s, Montessori schools have expanded in both enrollment and the age levels served, with the majority of schools offering elementary programs as well as early childhood. Secondary Montessori programs are less common, but are beginning to appear insubstantial numbers, initially as middle school programs and gradually as high school programs as well
Montessori Prime Time
During her life time we may rank the period from the opening of the first Children's House in 1907 until the 1930s as her prime productive period. During this time, she continued her study of children, and developed a vastly expanded curriculum and methodology. A wave of support surged throughout Europe and America. Montessori schools started throughout Europe and North America. She even gave up her medical practice and devoted herself to her mission of REGENERATING MANKIND. Though many so-called modern schools have given different names to the educational systems they used, but the truth is that every modern classroom reflects Montessori's ideas to a fairly substantial degree. Certainly the current trends about multiple intelligence, the importance of mental health and emotional literacy, the attractiveness of the modern classroom, the use of manipulative materials in instruction, cooperative learning, authentic assessment, and multiage classrooms as a desirable model for classroom groupings are just a few examples of ideas generally attributed to Maria Montessori. During her lifetime, Montessori was acknowledged as one of the world's leading educators. Now with development in understanding of child development, many educationists around the world and those seeking reform have rediscovered how clear and sensible her insight was. Most of them, who have studied Montessori, would affirm that Montessori education is definitely the right system of education for all times and for all cultures as children are born on the same nature.
Highest Recognition & Awards to Montessori
Maria Montessori was pictured on the Italian 200 lire coin and through the 1990s on the 1000 lire bill, by far the most common one, replacing Marco Polo, until Italy adopted the Euro. She was also nominated for Nobel Peace Prize thrice.
Montessori’s Death
Maria Montessori left the world in the Netherlands in 1952, but would always stay alive as she lives as an immortal through her method, which has helped and would continue to help children of all times to be better human beings. She lived in old days but was definitely “A WOMAN MUCH AHEAD OF HER TIME”.
