Born before her time on this day in 1870, Maria Montessori dedicated her life to the betterment of the human race.
She learned from the Fascist and Nazis that through our children we can shape the future.
At the age of 13 in a society where women were expected to become teachers or nuns, she entered a boy's school because she wanted to study mathematics and science.
She then went on to enroll in technical school to study engineering.
Women were not allowed to attend medical school, so when she decided to become a doctor she had to obtain special permission against her own father's wishes. And she did. At night she went to the morgue alone to work because she was not allowed to be in a room with men and a naked cadaver.
In July of 1896 Maria became the first woman to obtain a Doctorate of Medicine from the University of Rome.
A few months later she attended the International Congress for Women’s Rights in Berlin, Germany where her equal pay for equal work proposal was adopted.
Appointed assistant doctor at the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome she was tasked with visiting insane asylums in Rome to select young subjects for the clinic. "Idiot" children as they were called. There is a story that claims while making the rounds guided by a nurse Ratchet type she encountered a young child on the floor carefully lining up peas from an over turned meal tray in a crack in the concrete floor. The nurse commented on the disgusting animal quality of the young inmate. Maria saw a human being making the best of it's limited environment.
Maria discovered Jean Itard, and his work with the “Wild Boy of Aveyron” along with his student Edouard Séguin, who created physical and sensory activities to develop mental processes.
She began to observe her subjects and learn from them how they learned. She worked with these "idiot children" and after about 6 months put them to a test--the same test given to "normal" children--they passed.
In 1900 she attended a feminist congress in London to speak out against the exploitation of child labor.
After an affair resulting in her only and illegitimate child, Maria returned to the university immersing herself in her studies of psychology and philosophy. She translated the works of Jean Itard and Edouard Séguin into Italian, lectured at the teacher training college and was a professor in anthropology.
As she turned her focus to "normal" children in 1907 a slum lord in the San Lorenzo district of Rome offered her a space in his building where young children were left unattended to wreck havoc while both parents labored in factories--the first Montessori school was formed.
People from all over came to see the children working and were amazed.
In 1913 Maria came to the United States for the first time thanks to Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel, Thomas Edison, Helen Keller and Margaret Wilson, the daughter of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson who provided a Montessori classroom in the basement of the white house for the children of his staff.
In her lecture at New York’s Carnegie Hall she concluded with these words:
“The development at which I aim includes the whole child. My greater aim is the eventual perfection of the human race.”
Maria Montessori returned again to the U.S. in 1915 and set up a classroom enclosed by glass at San Francisco’s Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Thousands of people from all over the world came and observed her teaching method during the four months of the exhibit. When awards were given, the Montessori class won the only two gold medals for education.
There is much more--her exile by Mussolini, work in India, relationship with Gandhi. . .
Maybe another time.
My thanks to TheSolipsisticMe
for unknowingly inspiring this post.
For the fun of it Montessori children and advocates--
Katharine Graham (deceased), owner/editor of the Washington Post
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (deceased), editor, former first lady
Sean 'P.Diddy' Combs, musician, producer and businessman
Anne Frank, famous diarist from world war II
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Nobel Prize winner for Literature
Jeff Bezos, financial analyst, founder, AMAZON.COM
Prince William and Prince Harry, English royal family
T. Berry Brazelton, noted pediatrician and author
Julia Child, famous chef and author
Melissa and Sarah Gilbert, actors
Famous people who chose Montessori schools for their own children:
Stephen J. Cannell, TV writer-producer-director
Patty Duke Austin, actress
Cher Bono, singer-actress
John Bradshaw, psychologist and author
Yul Brynner (dec.), actor
Marcy Carcy, TV producer
Bill & Hillary Clinton, former president/senator, NY
Michael Douglas, actor
Shari Lewis (dec.), puppeteer
Yo Yo Ma, cellist
Others with a Montessori Connection:
Alexander Graham Bell, noted inventor, and his wife Mabel provided financial support directly to Dr. Montessori and helped establish the first Montessori Class in the United States in 1913.
Mister Rogers, children’s TV personality, was a strong supporter of Montessori Education.
Thomas Edison, noted scientist and inventor, helped found a Montessori school.
President Wilson’s daughter was a Montessori teacher. There was a Montessori Classroom in the White House during Wilson’s presidency.
Jean Piaget, noted Swiss psychologist, made his first observations of children in a Montessori school. He was also head of the Swiss Montessori Society for many years.
And one of my own students--Norah Jones
If you have children--especially young children--I urge you to look into Montessori
"Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education." Maria Montessori