Maria Montessori – Formation of the Human Being

Dr. Maria Montessori (1870 – 1952), famous for her pedagogical approach that changed the prevailing view of children and childhood, known as the Montessori method, is also recognized as the first woman in Italy to obtain a medical degree despite prejudices.

Her method emerged from the need to help children living on the streets, with whom she worked at the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome.

She established her first Children’s House in the impoverished working-class neighborhood of San Lorenzo in Rome in 1907. Reflecting on those memories later on, she wrote in her book The Child – The Secret of Childhood:

“It was January 6, 1907, when the first school for mentally normal children aged three to six was formally opened. It did not follow my method because it did not exist at that time, but it was the school where my method would later develop. On that day, it consisted of no more than fifty poor, timid-looking children; some of them were crying; almost all of them were illiterate, entrusted to me for care.”

Dr. Maria Montessori, in her educational method, utilized materials that led to independent learning and exploration. Montessori believed that children have an innate desire for learning and development, and that the role of the teacher is to create a stimulating environment and support their natural development.

She provided children with not only academic skills but also social skills and moral education. She believed that the holistic education of the child is essential and that the physical, emotional, and intellectual aspects are interconnected. Through her method, Montessori promoted independence, self-confidence, and respect for children.

Today, Maria Montessori remains a significant influence in education worldwide. Her method is recognized and acknowledged as an effective way to educate children and promote their development. Her dream of creating a better world for children continues to thrive and inspire many educators and parents around the world.

Marija Montessori had didactic materials that were used for learning through touch, smell, sound and sight. The change that Maria Montessori introduced was not only in teaching methods, but in approaching the child with respect for the mystery it carries within itself, for the potential hidden within it, and for the soul that needs help to be liberated. She emphasized the crucial role of adults in the education of children, as the embodiment process of a human being in a child depends on them.

The word “embodiment” depicts the image of a newborn as a spirit confined within a body, needing to come to life in the world… Science observes a new being as something that arises from nothing: not as an embodiment, but as a body. It is merely the sum of tissues and organs that make up a living being. And this too represents a mystery, as how is it possible for this complex and living body to come from nothing?

In the care provided to a newborn, we must also consider the “psychic life”… It is evident that the word “education” is not used in the sense of instruction, but to aid in the psychic development. development of a child… The child has an active mental life, although it cannot express it because it must slowly and secretly develop its burdensome realization. This concept suggests an impressive vision: that of an imprisoned and dark soul trying to come into the light, be born and grow, and gradually revive the sluggish body, summoning it with the cry of will, emerging in the light of consciousness with the power of a newly-born being… The child that embodies the spiritual is an embryo that must live at the expense of the environment, just as a physical embryo needs a special environment, which is the mother’s breasts, so does the spiritual embryo need to be protected by an external environment that is lively, warm, and full of love, which nourishes; it is an environment in which everything should be hospitable and where nothing would hinder or impede development. Once this truth is understood, an adult must change their attitude towards the child. The character of the child, the spiritual embryo that is embodying itself, needs to captivate us, it needs to impose new responsibilities upon us. The fragile body that we adore and shower with only physical attention, which almost turns into a toy in our hands, takes on a different aspect and inspires respect. “Multa debetur puero reverentia – Many owe a child respect.” We should respect the efforts that go unnoticed: everything related to a child’s creative work of embodying a human being represents an unknown drama that has not yet been written…

The hidden effort of childhood should be considered sacred: this painful manifestation deserves a hospitable welcome because in this period of creation, the future personality of an individual is determined.

The results of her work in the Children’s House, based on this approach, were unexpected and astonishing. There was much talk and writing in the public about the “miracle”, about the “new children”, schools based on the Montessori pedagogy were opened, and they expanded beyond the borders of Italy. Maria Montessori did not attribute this success to herself or her method, but to the child’s soul that acts freely without obstacles in accordance with its own nature. natively.