Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870. As a small child, her family moved to Rome in hopes of providing her with a better education than was available in the rural area they called home. When it came time for her to choose a career path, Montessori faced challenges related to the gender inequality of the times. Her father was a precise and conservative man who strongly encouraged her to pursue of the only acceptable career for a woman at the time; that of a teacher. Though her mother was a little more open to transformative ideas, she succumbed to her husband’s conviction and urged Maria to study education.
Despite the wishes of her parents, Maria set out to study mathematics and engineering instead of teaching. Before long she abandoned these two areas of study in favor of medical school. During her time in medical school, Maria again experienced the impact of gender inequality when she was forced to return to the lab after hours and alone to partake in the dissection activities her male classmates performed together during the day. Through her strong will and determination, Montessori stood strong in the face of adversity, and finished her studies at the University of Rome Medical School in 1896 as the first woman graduate.
After graduation, Dr. Montessori took on a job at the University of Rome’s Psychiatric Clinic, where she visited mentally deficient children and became inspired to study special education. During her time at the clinic, she began to develop a theory in which mental deficiency was not really a medical problem, but rather a pedagogical one. In other words, “problems existed not in the children, but in the adults, in their approaches and in the environment they provided” (Mooney 22). Touched by her experiences at the clinic, Maria began to study the prior educational works of Jean Itard and Edoaurd Seguin. The works of Itard and Sequin became the foundation upon which Montessori built the fundamentals of her method. Upon completion of her studies, Montessori returned to Italy and began lecturing at the request of the Italian Minister of Education. The lectures she delivered on “the education of feeble minded children,” eventually lead to the establishment of a State Orthophrenic School, where Montessori would serve as the directress for several years. During her time at the helm of the Orthophrenic School, Montessori’s passion for education intensified and she returned, once more, to university. Fueled by the potential impact of her remedial pedagogical methods on normal children, she began to study philosophy, psychology, and anthropology. From then on Montessori was committed to education as her life’s work.
The opportunity for Montessori to test the transferability of her method and materials to “normal” children arrived in 1907 when she was tasked with opening the first Casa de Bambini, or “Children’s House. The Children’s House was a minimally designed day care with the sole purpose of keeping poor children from deviant and destructive behavior while their parents were out to work. The absence of an interested governing body allowed Montessori the freedom to do as she pleased. And so, in her time at the Children’s House she set out to “compare the reactions of normal children to her special equipment with those of her mental defectives, and in particular to see if the reactions of younger children of normal intelligence were similar to those of the chronologically older but retarded children” (Polk Lillard, 3). What she discovered was remarkable. The children, who came to the house as unrefined, uncoordinated little humans developed, through the use of her materials, transformative levels of focus and concentration. This concentration brought order to their young souls and enabled them to perform at seemingly unrealistic levels. Montessori herself was amazed. She said, “It took time for me to convince myself that this was not an illusion. After each new experience proving such a truth I said to myself, ‘I won’t believe it yet, I’ll believe the next time.’.”(Polk Lillard, 5).
Naturally, the astonishing results coming from within Montessori’s school created a rapidly expanding interest in her method. In order to meet the growing interest in her method of education, Montessori began to travel the world giving lectures, writing books, and establishing schools and training centers. Montessori came to America to speak in 1912 and again in 1915, however, excitement for her method was shortly stifled by mounting criticism.
Despite tepid success in America, the expansion of Montessori schools throughout Europe went very well until the late 1920s when rising Nazi and Fascist regimes forced their closings. In 1934 Montessori fled the growing Fascist pressures of Italy and went to live in Spain, the Netherlands, and India. It is important to note that while the closing of schools was a destructive blow to the Montessori movement, it was not in vain, for as the war ended, interest in the Montessori Method was vigorously rekindled. Having seen the evil and destruction that arose from the blind following of government, people were drawn to alternative educational approaches that encouraged independence.
In addition to the worldly challenges of gender inequality and the rise of Fascism, Montessori was also impacted by a significant personal challenge through the birth of her son Mario, out of wedlock. In order to avoid the stigma that comes with raising a bastard child, Maria sent Mario away to live with family friends. He would return to her as a teenager and eventually become a partner in her efforts to expand the Montessori Method throughout the world. One can only imagine the depth and darkness of her personal struggle. The fact that she was able to move on so successfully after such an impactful life event is another testament to her strong will and tenacity. It is interesting here to also consider the relationship between Maria’s inability to care for her own child and the emphasis of her method on creating independence within a child. This is not to suggest that Montessori deliberately set out to create the method as overcompensation for her absence in the life of her son, but perhaps she took comfort in knowing that she helped so many other children learn to take care of themselves in the potential absence of their own parents.
Maria Montessori died in The Netherlands in 1952. Though her physical being has left this earth, her spirit and influence live on as her method continues to grow each year with the establishment of new Montessori schools across the world. In conclusion, Maria Montessori lived a full and impactful life that can serve as an inspiration to all of us. She was intrinsically motivated to achieve great things despite significant social and personal conflicts, and her tenacious example reminds us that we need not become victims of our time. In addition, the fluid manner in which Montessori accomplished so much is evidence that we need not waste our time worrying about the straightness of our path in life. By changing focus and studying many areas throughout her lifetime Montessori was able to develop an interdisciplinary approach to education with a skill set far greater than that which would come from the study of education alone. Her life and work are a testament to the fact that sometimes the most fruitful destinations are reached through the windiest roads.
Bibliography
Montessori,
Maria – The Absorbent Mind – New York: Holt Paperbacks, 1995
Montessori, Maria – The Montessori Method – Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 2002
Montessori, Maria – The Secret of Childhood – New York: Random House, 1966
Montessori, Maria – The Discovery of the Child – New York: Random House, 1967
Garhart Moody, Carol – Theories of Childhood – St. Paul: Readleaf Press, 2000
Polk Lillard, Paula – Montessori a Modern Approach –New York: Schocken Books, 1972
Montessori, Maria – The Montessori Method – Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc., 2002
Montessori, Maria – The Secret of Childhood – New York: Random House, 1966
Montessori, Maria – The Discovery of the Child – New York: Random House, 1967
Garhart Moody, Carol – Theories of Childhood – St. Paul: Readleaf Press, 2000
Polk Lillard, Paula – Montessori a Modern Approach –New York: Schocken Books, 1972
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