Montessori Childrens House
of the west coast

Montessori’s Educational Vision

Posted on Friday, April 03, 2009

The power of Montessori pedagogy rests in its broader world view.  Dr. Montessori’s educational vision places the child and her development in the context of the entire natural and social world.  Her view is one of universal action, or actualization, and interrelatedness.  She saw all humankind—past, present, and future—as embodied in the child, and the child in turn connected to all that was, is, and will be.  Dr. Montessori often used the example that our bodies are made of the same stuff as the universe to emphasize this sense of interconnectedness.  Linked with her idea of a whole and dynamic universe is the idea of purpose:  that each organism moves through existence with a certain task, a reason for being.  Our tasks can’t always be defined clearly; they are not specific jobs, but as we move through life and interact with others, we attract and initiate experiences which link us to all humans, to all living things, and to non-living things.
She believed that the role of education was to help children realize their own distinct gifts and then understand how they contribute those gifts to the broader whole.  It is the realization that leads to self-actualization, harmony and peaceful co-existence.  She called this vision of education “Education for Peace”.
There are two key thoughts in understanding her vision of education:
1.  There is a natural equilibrium, an interdependency of all things.
2.  That all living things have a set of tasks, jobs to do to aid the health of the whole.  We have the task to aid in both the preservation of the planet and to aid in the growth of one another.  Fulfilling our potential helps to maintain the equilibrium.
The Montessori curriculum begins this process at a very early age.  In the primary classroom (3-6 years of age) children for example study vertebrates: fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals.  Through guided observation children compare and contrast body parts and functions.  They see that though specific body parts look different they serve similar functions: the fins of a fish, the wings of a bird and the arms and legs of mammals serve to allow the animal to move.  In the curriculum area “Peoples of The World”, children discover that even though people throughout the world look different they all have the same basic needs.  How people meet these needs depends on where they live geographically. Families from different cultures are invited into the classroom to give cultural presentations.  This begins the broader understanding of cultural diversity yet cultural connections.  Older children will see how these needs have been met over time and culture using the Time Line of Life and the Time Line of Civilizations.  These studies bring to awareness a universal connection and interdependency.
Tim Seldin writes in Tomorrow’s Child, “While Montessori schools are communities apart from the outside world in which children can first begin to develop their unique talents; they are also consciously connected to the local, national, and global communities.  The goal is to lead each student to explore, understand, and grow into full and active membership in the adult world.”