Introduction
A baby bird beheld the open sky.
The Bird Takes Flight
His nest, though safe, had grown too small,
So out he leapt, to the ground he did fall.
His guardian watched but did little more,
For on his own the small bird was to soar.
Each time he fell he learned a lesson,
Reaching ever higher with each session.
Until one day he spread his wings to fly.
The little bird tries to fly because it knows it can.
From a dependent thing that cannot stand,
Out of its nest, to ever greater heights,
Each milestone makes his tiny world expand.
So it is that the little bird takes flight,
The girl becomes a woman, and the boy a man.
Freedom is a lived experience, borne out through action, and contingent upon belief. That belief is a belief in the power of choice, which is a belief that is learned. When one experiences, directly, that their actions have meaningful positive consequences, they become empowered to chart their own destinies.
That empowerment begins with a simple step, then another, each one building upon the next. The first steps are made within safe bounds, just as the baby bird takes its first steps within the safety of a nest. As one’s skills and confidence grows, the boundaries within which they can safely operate will continue to expand, until one day the very sky is their limit.
This article will explore how the Montessori method cultivates learned agency, fostering the kind of empowerment that leads to freedom. It is part two of a two part series, the first of which explored the damaging practice and legacy of the Prussian education system.
The Method In A Nutshell
The Montessori method is a system. Although detailing every aspect of the system is beyond the scope of this article, the three paragraphs below offer an overview of how the system works in practice. For a more thorough understanding of the Montessori method, check out the ten Montessori principles (Referenced in the paragraphs below), the original Montessori method book, and more resources below.
All Montessori principles stem from respect for the child at their core. This means that the child is viewed as a sovereign being, not as a blank slate to be filled. The adult does not form the child, rather, they provide the right conditions for self-construction. These conditions include a carefully prepared environment, in which tools and furnishings are appropriately sized and selected for the child’s age. The selection of materials is also influenced by the sensitive period the child is in. During these sensitive periods, children are more easily able to absorb certain information. For example, young children learn languages far easier than adults.
The role of the teacher in Montessori is that of a guide, not a lecturer. They are to observe the child, allowing them to make their own mistakes without intervention. Rather than being rewarded for success or punished for failure, children in Montessori learn from their mistakes through natural consequences. This fosters an intrinsic motivation, rather than an external one.
Children in Montessori have significant freedom to choose what they work on throughout the day. This does not mean that they can choose to eat candy and play video games all day. It does mean that they can choose when and how they learn core concepts, according to their interests and competencies. This is the concept of freedom within limits. As children grow in their competence and confidence, they naturally take on leadership roles teaching younger students in multi-age classrooms. Then, one day, they grow up, their bounds having expanded until the whole world becomes their classroom.
As Within, So Without
Part one explored a person’s relationship to themselves and the world around them, and how contemporary Prussian education influenced that relationship. The Montessori method flips each system described in part one on its head, subverting it to foster agency, not to perpetuate helplessness.
Relationship To Self
Where To Focus Attention
By providing long, uninterrupted periods of self-directed study, children in Montessori are given the space to focus and learn. They may also choose, within reasonable bounds, what to work on. This sends the message that one’s focus is not a tool to be manipulated by others, but a deeply valuable and personal asset.
What Is Important
The Montessori curriculum emphasizes understanding, not a score. Self-correcting materials facilitate this understanding. For example, younger children may learn addition using blocks. If the blocks are the wrong length, they clearly made a mistake, and will try again. Older adolescents might find that a business model is unsustainable when implemented in the real world, so they pivot and try again.
Montessori also places an emphasis on practical, meaningful work. For example, all children clean their classrooms using instruments appropriately sized for them. Children also prepare food for their classmates, and may actively participate in school governance (At levels appropriate for their age). These practical matters are woven into play, and unstructured play is heavily encouraged outside of school. Altogether, what is important in the Montessori model is understanding, competence, and overall well-being.
Personal Value
Children in Montessori are not assigned grades. Instead, they are evaluated on their progress through observations and self-assessment. There are no ‘D students’ and ‘A students’ in Montessori, just kids on different stages of their journeys. This is because Montessori recognizes that children learn at different paces and have different strengths. Furthermore, children in Montessori are placed in multi-age classrooms, fostering a mentor-mentee relationship, rather than an arbitrary age hierarchy.
The value of a child in Montessori is intrinsic, not based on a number.
Relationship To The World
Relationship To People
In Montessori, the child is a sovereign being on their way to becoming an adult. They are no more a deficient adult than a caterpillar is a deficient butterfly. Their value is intrinsic, which is reinforced again and again through freedom of choice, respect, and meaningful work. Rather than being a unit in a hierarchy, each child is a valuable piece of a cohesive whole, with unique roles, strengths, and challenges.
Students are also given greater degrees of input in their environments as they get older. For example, small children may decide how to divide chores during clean-up time. Older children may run small businesses and charities, making decisions that have financial and social impacts far outside of their schools.
Altogether, the picture that is painted is that of a song sung by many voices, each valuable in their own way, and a world run from the ground up, by ordinary people.
Relationship To Places
Children in Montessori are given ample opportunity to move and explore. The primary lesson period is long, approximately three hours, in which children may choose from a variety of activities. There are also intentional periods of physical activity interwoven throughout the day. These periods are designed to facilitate uninterrupted, choice-driven and hands-on learning.
Relationship To Unstructured Time
Maria Montessori understood that learning is facilitated through play. In play, boundaries are tested, new connections forged, and concepts are learned and reinforced. For this reason, Montessori lessons incorporate an element of choice and play. For example, young children in the first Montessori school learning to write first strengthened their motor skills with coloring books and drawings rather than repeated writing drills. This time, though not unstructured, is flexible and active rather than rigid and passive.
Outside of school, Montessori traditionally does not give homework at younger grades, and only minimal at older grades. Time outside of school is considered vital for connecting with the people, places and things they authentically care about.
A Note On Limitations
Montessori, properly implemented, provides better academic and non-academic outcomes than Prussian style schools. An important key here are that it must be properly implemented. The name “Montessori” is not trademarked, so any school can use it. Look for schools that are accredited by one of the two major Montessori organizations to ensure authenticity: AMI (Association Montessori Internationale), or AMS (American Montessori Society).
It is also true that some children will experience better results with a different system. This, however, is true of every education system in existence, simply because all human beings are different. As far as a viable replacement for the deeply flawed Prussian system used in most public schooling, this author has not found a better one than Montessori. This is due not only to its academic merits, but also to the learned agency it instills within those it teaches.
Peace From The Inside Out
… the cause of war does not lie in armaments, but in the men who make use of them.
Maria Montessori, from Education and Peace
For every warmonger and dictator, there are thousands of people propping them up. Thousands of young men following orders. Drop the bombs, shoot the enemies, burn the bodies. Thousands of ordinary people staying silent. Sit down, shut up, do as you’re told. Never mind those other people, they don’t matter.
For every complicit soul, there was once a child. A child who never learned that their actions matter. That every human being matters. That they matter, simply because they are. Maria Montessori understood this well. She survived two world wars, and watched her country deteriorate into a fascist dictatorship.
In her home country of Italy, her schools were erased, because they were fundamentally incompatible with fascist dictatorships. The war, oppression, and genocides that followed need not be repeated. Implementing an education system that directly contradicts and works against the tenets of dictatorships and war will bring humanity closer than ever to never experiencing those things again.
Resources
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Videos
- A quick Montessori explainer. Gives practical, easy to understand examples of the method at work:
Books
- The original book by Maria Montessori:
- An in-depth exploration of the theory behind the Montessori method:
- A closer look at the design philosophy behind Montessori teaching materials:
- Maria Montessori’s philosophy on the education of older children (Grades 6-12) is outlined in “From Childhood to Adolescence” and “Erdkinder,” meaning “Child of the Earth”:
Online Guides
- Clear, comprehensive, and research-backed guidance for the Montessori method:
- Practical Montessori at home, written by a real parent following her experiences implementing the method:
Organizations
- AMI (Association Montessori Internationale), founded by Maria Montessori for a global audience. Offers teacher training and school accreditations:
- AMS (American Montessori Society), founded to adapt Montessori methods for an American audience. Offers teacher training and school accreditations:
Research
- A landmark study showing higher executive functioning in five-year-olds in a Montessori setting, as opposed to their peers:
- A thorough review of several studies, outlining Montessori’s advantages over traditional Prussian-style education:
- A study indicating that autonomy, precisely the kind that Montessori fosters, is the greatest predictor of happiness: