Dr. Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori, the founder of the Montessori Method, graduated from the medical school of the University of Rome in 1896, and was the first woman to practice medicine in Italy. As a physician, Dr. Montessori was very involved with the care of young children. Through scientific observation, she came to see how children interacted with one another, learned through the use of materials she provided, and went through specific phases of development.
Her approach to education was developed based on her observations, in collaboration with her background in psychology and her belief in the education of children as a means to create a better society. She continued to observe children around the world, and found that the universal laws of development she had recognized were inherent to children of all races and cultures. The Montessori approach to education continues to be respected and practiced internationally.
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Celebrated Quotes
A child is an eager observer and is particularly attracted by the actions of the adults and wants to imitate them. In this regard an adult can have a kind of mission. He can be an inspiration for the child's actions, a kind of open book wherein a child can learn how to direct his own movements. But an adult, if he is to afford proper guidance, must always be calm and act slowly to that the child who is watching him can clearly see his actions in all their particulars.
~ The Secret of Childhood :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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We must give the child relaxation from the continuous direction of adults. So we give them the right environment, relaxation and freedom from orders. This is an indirect treatment; it is not the correction of the individual but the preparation for a new life. This is something children have never had.
~The Child, Society and the World :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole, which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.
~Dr. Maria Montessori
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The concept of an education centered upon the care of the living being alters all previous ideas. Resting no longer on curriculum, or a timetable, education must conform to the facts of human life.
~The Absorbent Mind :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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The first aim of the prepared environment is, as far as it is possible, to render the growing child independent of the adult.
~ The Secret of Childhood :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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I know that happiness does not come with things. It comes from work and pride in what you do.
~ Mahatma Gandhi
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The needs of mankind are universal. Our means of meeting them create the richness and diversity of the planet. The Montessori child should come to relish the texture of that diversity.
~Dr. Maria Montessori
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A new education from birth onwards must be built up. Education must be reconstructed and based on the law of nature and not on the preconceived notions and prejudices of adult society.
~Dr. Maria Montessori
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Only practical work and experience lead the young to maturity.
~The Absorbent Mind :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.
~Dr. Howard Thurman
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The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned.
~The Absorbent Mind :: Dr. Maria Montessori
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It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.
~Albert Einstein
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