A few weeks ago, I came across a fascinating article about Dr. Maria Montessori, an Italian pediatrician and educator, by Tony Traficante from the Italian Sons and Daughters of America. The Montessori name is well known for the education system she created and the many highly regarded Montessori schools globally. But few know much about her life or accomplishments. The more I read about her, the more inspired I became to share her story, which includes excerpts from Wikipedia and Tony Traficante’s article.
Maria Montessori was born on 31 August 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy. Three years later, her family moved first to Florence and then in 1875 to Rome because of her father’s work.
At age 13 and against fierce opposition, she enrolled in an all-boys technical school with hopes of becoming an engineer. She studied Italian, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, accounting, history, geography, and sciences. Then, she had a change of heart and began medical school at the Sapienza University of Rome.
In 1890, at age 20, she enrolled at the University of Rome in a degree course for natural sciences. Passing all her examinations in botany, zoology, experimental physics, histology, anatomy, and general and organic chemistry, she earned her diploma di licenza in 1892. This degree, along with additional studies in Italian and Latin, qualified her for entrance into the medical program at the University in 1893.
Because of her gender, she encountered hostility and harassment. Also, she was required to perform her dissections of cadavers alone after hours because attending classes with men in the presence of a naked body was deemed inappropriate. Despite the obstacles, she won an academic prize in her first year and secured a position as a hospital assistant, gaining early clinical experience. In her last two years, she studied pediatrics and psychiatry.
Dr. Maria Montessori was the first woman to graduate as a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Rome in 1896. Her thesis was published in the journal Policlinico in 1897.
Her first appointment was as an Assistant Doctor at the psychiatric clinic of the University of Rome where she developed an interest in the educational problems of intellectually disabled children. She went on to serve as director of the State Orthophrenic School of Rome and a Chair in Hygiene at a women’s college in Rome while continuing her studies of philosophy, psychology, and education.
In March 1898, she gave birth to a son, Mario Montessori, as a result of her love affair with Giuseppe Montesano, a fellow doctor and co-director with her at the Orthophrenic School of Rome.
In those days, if a woman married, she was expected to cease working professionally. So, she chose not to marry and kept her relationship secret with the agreement that neither would marry anyone else. However, his family pressured him to make a more socially advantageous connection and marry someone else. Feeling betrayed, Dr. Montessori left the hospital and was forced to leave her son in the care of a wet nurse living in the countryside. Thus, she missed the first years of her son’s life. Fortunately, they were united in his teen years, and he greatly assisted in her research.
Having studied the work of Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard and Edouard Séguin; Dr. Montessori found that children who were mentally disabled responded well to sensory-rich environments and learned best when engaged in purposeful activities. She used materials designed to appeal to the senses, created learning games and activities, and developed strategies for teachers to guide children in learning rather than lecture them from a book. Instead of being confined to desks, children circulated freely in the classroom, choosing the activities that interested them. Student interaction, peer teaching, problem-solving, and socialization were encouraged, and students were challenged according to their ability levels.
Dr. Montessori scorned conventional classrooms, where children are fastened
to their seats. She used materials and conditions conducive to learning as they aroused interest and attention in young children not previously thought possible.
These materials were designed to encourage a child rather than force cooperative effort.
The Montessori method discourages the traditional measurements of achievement, such as tests and grades. Instead, assessment is based on student-developed portfolios and teachers’ observational data.
In 1907, she opened the first Casa dei Bambini (“Children’s House”), a preschool for children aged three to six. Montessori also believed that acknowledging all children as individuals and treating them as such would yield better learning and fulfilled potential in each particular child. Her successful methods led to the opening of other Montessori schools.
By 1912, Montessori schools had opened in Paris and many other Western European cities, and were planned for Argentina, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, Syria, the US, and New Zealand. Public programs in London, Johannesburg, Rome, and Stockholm had adopted her method in their school systems.
Montessori societies were founded in the United States (the Montessori American Committee) and the United Kingdom (the Montessori Society for the United Kingdom). In 1913 the first International Training Course was held in Rome, with a second in 1914.
In 1922, she was appointed government inspector of schools in Italy but left the country in 1934 because of the Fascist rule. Montessori’s antifascist views forced her into exile from Italy during Mussolini’s premiership. She then spent periods in Ceylon/Shri Lanka and Spain.
In 1936 Montessori and her family left Barcelona for England, and soon moved to Laren, near Amsterdam. Here, Montessori and her son Mario continued to develop new materials, including the knobless cylinders, the grammar symbols, and botany nomenclature cards.
During her exile, she developed her work Education for Peace which expressed her idea that children are peacemakers and education is the only true means to eliminate war. She expressed that “Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war”!
With the rising military tensions in Europe, Montessori increasingly directed her attention to the theme of peace. In 1937, the 6th International Montessori Congress was held on the theme of "Education for Peace” and Montessori called for a "science of peace" and spoke about the role of education of the child as a key to the reform of society.
In 1938, Montessori was invited to India by the Theosophical Society to give a training course, and in 1939 she left the Netherlands with her collaborator and son, Mario. Interest in Montessori in India started in 1913. She planned to give a tour of lectures and then return to Europe.
When Italy entered WW2 on the side of Germany, Britain interned all Italians in the UK and its colonies as enemy aliens. The Montessoris remained in Madras and Kodaikanal until 1946, where they developed her educational method.