Maria Montessori; J. Powell

THEFREEMAN IDEASON LIBERTY Maria Montessori,Who Gave Children EverywhereFreedom to AchieveIndependence by Jim Powell W hat did inventor Alexander Graham Bell, philosopher Bertrand Russell, actor Cary Grant, actress Vanessa Red grave, singer Bing Crosby, comedian Bob Hope, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Britain's Prin cess Diana have in common? They all sent their children or grandchildren to schools inspired by Maria Montessori, the coura geous woman who showed why freedom is absolutely essential for creativity and inde pendence. Despite sharp differences on political is sues, people of every major culture and religion appreciate how Montessori schools set children free to learn. There are Mon tessori schools throughout Europe and the Americas. Montessori schools are well established in India. There are Montessori schools in mainland China. They are in Russia. They are expanding fast in Japan.

There's a Montessori school in remote Cam bodia. Both Israel and the United Arab Emirates have Montessori schools. A Mon tessori school reportedly is being built in Somalia. Altogether, there are Montessori schools in 52 nations around the world. Mr. Powell is editor of Laissez-Faire Books and Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute. He has writtenforThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, American Heritage, and more than three dozen other publications. Montessori schools thrive because chil dren and parents love them. More than 90 percent of U.S. Montessori teachers, for instance, are in private schools where rev enue comes from parents voluntarily-not from bludgeoned taxpayers. By contrast, the major U.S. teachers' colleges, from Columbia on down, do their best to ignore Maria Montessori, treating her as a histor ical figure of little relevance now. Vast government teachers' unions are uneasy about the freedom in Montessori class rooms.

This has always been a maverick move ment. Defying "progressive" educators who molded children to fit a collectivist vision, Maria Montessori declared that the purpose of education is to help individuals fulfill their destiny. She rebelled against regimented schooling and insisted that chil dren must have freedom to grow. She showed that children learn mainly by teach ingthemselves, not by having teachers drum knowledge into passive heads. Montessori established that children begin learning practically from birth, and education-the right kind-could start offering benefits much sooner than had been thought. "The fundamental principle," she wrote, "must be the liberty of the pupil;-such liberty as shall permit a development of 522 individual, spontaneous manifestations of the child's nature. If a new and scientific pedagogy is to arise from the study of the individual, such study must occupy itself with the observation of free children."

Montessori was a formidable presence when, in 1906, she began making epic dis coveries abouthow children learn. "In her late thirties," wrote biographer Rita Kramer, "she was a somewhat portly figure, still handsome but putting on weight, still self assured but a shade more dignified. She would come into a classroom wearing a simple but stylish dark-colored dress or shirtwaist, her dark hair piled neatly on top of her head, and smile at the children." She had a "smooth, unwrinkled face and bright, clear eyes . . . poise and serenity." Montessori was born August 31, 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy-the very year Italian states combined to form a new nation. Her father, Alessandro Montessori, was an of ficial who managed the finances of a gov ernment-owned tobacco factory. Her mother, Renilde Stoppani, was the bookish daughter of a landed aristocrat. When Maria was about five, Alessandro Montessori got a job as an accountant in Rome and moved the family there, so she would have access to a better education.

She was encouraged to set her sights on teaching, since that was among the few professions available for women. Stubborn Maria, however, considered professions which were closed to women: first engineer ing, then biology and medicine. In 1896,she became Italy's first woman doctor, but she wasn't permitted to practice because it was unthinkable to have a woman examining a man's body. Montessori accepted an appointment as assistant doctor at the Psychiatric Clinic, University of Rome. This gave her an op portunity to observe "defectives "-chil dren who, in modern parlance, were re tarded, learning-disabled, or difficult for other reasons. These children were kept in crowded rooms without toys or much else to work with. As she observed them, she became convinced that their lives might be improved if they were treated more thought523 fully. Searching for ideas, she discovered' the writings of Jean Itard and Edouard Seguin, French doctors who had spent their lives looking for better ways to educate such children.

In 1899, she spoke on the subject before a teachers' conference, and it caused quite a stir. She was invited to become a lecturer at the University of Rome and director of the new Orthophrenic School for "defec tive" children. For two years, 1899to 1901, Montessori searched feverishly for teaching techniques that could help these children. She spent about 12 hours a day observing them, working with them, trying out various ideas. She visited institutions for "defec tive" children in London and Paris. Incred ibly, the children she taught learned to read and write as well as ordinary children. Then came the anguish and joy of her life that led to a new career helping children around the world. At the Orthophrenic School, she worked with a Dr. Giuseppe Montesano. One thing led to another, and they had an affair. She gave birth to a son, Mario. It appears that Dr. Montesano re fused to marry her-he soon married an other woman. Her mother was certainly horrified that scandal could destroy her daughter's career. Mario was sent to live with country cousins near Rome, and the whole business was hushed up. Biographer Kramer concluded that pregnancy as well as breaking up with Dr. Montesano must have occurred in 1901 when Maria suddenly resigned from the Orthophrenic School, dropped out of sight for about a year, and abandoned her successful work with "de fective" children.

Imagine the anguish of this woman who was pressured to give up her own child, unable to share with him the benefits of her extraordinary insights that would help other people's children around the world. For more than a decade, she visited him peri odically without identifying herself. He thought of her as a mysterious "beautiful lady." Not until after Maria's mother died in 1912 did Mario come live with her. Meanwhile, Montessori transformed her griefinto a new visionfor her life-improving 524 THE FREEMAN • AUGUST 1995 education for normal children. She enrolled as a student at the University of Rome. She studied everything that might help her better understand how children learn. She took courses in psychology, anthropology, hy giene, and teaching. She visited elementary schools and noticed what teachers did and how children reacted. These schools had adopted the military-style method promoted in Prussia, the United States, and elsewhere: large numbers of students seated in rows before a teacher who instructed everyone at the same time. She reacted instinctively against the regimented teaching, the passiv ity of students, the system of rewards and punishments.

Casa dei Bambini Montessori wrote magazine articles ex pressing her views, and one of them got the attention of Edouardo Talamo, an executive with a residential real-estate developer, the Institutio Romano dei Beni Stabili. Two of the firm's new apartment buildings were being vandalized by young children living there, whose parents were away at work. Talamo concluded it was in the self-interest of the firm to start a school within each building, so the children would have con structive things to do and be properly su pervised. He asked Montessori for advice. This was no plumjob, because the buildings were in the impoverished, squalid, violent San Lorenzo section of Rome. She offered to take on the project herself, despite objections from friends who consid ered it demeaning for a doctor to be teaching young children. Instead of the usual school desks, Montessori acquired child-sized chairs and tables for 50 or more three-to six-year-olds. She brought along self-cor recting instructional materials which she had created for "defective" children, to help them learn sorting, fitting things to gether, and other skills essential for inde pendence. Her observations suggested the need for additional materials, and gradually her repertoire expanded. She found that children learned -abstract concepts more readily when materials involved all of a child's senses, touch as well as sight and sound. Known as Casa dei Bambini "Children's House"-the school opened January 6, 1907.

The children were an unpromising lot sullen, withdrawn, rebellious. Yet Mon tessori made a series of startling observa tions as she worked with them. She dis covered children have a powerful, inborn desire to learn and to achieve independence. She saw how children learned spontane ously where they had enough freedom. They developed remarkable concentration on tasks that they chose. They preferred ex ploring real things-the world of grown ups-rather than conventional toys. Class room order was maintained without re wards and punishments when children were happily engaged. Children blossomed in an atmosphere of dignity, respect, and free dom. Freedom, Not License Although Montessori gave children con siderable freedom, this didn't mean they could do anything they wanted. She insisted children conduct themselves properly and treat others with respect. "The first idea that the child must acquire," she wrote, "is that of the difference between good and evil; and the task of the educator lies in seeing that the child does not confound good with immobility, and evil with activity, as often happens in the case of old-time discipline.

And all this because our aim is to discipline for activity, for work, for good; not for immobility, not for passivity, not for obedience . ... A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and vol untarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed." Montessori observed that children thrived when the teacher-whom she termed a "directress"-showed how to do something, then encouraged free explora tion. She emphasized practical life skills to help children develop self-confidence and become more independent. Such skills in cluded personal hygiene, putting materials back where they belonged, cleaning the classroom, preparing meals, taking care of plants and pets. Like most people, Montessori had as sumed that children wouldn't be receptive to reading and writing until age six. But the young children in her classroom asked for instruction. She and her assistant made sets of script letters with markers enabling the children to tell which way was up. She devised exercises to help children learn the shapes and sounds of letters.

Within two months, she witnessed an explosion of writing. 'By Christmas, while government school children were still strug gling with their letters, two of Montessori's children-four-year-olds-wrote holiday greetings to building owner Edouardo Ta lamo. Montessori reported triumphantly: "These were written upon note paper with out blot or erasure, and the writing was adjudged equal to that which is obtained in the third elementary grade." Contrary to prevailing doctrines, Mon tessori found that children best learned how to read after learning how to write. She prepared cards to label everyday objects, and she showed how to sound them out-the children already knew the sounds of indi vidual letters. Within days, they were read ing street signs, store signs, package labels, and just about everything else around them as well as books. The Montessori Method She began training teachers, opening more schools and writing books. Her first book was Ii Metodo della Pedagogia Sci entifica applicato all'educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini. In 1912,it appeared in English as The Montessori Method and became an American bestseller. She was no abstract philosopher like her contemporary John Dewey. Rather, she was a doer who provided a specific model to help children learn and achieve independence. Her book was translated into Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Polish, Roma nian, Russian, and Spanish.

Montessori was a sensation. Aspiring MARIA MONTESSORI 525 Maria Montessori (1870-1952) teachers crossed the continent to be trained by her. In December 1913, she visited the United States where she met telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell, electrical genius Thomas Edison, social worker Jane Addams, and Helen Keller who, though blind and deaf, had made herself a remark ably cultivated woman. During the next four decades, Montessori traveled throughout Europe and Asia-she trained over a thou sand teachers in India alone. Although Montessori schools sprung up around the world, her influence waned after the initial publicity about the Casa dei Bam bini. Concerned that her work was being oversimplified, she insisted on total control of teacher training and of Montessori mate rials, and this alienated many supporters. She encountered ferocious opposition from academics, especially in the United States.

The most influential adversary was William Heard Kilpatrick, a "progressive" follower of John Dewey and professor at prestigious Columbia University Teachers College.

526 THE FREEMAN • AUGUST 1995 Montessori surely encountered opposition because she was a woman when school administrators and education professors were men. She was Catholic, which made a lot of Americans suspicious. Her academic training was as a medical doctor, not an educator. Finally, she was Italian. Ameri cans had become disillusioned with Presi dent Woodrow Wilson's intervention in World War I, which failed to "make the world safe for democracy" as he had prom ised, and they turned inward, away from Italy and just about everything else Euro pean. Maria and her son and his family left Italy in· 1936 when fascist dictator Benito Mus solini imposed government control over schools. They settled in Amsterdam, then spent World War II in India and returned to Amsterdam afterwards, promoting her ideas every step of the way. Most famous student of an Amsterdam Montessori school: a Jew ish girl named Anne Frank whose poignant diary was published after she died in Hitler's Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

While chatting with friends in Noordwijk aan Zee, aNorth Sea Villagenot far from the Hague, Maria Montessori suffered a cere bral hemorrhage and died May 6, 1952. She was almost 82. Mario, who had become her training associate, was by her side. She considered her place wherever she hap pened to be, so she was buried at a Catholic church cemetery in Noordwijk. When the obituary notices appeared, few Americans had any idea who she was. Rejecting failed "progressive" education and rooting around forgotten doctrines, though, some enterprising individuals redis covered Montessori. In Greenwich, Connecticut, a feisty, out spoken educator named Nancy McCormick Rambusch wasn't satisfied with the offer ings from local schools. She had read about how Montessori got great results gIvIng children freedom to learn. Rambusch went to London for Montessori teacher training. Friends asked her to educate their children, and in 1958 she opened the Whitby School which sparked the American revival ofMon tessori.

Four years later, at Santa Monica (Calif.) Montessori School, former government school teacher Ruth Dresser led the revival on the West Coast-attracting celebrity parents like Robert Mitchum, Yul Brynner, Michael Douglas, Sarah Vaughn, and Cher. Now there are 155 American schools accredited by Association Montessori In ternationale (AMI), the group established by Maria Montessori in 1929 to uphold her standards. Another 800 schools are accred ited by the American Montessori Associa tion (AMS) which, started by Rambusch in 1960,considers some variations appropriate for American culture. About 3,000 more 'schools call themselves "Montessori." In a dramatic turnabout, 200 government schools, embarrassed by revelations of their costly failures, have established "Mon tessori" programs. My .own son, Justin, goes to The Mon tessori School (AMI, Wilton, Connecticut), which is a wonder. It goes through the sixth grade. Tuition is around $5,000 versus the $10,000 per student local government schools spend. Like Montessori schools everywhere, mine welcomes parent class room observations-discouraged in local government schools. You can see for your self how children thrive when they are free to move about. You can see the intense, joyous concentration of children who freely choose their work. You can see children teach themselves important skills with Mon tessori materials. You can see children gain independence with the liberating spirit of Maria Montessori. D The Age of Confusion Economics on Trial "There's a great deal of agreement among economists, contrary to what people may think. "