Reason, Creativity, and Freedom in Montessori

Notes

• Cf. Eda LeShan , Conspiracy Against Childhood ( New York : Athaeneum , 1967 ), Ch. 3; William Heard Kilpatrick, The Montessori System Examined (Boston: Hough ton Mifflin and Co., 1914); Evelyn Beyer, “Let's Look at Montessori,” in Montessori in Perspective (Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1966).
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• This is so despite her obvious acceptance of Roman Catholicism. However, the religious element is not essential to her philosophy nor has it had significant influence on Montessori education in the United States.
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• Maria Montessori , Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook ( New York : Frederick A. Stokes , 1914 ), p. 30 .
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• Ibid. , p. 32 .
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• Maria Montessori , Spontaneous Activity in Education ( New York : Schocken Books , 1965 ), p. 216 .
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• Montessori did not believe that learning and proper thinking will just “happen” or occur automatically in the course of “free play,” contrary to some of her critics. Cf. Kilpatrick, Montessori System and LeShan, Conspiracy.
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• Montessori , Handbook , pp. 71 – 109 passim.
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 202 .
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• Ibid. , p. 198 .
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• Ibid. An obviously related issue is whether or not such selection is arbitrary or “constructive” in a Kantian sense. Montessori's many references to knowledge of the external world and to identifying the world as it is, makes such an interpretation unlikely.
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 97 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 206 . A complete explanation of Montessori's theory of concepts or universals would go beyond our purposes. However, it is of significance that the process of abstraction or concept-formation is culminated by language. Words refer to concepts, not directly to objects. “Language comes to fix by means of exact words the ideas which the mind has acquired.” (See Montessori, Handbook, p. 137.)
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , pp. 200 – 201 .
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• Ibid. , pp. 209 – 210 .
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid. , p. 203 .
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• Ibid. , p. 215 .
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• Ibid. , p. 214 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , pp. 136 – 37 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 214 .
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• Maria Montessori , The Montessori Method ( New York : Schocken Books , 1964 ), p. 105 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , pp. 33 – 34 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 36 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 224 .
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• Those who consider Montessori education deficient in “emotional development” would do well to read her description of a child first realizing that “her mind has opened. ” (See Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 217 .) For Montessori, there is no reason-emotion dichotomy, for rationality is the basis of all aspects of human life. She would probably maintain that only the rational individual can “feel” profound emotions. (Cf. Montessori, Handbook, p. 130. )
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 221 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 128 and Montessori, Method, pp. 96–97, and Chapter XXI.
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 137 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 212 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , pp. 137 – 38 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 222 .
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• This was, in fact, a paradigm example of Montessorian “anti-creativity,” explained to the writer by a self-proclaimed “humanistic” preschool director.
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 241 .
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• Ibid.
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• Ibid. , pp. 242 – 43 .
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• Ibid. , p. 243 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 130 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 244 .
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• Ibid. , p. 245 .
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• Ibid. , p. 251 .
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• Ibid. , p. 248 .
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• Ibid. , p. 250 .
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• Ibid. , p. 248 .
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• Ibid. , p. 254 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 255 . Many see such “wandering” as the essence of being human. Cf. LeShan, Conspiracy, p. 69. And the necessity of thinking is often resented. Millie Almy, for example, advocates educational activities “freed from the handicaps eventually to be imposed by logic.” See also “Spontaneous Play,” in Foundations of Early Childhood Education, ed. M. Auleta (New York: Random House, 1969), p. 154.
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 255 .
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• Ibid. , pp. 255 – 56 .
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• Ibid. , p. 256 .
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• Ibid. , p. 257 .
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• Ibid. , pp. 257 – 58 .
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• Ibid. , pp. 258 – 59 . A regular theme in criticisms of cognitively-oriented programs such as Montessori is their de-emphasis on “play.” The claim that the lack of “spontaneous play” prevents the development of imagination has been dealt with implicitly in the preceding material. The claim that “freedom” means letting the child alone to play will be dealt with below. Montessori's view of the value of play versus work is quite involved and merits special treatment, though it is important to note her observations that children preferred reality and work to pretending and play, when given the alternative. Cf. E. M. Standing, Maria Montessori, Her Life and Work (New York: New American Library, 1962), pp. 334–52, esp. 384ff. on the positive value of play for Montessori.
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 259 .
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• Quoted in Beatrice Hessen , “The Montessori Method,” The Objectivist , July 1970 , p. 7 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 275 .
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• Montessori , Method , p. 15 .
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• Michael S. Berliner , “Montessori and Social Development,” The Educational Forum 38 ( March 1974 ).
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 184 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 188 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 184 .
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• Montessori , Method , Chapters V and XXI
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• Ibid. , p. 86 .
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• Quoted in Standing, Maria Montessori , p. 293 .
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• Quoted in Paula Polk Lillard , Montessori—A Modern Approach ( New York : Schocken Books , 1972 ), p. 53 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 195 . Cf. Montessori, Method, p. 364.
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 34 .
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• Montessori , Method , p. 95 .
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• Ibid. , p. 101 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 135 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , pp. 9 – 10 .
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• Montessori , Method , p. 95 .
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• Montessori , Spontaneous Activity , p. 196 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 36 .
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• Montessori , Method , p. 104 .
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• Montessori , Handbook , p. 134 .
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• LeShan , Conspiracy , p. 87 .
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• Ibid. , p. 67 .
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• Ibid. , p. 69 .
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• Ibid. , p. 79 .
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• Ibid. , p. 87 .
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• Standing, Maria Montessori , p. 85 .
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• William Heard Kilpatrick , The Montessori System Examined ( Boston : Houghton Mifflin and Co. , 1914 ), p. 15 .
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• John Dewey , Schools of Tomorrow ( New York : E. P. Dutton & Co. , 1915 ), p. 115 .
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