Humanities / Great Thinkers Datebook: August 31
Maria Montessori is renowned for Montessori Method of teaching which emphasizes educating young children through self-expression. Of her method, she believed that, "… The fundamental principle of scientific pedagogy must be, indeed, the liberty of the pupil – such liberty as shall permit a development of individual, spontaneous manifestation of the child's nature."
Early Life of Maria Montessori
Maria Tecla Artemisia Montessori was the first Italian woman to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree in University of Rome (1894). She was born on August 31, 1870, an only child of an army officer turned civil servant and an educated and well-off mother. As a pupil in a public school, she won awards for good behavior and "women's work," meaning cooking and sewing. Already at a young age, she was outspoken, independent-mined and showed leadership quality. Although she was not necessarily a brilliant student, she was studious and did well in exams.
It was her mother who encouraged young Maria academically and at 12 years old, she attended a technical school that included French, history, geography, mathematics, and science. Although her father was outraged at his daughter's "unfeminine" direction, he did not interfere. She continued and advanced in her studies until she studied at the university of Rome, where in 1896, she received her Doctor of Medicine degree. She became the first Italian woman to study medicine and with honors. She initially developed her educational method while working with mentally handicapped children. Revolutionizing modern education, the Montessori Method emphasized freedom of expression, supported individual initiative and utilized sensory training.
Dedication to Reforms
Montessori's dedication to reform can be traced back to her childhood and young adulthood at the time of a newly unified Italy much torn between a national commitment to social progress and parochialism. Maria spent her childhood in an agricultural quiet provincial town, before the family moved to Rome when she was five. Her mother stressed the values of hard work and the importance of helping the less fortunate.
Influence of Montessori on Children with Learning Disability
While practicing medicine, Montessori became increasingly interested in helping children with learning disabilities. Along this line, she was influenced by prominent educators including Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, who pioneered the use of sensory stimuli with the learning disabled, Edouard Sequin, whose exercises with the use of physical activity to stimulate perception resulted in the students' ability to learn to read and write, and of philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed in prioritizing the process of learning rather than what is learned.
In 1907, she acquired directorship of a "Casa dei Bambini" (day care center) and applied her principles to normal children.
The Legacy of Maria Montessori
Critics questioned the method's informal structure. However, Montessori found remarkable success with all levels of students.
She devoted the remainder of her career to spreading her principles. She lectured, organized more centers and established training courses in her methods. Today Montessori schools are popular worldwide.
Montessori died at the age of 81 years old, 6th of May, 1952, in Noordwijk, Netherlands.
Photo Credit:
Maria Montessori. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain
Resources:
Felder, Deborah. Giant Book of Influential Women. The book company, London (1997)
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers (1994)
Martin, Jean, Ed. Who's Who of Women in the 20thCentury. London, Bison Group (1995)
(c) August 2009. Updated August 31, 2023. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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