Baan Dek

After all this time

Thoughts & Reflections

Around this time of year, we start reflecting. The year is winding down. The achievements the children have made over the last year are coming together in the most beautiful ways. We wonder, what’s next? What’s next for us, what’s next for these children? What goals should we set? What can we improve?

With looking forward, comes looking back. Near the anniversary of her passing, we wonder, what would Maria Montessori be like if she were born today? What if she were implementing her educational theories in today’s world, rather than 100 years ago? What dynamic realizations would she make, how would she view this enormous, tiny world we live in, where diversity abounds, jobs that didn’t even exist when she was alive are now obsolete, and she would be far from the only female in her medical class.

after all this time maria montessori

What, on the other hand, is the same? Humanity evolves over millions of years, and yet the advancements we’ve see in the last twenty are comparable to the last thousand.

But have We changed that much? Have children changed? Has childhood?

We’re not sure. We’re not here with the Answers, only with the Questions. We imagine, that’s how Maria Montessori felt, too — here to ask Big Questions, to be present to the children, and to see what answers emerge.

after all this time maria montessori

We came across a quote by Pablo Picasso, who we could imagine being quite simpatico with Dr. Montessori — coming of age in Europe in the early part of the last century, absolutely thinking outside the box, leaving a legacy perhaps beyond their imagining.

Here it is:

Computers are useless, they can only give you answers.

Of course, we had to look deeper. The real story seems to be entwined in an interview of Pablo Picasso by William Fifield. “I feel I am nibbling on the edges of this world when I am capable of getting what Picasso means when he says to me — purely straight-facedly — later of the enormous new mechanical brains or calculating machines: But they are useless. They can only give you answers.”

after all this time maria montessori

Even today, this is true. Computers can process data faster than we can, give us mathematical answers more precise than we’re able to compute, and hold knowledge — instantly accessible — that would fill a thousand libraries.

But things HAVE changed. The world has changed.

A hundred years ago, “organic” didn’t exist — it was just food.

The reason we have Hand Washing in classrooms is because the importance of hygiene was just being discovered in disease prevention.

after all this time maria montessori

These materials, so beautiful and precisely attuned for early child development, were by accident — the Geometry Cabinet was originally stored in a donated dentist tool storage cabinet, but those slim drawers persist because they’re just so elegant and appealing.

Plastic didn’t yet exist, much less 3D printing, so of course there were natural materials.

Perhaps having Tasting available to the children was more important and novel for children when different food experiences were rare — you often lived in the same community for generations, grew your own food, and unique food experiences perhaps were uncommon. We did not pick up sushi on the way home.

after all this time maria montessori

It’s clear computers aren’t useless — this article is posted electronically, and perhaps you’re listening to a podcast, maybe even on the pocket computer we all use all day long.

But, just like Maria Montessori, and Pablo Picasso, we’re continuing to ask questions, to get to the core of learning, to better serve the needs of children.

It seems Maria would not agree today that computers are useless, as indeed she probably heard handwashing, or child-sized furniture, or even higher education for women and the educating of the young and marginalized was “useless.”

after all this time maria montessori

Our role hasn’t changed. To continue to engage children to be full members in their learning, to create community, to ask Big Questions and to seek Bigger Answers, new heights and depths, to learn more about the Brain and the Stars, about the limits of human potential, and then blow past those limits.

Today, that involves computers, and touching grass and glass and wooden blocks, and time and space, and knowing you matter — to this family, to your classroom community, the contribution you make to the whole world.

Tomorrow, those questions today’s children are asking will create a whole New World, beyond our greatest imaginings. How dare we limit them.

after all this time maria montessori

Written by:

Charlotte Snyder

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