Montessori Quotes
Quotes
"There is a part of a child"s soul that has always been unknown but which must be known. With a spirit of sacrifice and enthusiasm we must go in search like those who travel to foreign lands and tear up mountains in their search for hidden gold. This is what the adults must do who seeks the unknown factor that lies hidden in the depths of a child"s soul. This is a labor in which all must share, without distinction of nation, race, or social standing since it means the bringing forth of an indispensable element for the moral progress of mankind."
(The Secret of Childhood, Maria Montessori)
If teaching is to be effective with young children, it must assist them to advance on the way to independence. It must initiate them into those kinds of activities which they can perform themselves and which keep them from being a burden to others because of their inabilities. We must help them to learn how to walk without assistance, to run, to go up and down the stairs, to pick up fallen objects, to dress and undress, to wash themselves, to express their needs in a way that is clearly understood, and to attempt to satisfy their desires through their own efforts. All this is part of an education for independence."
(The Discovery of the Child, Maria Montessori)
The ancient saying, "There is nothing in the intellect which was not first in _ some way in the senses", and senses being explorers of the world, opens the way to knowledge, says Maria Montessori. _
"This system in which a child is constantly moving objects with his hands and actively exercising his senses, also takes into account a child"s special aptitude for mathematics. When they leave the material, the children very easily reach the point where they wish to write out the operation. They thus carry out an abstract mental operation and acquire a kind of natural and spontaneous inclination for mental calculations."
(The Discovery of the Child, Maria Montessori)
Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future.
The teacher"s task is no small or easy one! He has to prepare a huge amount of knowledge to satisfy the child"s mental hunger, and he is not, like the ordinary teacher, limited by a syllabus. _
The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop.
It is necessary for the teacher to guide the child without letting him feel her presence too much, so that she may always be ready to supply the desired help, but may never be the obstacle between the child and his experience.
