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Adults Look Upon A Child As Something Empty That Is To Be Filled Through Their Own Efforts, As Something Inert And Helpless For Which They Must Do Everything, As Something Lacking An Inner Guide And In Constant Need Of Inner Direction. . . . An Adult Who Acts In This Way, Even Though He May Be Convinced That He Is Filled With Zeal, Love, And A Spirit Of Sacrifice On Behalf Of His Child, Unconsciously Suppresses The Development Of The Child's Own Personality.

-Maria Montessori

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Adults Look Upon A

Maria Montessori

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Adults Look Upon A Child As Something Empty That Is To Be Filled Through Their Own Efforts, As Something Inert And Helpless For Which They Must Do Everything, As Something Lacking An Inner Guide And In Constant Need Of Inner Direction. . . . An Adult Who Acts In This Way, Even Though He May Be Convinced That He Is Filled With Zeal, Love, And A Spirit Of Sacrifice On Behalf Of His Child, Unconsciously Suppresses The Development Of The Child's Own Personality.

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Establishing Lasting Peace Is The Work Of Education; All Politics Can Do Is Keep Us Out Of War.

The Greatest Source Of Discouragement Is The Conviction That One Is Unable To Do Something

The Teacher's Task Is Not To Talk, But To Prepare And Arrange A Series Of Motives For Cultural Activity In A Special Environment Made For The Child.

Freedom In Intellectual Work Is Found To Be The Basis Of Internal Discipline.

The Goal Of Early Childhood Education Should Be To Activate The Child's Own Natural Desire To Learn.

The Child Is Both A Hope And A Promise For Mankind.

If An Educational Act Is To Be Efficacious, It Will Be Only That One Which Tends To Help Toward The Complete Unfolding Of Life. To Be Thus Helpful It Is Necessary Rigorously To Avoid The Arrest Of Spontaneous Movements And The Imposition Of Arbitrary Tasks.

The Environment Must Be Rich In Motives Which Lend Interest To Activity And Invite The Child To Conduct His Own Experiences.

Children Have An Anxious Concern For Living Beings, And The Satisfaction Of This Instinct Fills Them With Delight. It Is Therefore Easy To Interest Them In Taking Care Of Plants And Especially Of Animals. Nothing Awakens Foresight In A Small Child Such As This. When He Knows That Animals Have Need Of Him, That Little Plants Will Dry Up If He Does Not Water Them, He Binds Together With A New Thread Of Love Today's Passing Moments With Those Of The Morrow.

The Objects In Our System Are Instead A Help To The Child Himself, He Chooses What He Wants For His Own Use, And Works With It According To His Own Needs, Tendencies And Special Interests. In This Way, The Objects Become A Means Of Growth.

Environment Is Undoubtedly A Secondary Factor In The Phenomena Of Life; It Can Modify In That It Can Help Or Hinder, But It Can Never Create.

Today, However, Those Things Which Occupy Us In The Field Of Education Are The Interests Of Humanity At Large And Of Civilization, And Before Such Great Forces We Can Recognize Only One Country-the Entire World.

Within The Child Lies The Fate Of The Future. Whoever Wishes To Confer Some Benefit On Society Must Preserve Him From Deviations And Observe His Natural Ways Of Acting. A Child Is Mysterious And Powerful And Contains Within Himself The Secret Of Human Nature.

He Who Is Served Is Limited In His Independence.

In Nature Nothing Creates Itself And Nothing Destroys Itself.

A Child's Work Is To Create The Person She/he Will Become.

All Human Victories, All Human Progress, Stand Upon The Inner Force.

When Children Come Into Contact With Nature, They Reveal Their Strength.

To Aid Life, Leaving It Free, However, That Is The Basic Task Of The Educator.

The Prize And Punishments Are Incentives Toward Unnatural Or Forced Effort, And, Therefore We Certainly Cannot Speak Of The Natural Development Of The Child In Connection With Them.

The Real Preparation For Education Is A Study Of One's Self. The Training Of The Teacher...is Something Far More Than A Learning Of Ideas. It Includes The Training Of Character; It Is A Preparation Of The Spirit.

But If For The Physical Life It Is Necessary To Have The Child Exposed To The Vivifying Forces Of Nature, It Is Also Necessary For His Psychical Life To Place The Soul Of The Child In Contact With Creation.

Mental Development Must Be Connected With Movement And Be Dependent On It. It Is Vital That Educational Theory And Practice Should Be Informed By That Idea.

The Hand Is The Prehensile Organ Of The Mind.

Deceit Is A Kind Of Garment That Conceals The Soul. It Might Even Be Compared To A Whole Wardrobe, So Many Are Its Guises.

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.

The Land Is Where Our Roots Are. The Children Must Be Taught To Feel And Live In Harmony With The Earth.

The Greatness Of The Human Personality Begins At The Hour Of Birth.

The Undisciplined Child Enters Into Discipline By Working In The Company Of Others; Not Being Told He Is Naughty.” “discipline Is, Therefore, Primarily A Learning Experience And Less A Punitive Experience If Appropriately Dealt With.

Never Help A Child With A Task At Which He Feels He Can Succeed.

If The Idea Of The Universe Is Presented To The Child In The Right Way, It Will Do More For Him Than Just Arouse His Interest, For It Will Create In Him Admiration And Wonder, A Feeling Loftier Than Any Interest And More Satisfying.

Never Help A Child With A Task That They Feel They Can Complete Themselves.

A New Education From Birth Onwards Must Be Built Up. Education Must Be Reconstructed And Based On The Law Of Nature And Not On The Preconceived Notions And Prejudices Of Adult Society.

Nothing Is Created Or Destroyed In Nature.

Education, As Conceived Today, Is Something Separated Both From Biological And Social Life.

Praise, Help, Or Even A Look, May Be Enough To Interrupt Him, Or Destroy The Activity. It Seems A Strange Thing To Say, But This Can Happen Even If The Child Merely Becomes Aware Of Being Watched. After All, We Too Sometimes Feel Unable To Go On Working If Someone Comes To See What We Are Doing. The Great Principle Which Brings Success To The Teacher Is This: As Soon As Concentration Has Begun, Act As If The Child Does Not Exist. Naturally, One Can See What He Is Doing With A Quick Glance, But Without His Being Aware Of It.

Bring The Child To The Consciousness Of His Own Dignity, And He Will Be Free. We See No Limit To What Should Be Offered To The Child, For His Will Be An Immense Field Of Chosen Activity.

It Follows That At The Beginning Of His Life The Individual Can Accomplish Wonders Without Effort And Quite Unconsciously.

When A Child Is Given A Little Leeway, He Will At Once Shout, "i Want To Do It!" But In Our Schools, Which Have An Environment Adapted To Children's Needs, They Say, "help Me To Do It Alone." And These Words Reveal Their Inner Needs.

The Greatest Step Forward In Human Evolution Was Made When Society Began To Help The Weak And The Poor, Instead Of Oppressing And Despising Them.

Scientific Observation Then Has Established That Education Is Not What The Teacher Gives; Education Is A Natural Process Spontaneously Carried Out By The Human Individual, And Is Acquired Not By Listening To Words But By Experiences Upon The Environment.

Of All Things Love Is The Most Potent.

Rewards And Punishments, To Speak Frankly, Are The Desk Of The Soul, That Is, A Means Of Enslaving A Child's Spirit, And Better Suited To Provoke Than To Prevent Deformities.

We Must, Therefore, Quit Our Roles As Jailers And Instead Take Care To Prepare An Environment In Which We Do As Little As Possible To Exhaust The Child With Our Surveillance And Instruction

Childhood Constitutes The Most Important Element In An Adult's Life, For It Is In His Early Years That A Man Is Made.

He Does It With His Hands, By Experience, First In Play And Then Through Work. The Hands Are The Instruments Of Man's Intelligence.

This Then Is The First Duty Of An Educator: To Stir Up Life But Leave It Free To Develop.

We Shall Walk Together On This Path Of Life, For All Things Are Part Of The Universe And Are Connected With Each Other To Form One Whole Unity.

Joy Is The Evidence Of Inner Growth.

Children Are Not Only Sensitive To Silence, But Also To A Voice Which Calls Them ... Out Of That Silence.

The Hands Are The Instruments Of Man’s Intelligence.

There Is In The Child A Special Kind Of Sensitivity Which Leads Him To Absorb Everything About Him, And It Is This Work Of Observing And Absorbing That Alone Enables Him To Adapt Himself To Life

The Adult Ought Never To Mold The Child After Himself, But Should Leave Him Alone And Work Always From The Deepest Comprehension Of The Child Himself.

Independence Is Not A Static Condition; It Is A Continuous Conquest, And In Order To Reach Not Only Freedom, But Also Strength, And The Perfecting On One's Powers, It Is Necessary To Follow This Path Of Unremitting Toil.

Any Child Who Is Self-sufficient, Who Can Tie His Shoes, Dress Or Undress Himself, Reflects In His Joy And Sense Of Achievement The Image Of Human Dignity Which Is Derived From A Sense Of Independence.

Love And The Hope Of It Are Not Things One Can Learn; They Are A Part Of Life's Heritage.

The Senses, Being The Explorers Of The World, Open The Way To Knowledge.

When Dealing With Children There Is Greater Need For Observing Than Of Probing

The Child Is Endowed With Unknown Powers, Which Can Guide Us To A Radiant Future. If What We Really Want Is A New World, Then Education Must Take As Its Aim The Development Of These Hidden Possibilities.

Let The Children Be Free; Encourage Them; Let Them Run Outside When It Is Raining; Let Them Remove Their Shoes When They Find A Puddle Of Water; And When The Grass Of The Meadows Is Wet With Dew, Let Them Run On It And Trample It With Their Bare Feet; Let Them Rest Peacefully When A Tree Invites Them To Sleep Beneath Its Shade; Let Them Shout And Laugh When The Sun Wakes Them In The Morning.

The Instructions Of The Teacher Consist Then Merely In A Hint, A Touch-enough To Give A Start To The Child. The Rest Develops Of Itself.

We Must Support As Much As Possible The Child's Desires For Activity; Not Wait On Him, But Educate Him To Be Independent.

Adults Have Not Understood Children Or Adolescents And They Are, As A Consequence, In Continual Conflict With Them.

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.

The Child Is Much More Spiritually Elevated Than Is Usually Supposed. He Often Suffers, Not From Too Much Work, But From Work That Is Unworthy Of Him.

The Child Is The Spiritual Builder Of Mankind, And Obstacles To His Free Development Are The Stones In The Wall By Which The Soul Of Man Has Become Imprisoned.

The Child, Making Use Of All That He Finds Around Him, Shapes Himself For The Future.

If We Try To Think Back To The Dim And Distant Past... What Is It That Helps Us Reconstruct Those Times, And To Picture The Lives Of Those Who Lived In Them? It Is Their Art... It Is Thanks To The Hand, The Companion Of The Mind, That Civilization Has Arisen.

We Discovered That Education Is Not Something Which The Teacher Does, But That It Is A Natural Process Which Develops Spontaneously In The Human Being.

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 Can Thus Carryout An Abstract Mental Operation And Acquire A Kind Of Natural And Spontaneous Inclination For Mental Calculations.

With Younger Children The Greatest Reward Is To Be Able To Pass On To A New Stage In Each Subject. It Is A Punishment To A Young Child Not To Be Allowed To Use The Apparatus But To Sit Still And Do Nothing.

We Seek To Sow Life In The Child Rather Than Theories, To Help Him In His Growth, Mental And Emotional As Well As Physical, And For That We Must Offer Grand And Lofty Ideas To The Human Mind.

For What Is The Use Of Transmitting Knowledge If The Individual's Total Development Lags Behind?

The Teacher, When She Begins Work In Our Schools, Must Have A Kind Of Faith That The Child Will Reveal Himself Through Work.

The Work Of Education Is Divided Between The Teacher And The Environment.

We Cannot Create Observers By Saying 'observe,' But By Giving Them The Power And The Means For This Observation And These Means Are Procured Through Education Of The Senses.

There Should Be Music In The Child's Environment, Just As There Does Exist In The Child's Environment Spoken Speech. In The Social Environment The Child Should Be Considered And Music Should Be Provided.

To Give A Child Liberty Is Not To Abandon Him To Himself.

Only Through Freedom And Environmental Experience Is It Practically Possible For Human Development To Occur.

The Child’s Parents Are Not His Makers But His Guardians.

These Words Reveal The Child’s Inner Needs; ‘help Me To Do It Alone’.

A Child In His Earliest Years, When He Is Only Two Or A Little More, Is Capable Of Tremendous Achievements Simply Through His Unconscious Power Of Absorption, Though He Is Himself Still Immobile. After The Age Of Three He Is Able To Acquire A Great Number Of Concepts Through His Own Efforts In Exploring His Surroundings. In This Period He Lays Hold Of Things Through His Own Activity And Assimilates Them Into His Mind.

Growth And Psychic Development Are Therefore Guided By: The Absorbent Mind, The Nebulae And The Sensitive Periods, With Their Respective Mechanisms. It Is These That Are Hereditary And Characteristic Of The Human Species. But The Promise They Hold Can Only Be Fulfilled Through The Experience Of Free Activity Conducted In The Environment.

Our Care Of The Child Should Be Governed, Not By The Desire To Make Him Learn Things, But By The Endeavor Always To Keep Burning Within Him That Light Which Is Called Intelligence.

Concentration Is A Part Of Life. It Is Not The Consequence Of A Method Of Education.

Respect All The Reasonable Forms Of Activity In Which The Child Engages And Try To Understand Them.

If We Really Want Children To Grow Into Independent And Resourceful Adults, We Should Stop Pouring Their Milk As Soon As They Have Learned To Pour It Themselves And Stop Fastening Their Buttons As Soon As They Can Fasten Them Without Help.

The ‘absorbent Mind’ Welcomes Everything, Puts Its Hope In Everything, Accepts Poverty Equally With Wealth, Adopts Any Religion And The Prejudices And Habits Of Its Countrymen, Incarnating All In Itself. This Is The Child!

An Educational Method That Shall Have Liberty As Its Basis Must Intervene To Help The Child To A Conquest Of Liberty. That Is To Say, His Training Must Be Such As Shall Help Him To Diminish As Much As Possible The Social Bonds Which Limit His Activity.

The Child Is Truly A Miraculous Being, And This Should Be Felt Deeply By The Educator.

It Is Easy To Substitute Our Will For That Of The Child By Means Of Suggestion Or Coercion; But When We Have Done This We Have Robbed Him Of His Greatest Right, The Right To Construct His Own Personality.

We Shall Walk Together On This Path Of Life, For All Things Are A Part Of The Universe, And Are Connected With Each Other To Form One Whole Unity. This Idea Helps The Mind Of The Child To Become Fixed, To Stop Wandering In An Aimless Quest For Knowledge. He Is Satisfied, Having Found The Universal Centre Of Himself With All Things.

Children Must Grow Not Only In The Body But In The Spirit, And The Mother Longs To Follow The Mysterious Spiritual Journey Of The Beloved One Who To-morrow Will Be The Intelligent, Divine Creation, Man.

An Adult Who Does Not Understand That A Child Needs To Use His Hands And Does Not Recognize This As The First Manifestation Of An Instinct For Work Can Be An Obstacle To The Child's Development

To Consider The School As A Place Where Instruction Is Given Is One Point Of View. But, To Consider The School As A Preparation For Life Is Another. In The Latter Case, The School Must Satisfy All The Needs Of Life.

The Most Important Period Of Life Is Not The Age Of University Studies, But The First One, The Period From Birth To The Age Of Six.

A Teacher, Therefore, Who Would Think That He Could Prepare Himself For His Mission Through Study Alone Would Be Mistaken. The First Thing Required Of A Teacher Is That He Be Rightly Disposed For His Task.

Human Dignity ... Is Derived From A Sense Of Independence.

Times Have Changed, And Science Has Made Great Progress, And So Has Our Work; But Our Principles Have Only Been Confirmed, And Along With Them Our Conviction That Mankind Can Hope For A Solution To Its Problems, Among Which The Most Urgent Are Those Of Peace And Unity, Only By Turning Its Attention And Energies To The Discovery Of The Child And To The Development Of The Great Potentialities Of The Human Personality In The Course Of Its Formation.

Times Have Changed

Education Must Start From Birth.

When We Want To Infuse New Ideas, To Modify Or Better The Habits And Customs Of A People, To Breathe New Vigor Into Its National Traits, We Must Use The Children As Our Vehicle; For Little Can Be Accomplished With Adults.

Work Is Necessary; It Can Be Nothing Less Than A Passion; A Person Is Happy In Accomplishment.

Two Things Are Necessary, The Development Of Individuality And The Participation Of The Individual In A Truly Social Life.

The Child Has A Different Relation To His Environment From Ours... The Child Absorbs It. The Things He Sees Are Not Just Remembered; They Form Part Of His Soul. He Incarnates In Himself All In The World About Him That His Eyes See And His Ears Hear.

... The First Thing His Education Demands Is The Provision Of An Environment In Which He Can Develop The Powers Given Him By Nature. This Does Not Mean Just To Amuse Him And Let Him Do What He Likes. But It Does Mean That We Have To Adjust Our Minds To Doing A Work Of Collaboration With Nature, To Being Obedient To One Of Her Laws, The Law Which Decrees That Development Comes From Environmental Experience.

The Adult Works To Improve His Environment While The Child Works To Improve Himself.

There Is In Every Child A Painstaking Teacher So Skillful That He Obtains Identical Results In All Children In All Parts Of The World. The Only Language Men Ever Speak Perfectly Is The One They Learn In Babyhood, When No One Teaches Them Anything.

Education Demands, Then, Only This: The Utilization Of The Inner Powers Of The Child For His Own Instruction.

Under The Urge Of Nature And According To The Laws Of Development, Though Not Understood By The Adult, The Child Is Obliged To Be Serious About Two Fundamental Things ... The First Is The Love Of Activity... The Second Fundamental Thing Is Independence.

If Children Are Allowed Free Development And Given Occupation To Correspond With Their Unfolding Minds Their Natural Goodness Will Shine Forth.

The Teacher's Task Is Not A Small Easy One! She Has To Prepare A Huge Amount Of Knowledge To Satisfy The Child's Mental Hunger. She Is Not Like The Ordinary Teacher, Limited By A Syllabus. The Needs Of The Child Are Clearly More Difficult To Answer.

A Child Is A Discoverer. He Is An Amorphous, Splendid Being In Search Of His Own Proper Form.

Beauty Lies In Harmony, Not In Contrast; And Harmony Is Refinement; Therefore, There Must Be A Fineness Of The Senses If We Are To Appreciate Harmony.

We Do Not Believe In The Educative Power Of Words And Commands Alone, But Seek Cautiously, And Almost Without The Child's Knowing It, To Guide His Natural Activity.

Education Cannot Be Effective Unless It Helps A Child To Open Up Himself To Life.

Imitation Is The First Instinct Of The Awakening Mind.

This Is Education, Understood As A Help To Life; An Education From Birth, Which Feeds A Peaceful Revolution And Unites All In A Common Aim, Attracting Them As To A Single Centre. Mothers, Fathers, Politicians: All Must Combine In Their Respect And Help For This Delicate Work Of Formation, Which The Little Child Carries On In The Depth Of A Profound Psychological Mystery, Under The Tutelage Of An Inner Guide. This Is The Bright New Hope For Mankind.

An Interesting Piece Of Work, Freely Chosen, Which Has The Virtue Of Inducing Concentration Rather Than Fatigue, Adds To The Child's Energies And Mental Capacities, And Leads Him To Self-mastery.

The Secret Of Good Teaching Is To Regard The Child's Intelligence As A Fertile Field In Which Seeds May Be Sown, To Grow Under The Heat Of Flaming Imagination.

It Is Not In Human Nature For All Men To Tread The Same Path Of Development, As Animals Do Of A Single Species.

The First Essential For The Child’s Development Is Concentration. The Child Who Concentrates Is Immensely Happy.

There Must Be Provision For The Child To Have Contact With Nature; To Understand And Appreciate The Order, The Harmony And The Beauty In Nature.

By The Age Of Three, The Child Has Already Laid Down The Foundations Of His Personality As A Human Being, And Only Then Does He Need The Help Of Special Scholastic Influences. So Great Are The Conquests He Has Made That One May Well Say: The Child Who Goes To School At Three Is Already A Little Man.

No One Who Has Ever Done Anything Really Great Or Successful Has Ever Done It Simply Because He Was Attracted By What We Call A 'reward' Or By The Fear Of What We Call A 'punishment.'

The Children Are Now Working As If I Did Not Exist.

The Child's True Constructive Energy, A Dynamic Power, Has Remained Unnoticed For Thousands Of Years. Just As Men Have Trodden The Earth, And Later Tilled Its Surface, Without Thought For The Immense Wealth Hidden In Its Depths, So The Men Of Our Day Make Progress After Progress In Civilized Life, Without Noticing The Treasures That Lie Hidden In The Psychic World Of Infancy.

Only When The Child Is Able To Identify Its Own Center With The Center Of The Universe Does Education Really Begin.

A Child Is Mysterious And Powerful; And Contains Within Himself The Secret Of Human Nature.

Every Great Cause Is Born From Repeated Failures And From Imperfect Achievements.

The Child Can Only Develop Fully By Means Of Experience In His Environment. We Call Such Experience 'work'.

The Laws Governing The Universe Can Be Made Interesting And Wonderful To The Child, More Interesting Even That Things In Themselves, And He Begins To Ask: What Am I? What Is The Task Of Man In This Wonderful Universe? Do We Merely Live Here For Ourselves, Or Is There Something More For Us To Do? Why Do We Struggle And Fight? What Is Good And Evil? Where Will It All End?

We Teachers Can Only Help The Work Going On, As Servants Wait Upon A Master.

Since It Is Through Movement That The Will Realises Itself, We Should Assist A Child In His Attempts To Put His Will Into Act.

Children Display A Universal Love Of Mathematics, Which Is Par Excellence The Science Of Precision, Order, And Intelligence.

The Development Of The Mind Comes Through Movement

...we Discovered That Education Is Not Something Which The Teacher Does, But That It Is A Natural Process Which Develops Spontaneously In The Human Being. It Is Not Acquired By Listening To Words, But In Virtue Of Experiences In Which The Child Acts On His Environment. The Teacher's Task Is Not To Talk, But To Prepare And Arrange A Series Of Motives For Cultural Activity In A Special Environment Made For The Child.

We Must Therefore Turn To The Child As To The Key To The Fate Of Our Future Life.

A Child's Character Develops In Accordance With The Obstacles He Has Encountered... Or The Freedom Favoring His Development That He Has Enjoyed.

Social Grace, Inner Discipline And Joy. These Are The Birthright Of The Human Being Who Has Been Allowed To Develop Essential Human Qualities.

What We Need Is A World Full Of Miracles, Like The Miracle Of Seeing The Young Child Seeking Work And Independence, And Manifesting A Wealth Of Enthusiasm And Love.

To Have A Vision Of The Cosmic Plan, In Which Every Form Of Life Depends On Directed Movements Which Have Effects Beyond Their Conscious Aim, Is To Understand The Child's Work And Be Able To Guide It Better.

Red Rodsbefore Elaborating Any System Of Education, We Must Therefore Create A Favorable Environment That Will Encourage The Flowering Of A Child's Natural Gifts. All That Is Needed Is To Remove The Obstacles. And This Should Be The Basis Of, And Point Of Departure For, All Future Education. The First Thing To Be Done, Therefore, Is To Discover The True Nature Of A Child And Then Assist Him In His Normal Development.

The Child Becomes A Person Through Work.

It Is Not The Child As A Physical But As A Psychic Being That Can Provide A Strong Impetus To The Betterment Of Mankind. It Is The Spirit Of The Child That Can Determine The Course Of Human Progress And Lead It Perhaps Even To A Higher Form Of Civilization.

Education Should No Longer Be Most Imparting Of Knowledge, But Must Take A New Path, Seeking The Release Of Human Potentialities.

Solicitous Care For Living Things Affords Satisfaction To One Of The Most Lively Instincts Of The Child's Mind. Nothing Is Better Calculated Than This To Awaken An Attitude Of Foresight.

A Great Deal Of Time And Intellectual Force Are Lost In The World, Because The False Seems Great And The Truth So Small And Insignificant.

Joy, Feeling One’s Own Value, Being Appreciated And Loved By Others, Feeling Useful And Capable Of Production Are All Factors Of Enormous Value For The Human Soul.

Little Children, From The Moment In Which They Are Weaned, Are Making Their Way Toward Independence.

No One Can Be Free Unless He Is Independent.

There Can Be No Substitute For Work, Neither Affection Nor Physical Well-being Can Replace It.

This Is The Treasure We Need Today - Helping The Child Become Independent Of Us And Make His Way By Himself, Receiving In Return His Gifts Of Hope And Light.

The Teacher Must Derive Not Only The Capacity, But The Desire, To Observe Natural Phenomena. The Teacher Must Understand And Feel Her Position Of Observer: The Activity Must Lie In The Phenomenon.

Children Are Human Beings To Whom Respect Is Due, Superior To Us By Reason Of Their Innocence And Of The Greater Possibilities Of Their Future.

One Who Has Drunk At The Fountain Of Spiritual Happiness Says Good-by Of His Own Accord To The Satisfactions That Come From A Higher Professional Status ... What Is The Greatest Sign Of Success For A Teacher Thus Transformed? It Is To Be Able To Say, "the Children Are Now Working As If I Did Not Exist.

We Must Help The Child To Act For Himself, Will For Himself, Think For Himself; This Is The Art Of Those Who Aspire To Serve The Spirit.

Watching A Child Makes It Obvious That The Development Of His Mind Comes Through His Movements.

Character Formation Cannot Be Taught. It Comes From Experience And Not From Explanation.

In The Vivid Description Of The Gospel, It Would Seem That We Must Help The Christ Hidden In Every Poor Man, In Every Prisioner, In Every Sufferer. But If We Paraphrased The Marvelous Scene And Applied It To The Child, We Should Find That Christ Goes To Help All Men In The Form Of The Child.

First The Education Of The Senses, Then The Education Of The Intellect.

No Social Problem Is As Universal As The Oppression Of The Child ... No Slave Was Ever So Much The Property Of His Master As The Child Is Of His Parent ... Never Were The Rights Of Man Ever So Disregarded As In The Case Of The Child.

The More The Capacity To Concentrate Is Developed, The More Often The Profound Tranquility In Work Is Achieved, Then The Clearer Will Be The Manifestation Of Discipline Within The Child.

Knowing What We Must Do Is Neither Fundamental Nor Difficult, But To Comprehend Which Presumptions And Vain Prejudices We Must Rid Ourselves Of In Order To Be Able To Educate Our Children Is Most Difficult.

The Study Of Love And Its Utilization Will Lead Us To The Source From Which It Springs, The Child.

Our Goal Is Not So Much The Imparting Of Knowledge As The Unveiling And Developing Of Spiritual Energy.

The Greatest Triumph Of Our Educational Method Should Always Be This: To Bring About The Spontaneous Progress Of The Child.

We Are The Sowers - Our Children Are Those Who Reap. We Labor So That Future Generations Will Be Better And Nobler Than We Are.

If Education Is Always To Be Conceived Along The Same Antiquated Lines Of A Mere Transmission Of Knowledge, There Is Little To Be Hoped From It In The Bettering Of Man's Future. For What Is The Use Of Transmitting Knowledge If The Individual's Total Development Lags Behind?

To Assist A Child We Must Provide Him With An Environment Which Will Enable Him To Develop Freely.

It Is Exactly In The Repetition Of The Exercises That The Education Of The Senses Exists; Not That The Child Shall Know Colors, Forms Or Qualities, But That He Refine His Senses Through An Exercise Of Attention, Comparison And Judgment.

Order Is One Of The Needs Of Life Which, When It Is Satisfied, Produces A Real Happiness

There Is No Description, No Image In Any Book That Is Capable Of Replacing The Sight Of Real Trees, And All Of The Life To Be Found Around Them In A Real Forest.

All Our Handling Of The Child Will Bear Fruit, Not Only At The Moment, But In The Adult They Are Destined To Become.

At One Year Of Age The Child Says His First Intentional Wordhis Babbling Has A Purpose, And This Intention Is A Proof Of Conscious Intelligencehe Becomes Ever More Aware That Language Refers To His Surroundings, And His Wish To Master It Consciously Becomes Also Greater.subconsciously And Unaided, He Strains Himself To Learn, And This Effort Makes His Success All The More Astonishing.

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.

One Test Of The Correctness Of Educational Procedure Is The Happiness Of The Child.

Bring The Child To The Consciousness Of His Own Dignity And He Will Feel Free.

The Aim Of Education Should Not Be To Teach How To Use Human Energies To Improve The Environment, For We Are Finally Beginning To Realize That The Cornerstone Of Education Is The Development Of The Human Personality, And That In This Regard Education Is Of Immediate Importance For The Salvation Of Mankind.

When Mental Development Is Under Discussion, There Are Many Who Say, 'how Does Movement Come Into It? We Are Talking About The Mind.' And When We Think Of Intellectual Activity, We Always Imagine People Sitting Still, Motionless. But Mental Development Must Be Connected With Movement And Be Dependent On It. It Is Vital That Educational Theory And Practice Should Be Informed By That Idea.

It Is Not Enough For The Teacher To Love The Child. She Must First Love And Understand The Universe. She Must Prepare Herself, And Truly Work At It.

Learning To Speak, Therefore, And The Power It Brings Of Intelligent Converse With Others, Is A Most Impressive Further Step Along The Path Of Independence ... Learning To Walk Is Especially Significant, Not Only Because It Is Supremely Complex, But Because It Is Done In The First Year Of Life.

Only Practical Work And Experience Lead The Young To Maturity.

Order Is ... The True Key To Rapidity Of Reaction.

Do Not Erase The Designs The Child Makes In The Soft Wax Of His Inner Life.

The Child's Conquests Of Independence Are The Basic Steps In What Is Called His 'natural Development'.

Conventions Which Camouflage A Man's True Feelings Are A Spiritual Lie Which Help Him Adapt Himself To The Organized Deviations Of Society.

Do Not Tell Them How To Do It. Show Them How To Do It And Do Not Say A Word. If You Tell Them, They Will Watch Your Lips Move. If You Show Them, They Will Want To Do It Themselves.

The Task Of The Educator Lies In Seeing That The Child Does Not Confound Good With Immobility And Evil With Activity.

The Child's Conquest Of Independence Begins With His First Introduction To Life. While He Is Developing, He Perfects Himself And Overcomes Every Obstacle That He Finds In His Path. A Vital Force Is Active Within Him, And This Guides His Efforts Towards Their Goal. It Is A Force Called The 'horme', By Sir Percy Nunn.

The Child Has A Mind Able To Absorb Knowledge. He Has The Power To Teach Himself.

Preventing War Is The Work Of Politicians, Establishing Peace Is The Work Of Educationists.

The Child Has Other Powers Than Ours, And The Creation He Achieves Is No Small One; It Is Everything.

Happiness Is Not The Whole Aim Of Education. A Man Must Be Independent In His Powers And Character; Able To Work And Assert His Mastery Over All That Depends On Him.

Discipline Must Come Through Liberty.

We Especially Need Imagination In Science. It Is Not All Mathematics, Nor All Logic, But It Is Somewhat Beauty And Poetry.

It Is True That We Cannot Make A Genius. We Can Only Give To Teach Child The Chance To Fulfil His Potential Possibilities.

The Greatest Sign Of Success For A Teacher...is To Be Able To Say, "the Children Are Now Working As If I Did Not Exist."

Great Tact And Delicacy Is Necessary For The Care Of The Mind Of A Child From Three To Six Years, And An Adult Can Have Very Little Of It.

No One Can Help Us To Achieve The Intimate Isolation By Which We Find Our Secret Worlds, So Mysterious, Rich And Full. If Others Intervene, It Is Destroyed. This Degree Of Thought, Which We Attain By Freeing Ourselves From The External World, Must Be Fed By The Inner Spirit, And Our Surroundings Cannot Influence Us In Any Way Other Than To Leave Us In Peace.

The First Aim Of The Prepared Environment Is, As Far As It Is Possible, To Render The Growing Child Independent Of The Adult.

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Theodore C. Sorensen

M. Russell Ballard

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