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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.

-Maria Montessori

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The Child's True Constructive

Maria Montessori

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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.

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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.

The Role Of Education Is To Interest The Child Profoundly In An External Activity To Which He Will Give All His Potential

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

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

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?

The Environment Itself Will Teach The Child, If Every Error He Makes Is Manifest To Him, Without The Intervention Of A Parent Of Teacher, Who Should Remain A Quiet Observer Of All That Happens.

When The Children Had Completed An Absorbing Bit Of Work, They Appeared Rested And Deeply Pleased. It Almost Seemed As If A Road Had Opened Up Within Their Souls That Led To All Their Latent Powers, Revealing The Better Part Of Themselves. They Exhibited A Great Affability To Everyone, Put Themselves Out To Help Others And Seemed Full Of Good Will.

The Human Hand Allows The Mind To Reveal Itself.

A Man Is Not What He Is Because Of The Teachers He Has Had, But Because Of What He Has Done

How Can We Speak Of Democracy Or Freedom When From The Very Beginning Of Life We Mould The Child To Undergo Tyranny, To Obey A Dictator? How Can We Expect Democracy When We Have Reared Slaves? Real Freedom Begins At The Beginning Of Life, Not At The Adult Stage. These People Who Have Been Diminished In Their Powers, Made Short-sighted, Devitalized By Mental Fatigue, Whose Bodies Have Become Distorted, Whose Wills Have Been Broken By Elders Who Say: "your Will Must Disappear And Mine Prevail!"-how Can We Expect Them, When School-life Is Finished, To Accept And Use The Rights Of Freedom?

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

One Of The Great Problems Facing Men Is Their Failure To Realize The Fact That A Child Possesses An Active Psychic Life Even When He Cannot Manifest It, And That The Child Must Secretly Perfect This Inner Life Over A Long Period Of Time.

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

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

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

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

Freedom Without Organization Of Work Would Be Useless. The Child Left Free Without Means Of Work Would Go To Waste, Just As A New-born Baby, If Left Free Without Nourishment, Would Die Of Starvation.the Organization Of The Work, Therefore, Is The Cornerstone Of This New Structure Of Goodness [in Education], But Even That Organization Would Be In Vain Without The Liberty To Make Use Of It.

The Development Of The Child During The First Three Years After Birth Is Unequaled In Intensity And Importance By Any Period That Precedes Or Follows In The Whole Life Of The Child.

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.

Giving Children The Opportunity To Stir Up Life And Leave It Free To Discover.

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

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.

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.

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

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 Fundamental Basis Of Education Must Always Remain That One Must Act For Oneself. That Is Clear. One Must Act For Him Or Herself.

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

What Advice Can We Give To New Mothers? Their Children Need To Work At An Interesting Occupation: They Should Not Be Helped Unnecessarily, Nor Interrupted, Once They Have Begun To Do Something Intelligent.

The Child Who Concentrates Is Immensely Happy

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.

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

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.

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 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.

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 Essentially Alien To This Society Of Men And Might Express His Position In The Words Of The Gospel: My Kingdom Is Not Of This World

No One Can Be Free Unless He Is Independent.

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.

A Child Starts From Nothing And Advances Alone. It Is The Child's Reason About Which The Sensitive Periods Revolve. The Reason Provides The Initial Force And Energy, And A Child Absorbs His First Images To Assist The Reason And Act On It.

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.

Order Is Not Goodness; But Perhaps It Is The Indispensable Road To Arrive At It.

The Activity Of The Child Has Always Been Looked Upon As An Expression Of His Vitality.

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

Education Should Therefore Include The Two Forms Of Work, Manual And Intellectual, For The Same Person, And Thus Make It Understood By Practical Experience That These Two Kinds Complete Each Other And Are Equally Essential To A Civilized Existence.

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

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!

The Child Endures All Things.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

As Soon As Children Find Something That Interests Them They Lose Their Instability And Learn To Concentrate.

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

Let Us Treat Them [children], Therefore, With All The Kindness Which We Would Wish To Help To Develop In Them.

I Have Studied The Child. I Have Taken What The Child Has Given Me And Expressed It And That Is What Is Called The Montessori Method.

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.

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

An Education Capable Of Saving Humanity Is No Small Undertaking; It Involves The Spiritual Development Of Man, The Enhancement Of His Value As An Individual, And The Preparation Of Young People To Understand The Times In Which They Live.

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.

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

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.

The Child Becomes A Person Through Work.

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.

The Exercises Of Practical Life Are Formative Activities, A Work Of Adaptation To The Environment. Such Adaptation To The Environment And Efficient Functioning Therein Is The Very Essence Of A Useful Education.

The Child Will Reveal Himself Through Work.

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.

Except When He Has Regressive Tendencies, The Child's Nature Is To Aim Directly And Energetically At Functional Independence.

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

The Education Of Even A Small Child, Therefore, Does Not Aim At Preparing Him For School, But For Life.

A Humankind Abandoned In Its Earlier Formative Stage Becomes Its Own Greatest Threat To Survival.

Imagination Does Not Become Great Until Human Beings, Given The Courage And The Strength, Use It To Create.

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

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.

How Does He Achieve This Independence? He Does It By Means Of A Continuous Activity. How Does He Become Free? By Means Of Constant Effort. We Know That Development Results From Activity. The Environment Must Be Rich In Motives Which Lend Interest To Activity And Invite The Child To Conduct His Own Experiences.

The Hands Are The Instruments Of Man’s Intelligence.

The World Of Education Is Like An Island Where People Cut Off From The World Are Prepared For Life By Exclusion From It.

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

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

The Unknown Energy That Can Help Humanity Is That Which Lies Hidden In The Child.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Growth Is Not Merely A Harmonious Increase In Size, But A Transformation.

It Is Necessary, Then, To Give The Child The Possibility Of Developing According To The Laws Of His Nature, So That He Can Become Strong, And, Having Become Strong, Can Do Even More Than We Dared Hope For Him.

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.

The Concept Of An Education Centered Upon The Care Of The Living Being Alters All Previous Ideas. Resting No Longer On A Curriculum, Or A Timetable, Education Must Conform To The Facts Of Human Life.

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.

Culture And Education Have No Bounds Or Limits; Now Man Is In A Phase In Which He Must Decide For Himself How Far He Can Proceed In The Culture That Belongs To The Whole Of Humanity.

A Child Needs Freedom Within Limits.

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

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.

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

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

Play Is The Work Of The Child.

Children Playing

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.

The Principal Agent Is The Object Itself And Not The Instruction Given By The Teacher. It Is The Child Who Uses The Objects; It Is The Child Who Is Active, And Not The Teacher.

We Cannot Know The Consequences Of Suppressing A Child's Spontaneity When He Is Just Beginning To Be Active. We May Even Suffocate Life Itself. That Humanity Which Is Revealed In All Its Intellectual Splendor During The Sweet And Tender Age Of Childhood Should Be Respected With A Kind Of Religious Veneration. It Is Like The Sun Which Appears At Dawn Or A Flower Just Beginning To Bloom. Education Cannot Be Effective Unless It Helps A Child To Open Up Himself To Life.

Peace Is What Every Human Being Is Craving For, And It Can Be Brought About By Humanity Through The Child.

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

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

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

Growth Comes From Activity, Not From Intellectual Understanding.

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

How Often Is The Soul Of Man - Especially In Childhood - Deprived Because He Is Not Allowed To Come In Contact With Nature.

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.

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.

The Essence Of Independence Is To Be Able To Do Something For One’s Self. Adults Work To Finish A Task, But The Child Works In Order To Grow, And Is Working To Create The Adult, The Person That Is To Be. Such Experience Is Not Just Play... It Is Work He Must Do In Order To Grow Up.

The More Perfect The Approximation To Truth, The More Perfect Is Art.

It Is Well To Cultivate A Friendly Feeling Towards Error, To Treat It As A Companion Inseparable From Our Lives, As Something Having A Purpose, Which It Truly Has.

If We Can, When We Have Established Individual Discipline, Arrange The Children, Sending Each One To His Own Place, In Order, Trying To Make Them Understand The Idea That Thus Placed They Look Well, And That It Is A Good Thing To Be Placed In Order . . .

We Teachers Can Only Help The Work Going On, As Servants Wait Upon A Master. We Then Become Witnesses To The Development Of The Human Soul; The Emergence Of The New Man Who Will No Longer Be The Victim Of Events But, Thanks To His Clarity Of Vision, Will Become Able To Direct And To Mold The Future Of Mankind.

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.

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.

The Development Of The Mind Comes Through Movement

Imitation Is The First Instinct Of The Awakening Mind.

In Nature Nothing Creates Itself And Nothing Destroys Itself.

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.

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

The Child’s Progress Does Not Depend Only On His Age, But Also On Being Free To Look Around Him.

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

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.

In The Psychological Realm Of Relationship Between Teacher And Child, The Teacher's Part And Its Techniques Are Analogous To Those Of The Valet; They Are To Serve, And To Serve Well: To Serve The Spirit.

But An Adult If He Is To Provide Proper Guidance, Must Always Be Calm And Act Slowly So That The Child Who Is Watching Him Can Clearly See His Actions In All Their Particulars.

The First Thing Required Of A Teacher Is That He Be Rightly Disposed For His Task.

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 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.

The Essential Thing Is To Arouse Such An Interest That It Engages The Child’s Whole Personality.

Whatever Is Presented To Him Must Be Made Beautiful And Clear, Striking His Imagination. Once This Love Has Been Kindled, All Problems Confronting The Educationist Will Disappear.

Free Choice Is One Of The Highest Of All The Mental Processes.

Concentration Is The Key That Opens Up To The Child The Latent Treasures Within Him.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

The Observation Of The Way In Which The Children Pass From The First Disordered Movements To Those Which Are Spontaneous And Ordered -- This Is The Book Of The Teacher; This Is The Book Which Must Inspire Her Actions . . .

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

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.

The Essence Of Independence Is To Be Able To Do Something For One’s Self.

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.

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

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.

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.

My Vision Of The Future Is No Longer Of People Taking Exams And Proceeding From Secondary School To University But Of Passing From One Stage Of Independence To A Higher, By Means Of Their Own Activity And Effort Of Will.

Visions Of The Future

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

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.

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.

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

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

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 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.

No Adult Can Bear A Child’s Burden Or Grow Up In His Stead.

Nothing Is Created Or Destroyed In Nature.

The Best Instruction Is That Which Uses The Least Words Sufficient For The Task.

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.

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.

The Child Is An Enigma… He Has The Highest Potentialities, But We Do Not Know What He Will Be.

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.

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.

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.

Discipline Must Come Through Liberty.

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.

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

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.

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

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

The Greatness Of The Human Personality Begins At The Hour Of Birth. From This Almost Mystic Affirmation There Comes What May Seem A Strange Conclusion: That Education Must Start From Birth.

There Is A Great Sense Of Community Within The Montessori Classroom, Where Children Of Differing Ages Work Together In An Atmosphere Of Cooperation Rather Than Competitiveness. There Is Respect For The Environment And For The Individuals Within It, Which Comes Through Experience Of Freedom Within The Community.

To Stimulate Life, Leaving It Then Free To Develop, To Unfold, Herein Lies The First Task Of The Teacher.

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

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

Our Aim Is Not Merely To Make The Child Understand, And Still Less To Force Him To Memorize, But So To Touch His Imagination As To Enthuse Him To His Innermost Core.

The First Duty Of The Educator, Whether He Is Involved With The Newborn Infant Or The Older Child, Is To Recognize The Human Personality Of The Young Being And Respect It.

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.

The Child Who Has Felt A Strong Love For His Surroundings And For All Living Creatures, Who Has Discovered Joy And Enthusiasm In Work, Gives Us Reason To Hope That Humanity Can Develop In A New Direction.

There Are Many Who Hold, As I Do, That The Most Important Part Of Life Is Not The Age Of University Studies, But The First One, The Period From Birth To The Age Of Six. For That Is The Time When A Man's Intelligence Itself, His Greatest Implement, Is Being Formed. But Not Only His Intelligence; The Full Totality Of His Psychic Powers.

Do Not Offer The Child The Content Of The Mind, But The Order For That Content.

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

The Social Rights Of Children Must Be Recognized So That A World Suited To Their Needs May Be Constructed For Them. The Greatest Crime That Society Commits Is That Of Wasting The Money Which It Should Use For Children On Things That Will Destroy Them And Society Itself As Well.

The Development Of The Individual Can Be Described As A Succession Of New Births At Consecutively Higher Levels.

There Are Many Things Which No Teacher Can Convey To A Child Of Three, But A Child Of Five Can Do It With Ease.

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

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Omar N. Bradley

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