A peek into Maria Montessori’s silly side… 🤗
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Quotes in the episode, all Maria Montessori speaking
“We recommend above all not to give too many explanations... Here is an anecdote to illustrate this advice: A child asks his father why the leaves are green. Happy to seize the opportunity, the father launches into explanations of chlorophyll, the air, light, seeming never to finish. The child listens politely but thinks: ‘What a shame to have provoked all that!’”
“[M]y friends … the harder you blow, the higher up I shall go.”
“We came to one room — it was the science room — not a soul was there except the master, nor for that matter had been for several days. When I enquired into his method of teaching, the master airily replied that he did not teach; the children discovered! It appears he had placed a mysterious white mixture on the laboratory bench; and the children were supposed to ascertain the various substances it contained — ‘by discovery!’ ... Considering how few real discoveries are made by trained scientists in a lifetime, it was, to say the least, strange to expect inexperienced children, without knowledge, without method, without stimulus and therefore without interest, to make perpetual discoveries from day to day! No wonder the room was empty!”
“Out of this came a charming episode from one of our schools. The janitor forgot to unlock the door of the school and the children were very unhappy because they could not get in. Finally, the teacher said, ‘You children can get in through the windows, but I can’t.’ So the children went in through the window and the teacher contented herself with watching from outside.”
“You see a very fine dinner before you and have an annoying person sitting opposite you. The meal is not well digested. Whereas a coarse meal with a sympathetic person is much more nourishing.”
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