Biography of Dr. Maria Montessori

Maria Montessori was born on the 31st of August 1870 in the town of  Chiaravalle, Italy. Her father, Alessandro, was an accountant in the  civil service, and her mother, Renilde Stoppani, was well educated and  had a passion for reading.

The Montessori family moved to Rome in 1875, and the following year,  Maria was enrolled in the local state school. Breaking conventional  barriers from the beginning of her education, Maria initially had  aspirations to become an engineer.

When Maria graduated secondary school, she became determined to enter  medical school and become a doctor. Despite her parents’ encouragement  to enter teaching, Maria wanted to study the male-dominated field of  medicine. After initially being refused, with the endorsement of Pope  Leo XIII, Maria was eventually given entry to the University of Rome in  1890, becoming one of the first women in medical school in Italy.

Despite facing many obstacles due to her gender, Maria qualified as a  doctor in July 1896. Soon after her medical career began, Maria became  involved in the Women’s Rights movement. She became known for her high  levels of competency in treating patients and the respect she showed to  patients from all social classes.

In 1897, Maria joined a research program at the psychiatric clinic of  the University of Rome as a volunteer. This work initiated a deep  interest in the needs of children with learning disabilities. In  particular, the work of two early 19th century Frenchmen, Jean-Marc  Itard, who had made his name working with the ‘wild boy of Aveyron’, and  Edouard Séguin, his student. Maria was appointed as co-director of a  new institution called the Orthophrenic School. In 1898, Maria gave  birth to Mario, following her relationship with Giusseppe Montesano, her  co-director at the school.

At the age of twenty-eight, Maria began advocating her controversial  theory that the lack of support for mentally and developmentally  disabled children was the cause of their delinquency. The notion of  social reform became a strong theme throughout Maria’s life, whether it  was for gender roles or advocacy for children.

In 1901, Maria began her own studies of educational philosophy and  anthropology, lecturing and teaching students. From 1904-1908, she was a  lecturer at the Pedagogic School of the University of Rome. This period  saw the rapid development of Rome but the speculative nature of the  market led to bankruptcies and ghetto districts. One such area was San  Lorenzo, where the children were left to run amok at home as their  parents worked. In an attempt to provide the children with activities  during the day to fend of the destruction of property, Maria was offered  the opportunity to introduce her materials and practice to ‘normal’  children. There, in 1907, she opened the first Casa dei Bambini  (Children’s House), bringing some of the educational materials she had  developed at the Orthophrenic School.

Maria placed different activities and learning materials into the  children’s environment but kept only those that engaged them. What she  came to realize was that children who were placed in an environment  where activities are designed to support their natural development had  the power to educate themselves.

By 1909, Maria gave her first training course in her new approach to  around 100 students. Her notes from this period provided the material  for her first book published that same year in Italy, appearing in  translation in the United States in 1912 as The Montessori Method and  later translated into 20 languages.

A period of great expansion in the Montessori approach now followed.  Montessori societies, training programs, and schools sprang to life all  over the world. And a period of travel with public speaking and  lecturing occupied Maria in the UK and throughout Europe but much of it  in America.

Maria lived in Spain from 1917 and was joined by Mario and his wife,  Helen Christy. Mario and Helen Christy raised their four (4) children,  namely Mario Jr, Rolando, Marilena, and Renilde. In 1929, mother and son  established the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) to  perpetuate her work.

The first Montessori environment was opened on the 6th of January  1907 in San Lorenzo, Rome, Italy, by Dr. Maria Montessori. Through Dr.  Montessori’s observations and work with these children, she discovered  their astonishing, almost effortless, ability to learn. Children taught  themselves! This simple but profound truth formed the cornerstone of her  life-long pursuit of educational reform.

The following is a summary of a talk by Dr. Maria Montessori to her  students on the 6th of January 1942, celebrating the anniversary of the  inauguration day of the first House of Children: 

Today is the anniversary of the opening of the first House of Children.  When I tell you briefly how it started, the few words of its history  will seem like a fairy-tale, but their message may also prove useful. 

Many times people ask with doubt in their minds whether the method is  suitable for poor children and whether it is at all adaptable to them. 

In order that you may be able to answer such questions, I should like  you to have a small idea of how our work started, of the indirect way in  which it has arisen. 

It came about in a strange way, I have pondered much about it and  tried to understand the reason for it. I don’t know if it is an  indication of destiny or if it was established by fate itself. All that I  know is that it has something to do with the House itself. It may seem  curious that I express it in this way, but I do so to render the ensuing  story clear.

Many years ago, Rome was a capital of a state in very rapid development,  which manifested itself in a mania for building. Every small available  space was utilized to build houses, every little open square. One of the  many was delimited on one side by the old Roman walls, which had  witnessed many battles, and on the other by the modern cemetery. This  area was the last place to be filled. No doubt because of the  superstition that it was not lucky to live near the dead for fear of  ghosts and also for hygienic reasons. 

But probably because of the beautiful and historical situation, one  building society decided to stake its money into building there. It was a  tremendous scheme, five houses on the scale of palaces, 5 or 6 stories  high. But the idea had been too vast so the society went bankrupt before  the building was completed, and the scheme failed. The work was  interrupted and left to stand. There were only the walls with open holes  for doors and windows, there was no plumbing, and the erections stood  as a sort of skeleton. 

For many years this enormous skeleton remained abandoned and  neglected. It became a shelter for homeless beggars, a hiding place for  evildoers who wished to avoid recognition and who, if discovered, could  easily escape in this labyrinth. Criminals of all sorts, thieves, and  murderers, took refuge in them. People lived there in the same  conditions as the cavemen of old did in their caves.

All those who were homeless, and those who wished to hide, found shelter  within those walls. Even the police did not go near them, or dared to,  as they did not know their way within these grim walls of crime and  horror. 

Slowly, the number grew until thousands of people crowded in these  abandoned buildings. People were found dead, murdered, or succumbed to  diseases; the place became a breeding place of infection for the whole  land; a center of crime and of the lowest prostitution. 

The “Quartiere di San Lorenzo” became known as the shame of Italy.  People were too afraid to do anything about it; no one knew what  happened within those dark walls. There were no small shops for  provisions anywhere near. No itinerant vendor would go there to sell.  Even the lowest laborer or the poorest fisherman would seem as princes  in comparison, for however poor, they would have at least some honest  livelihood whereas those who lived inside that gloom had no work, no  means to pay, their only livelihood was derived from crime. 

The problem of clearing this pit of inhumanity demanded a solution.  Another building society of very wealthy bankers considered the problem  and decided that as the walls already stood, only a small expenditure  would be necessary to make fruitful whatever capital was invested. The  district, due to its ill–repute, would of course never become a  fashionable quarter. Therefore, only small renovations were necessary to  render it habitable for these people already so unfortunate. Regarding  it thus as a business venture, they started with one building which they  discovered would house a thousand people. They used some whitewash, put  in some doors and windows, and laid in a few water pipes and drains. 

It was estimated that in this area lived at least 10,000 people.  Therefore, how could they discriminate which among them would be the  best? They chose the married ones who by reason of their relationship  with one another would be the most human. As it happened, there were  only very few children. It seems perhaps logical that under such  conditions, although there were thousands of men and women, there should  be only fifty children. 

But these children, wild and uncivilized as they were, presented a  serious problem of damage to the houses. Left alone while the parents  went to work, they were free to carry out any wild fancy. So the  director of the concern decided that the only obvious thing to keep them  out of mischief was to collect all the children and confine them. 

One room was set aside for this purpose, resembling in every way a  children’s prison. It was hoped that a person would be found with enough  social courage to tackle the problem. 

I, in my capacity of medical officer of hygiene, was approached to take  an interest in the work. Having considered the situation, I demanded  that at least the commonest aids in hygiene, food, and sanitation be  made available. 

At the time, it had become fashionable among society ladies to  interest themselves in social uplift. They were approached to do  something to collect funds because we were confronted with the strange  problem that while the bankers had agreed to invest money to improve the  housing situation, they were not, at all, interested in education. One  could not expect any returns from money put into anything with an  educational purpose.

Although society had embraced the idea of improving the condition of  these unfortunate people, the children had been forgotten. There were no  toys, no school, no teacher. There was nothing for them. I was able to  find one woman of 40 years, whose help I asked and who I put in charge.

On the 6th of January 1907, this room was inaugurated to collect the  50 children. The room had already been in use for little time, but it  was inaugurated on that day. Throughout Italy, the 6th of January is  looked upon as “the” day of feast for the children. It was on this day  that the Three Kings arrived before the Child Christ and offered him  their gifts. It is celebrated as the Feast of Epiphany.

It was striking at the time this interest of society imbued with the  idea that their giving hygienic houses to the homeless would be the  means of purifying the evil core in their midst, consisting of a group  of ten-thousand criminals and pitiful humanity. I also was imbued with  this sentiment.

But while everyone had had the idea that by giving houses and  sanitation, the people would be purified, no one had taken into  consideration the children. No one had thought to bring toys or food for  them. When the children, ranging between the ages of 2 to 6 entered,  they were dressed all alike in some thick, heavy, blue drill. They were  frightened, and being hindered by the stiff material, could move neither  arms nor legs freely. Apart from their own community, they had never  seen any people. To get them to move together, they were made to hold  hands. The first unwilling child was pulled, thus, dragging along the  whole line of the rest. All of them were crying miserably. The sympathy  of the society ladies was aroused, and they expressed the hope that in a  few months they would improve.

I had been asked to make a speech for the occasion. Earlier that day,  remembering that it was the feast of the Epiphany, I had read the  lesson in my mass book. When I made my speech, I read it as an omen for  the work to follow.

“Arise, be enlightened, O Jerusalem; for thy light is come, and the  glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, For behold darkness shall cover  the earth, and a mist the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee,  and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall walk in  thy light, and kings in the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thy eyes  round about, and see; all these are gathered together, they have come to  thee: thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters shall rise up at  thy side. Then shalt thou see and abound and thy heart shall wonder and  be enlarged, when the multitude of the sea shall be converted to thee,  the strength of the Gentiles shall come to thee. The multitude of camels  shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Madian and Epha; all they from  Saba shall come, bringing gold and frankincense, and showing forth  praise to the Lord.”

 I don’t know what came over me but I had a vision and inspired by it,  I was enflamed and said that this work we were undertaking would prove  to be very important and that someday people would come from all parts  to see it.

 In reporting this new whim of society, the press also mentioned that  Dr. Montessori had made a beautiful speech, but what an exaggeration in  what she had said!

It was from then that the real work began.

Remember that all these children were completely illiterate. Their  parents were also illiterate and they were born and grown in the  environment, I have described.

What happened more than thirty years ago now will always remain a  mystery to me. I have tried since then to understand what took place in  those children. Certainly, there was nothing of what is to be found now  in any House of Children. There were only rough large tables.

I brought them some of the materials which had been used for our work  in experimental psychology, the items which we use today as sensorial  material, and materials for the exercises of practical life. I merely  wanted to study the children’s reactions. I asked the woman in charge  not to interfere with them in any way as otherwise, I would not be able  to observe them, Someone brought them paper and colored pencils but in  itself, this was not the explanation of the further events. There was no  one who loved them, I myself only visited them once a week, and during  the day the children had no communication with their parents.

The children were quiet, they had no interference either from the  teacher or from the parents, but their environment contrasted vividly  from that which they had been used to; compared to that of their  previous life; it seemed fantastically beautiful. The walls were white,  there was a green plot of grass outside, though no one had yet thought  to plant flowers in it, but most beautiful of all was the fact that they  had interesting occupations in which no one, no one at all, interfered.  They were left alone and little by little the children began to work  with concentration and the transformation they underwent, was  noticeable. From timid and wild as they were before, the children became  sociable and communicative. They showed a different relationship with  each other, of which I have written in my books. Their personalities  grew and, strange though it may seem, they showed extraordinary  understanding, activity, vivacity, and confidence. They were happy and  joyous.

This fact was noticed after a while by the mothers who came to tell  us about it. As the children had had no one to teach them or interfere  with their actions, they acted spontaneously, their manners were  natural.

But the most outstanding thing about these strange children of the  St. Lawrence Quarter was their obvious gratitude. I was as much  surprised by this as everyone else. When I entered the room all the  children sprang to greet me and cried their welcome. Nobody had taught  them any manner of good behavior. And the strangest thing of all was  that although nobody had cared for them physically, they flourished in  health as if they had been secretly fed on some nourishing food, And so  they had, but in their spirit. These children began to notice things in  their homes, a spot of dirt on their mother’s dress, untidiness in the  room. They told their mothers not to hang the washing in the windows but  to put flowers there instead. Their influence spread into the homes, so  that after a while also these became transformed.

Six months after the inauguration of the House of Children, some of  the mothers came to me and pleaded that as I had already done so much  for their children, and they themselves could do nothing about it  because they were illiterate, would I not teach their children to read  and write?
At first, I did not want to, being as prejudiced as everyone else that  the Children were far too young for it. But I gave them the alphabet in  the way I have told you. As then it was something new for me also, I  analyzed the words for them and showed that each sound of the words had a  symbol by which it could be materialized. It was then that the  explosion into writing occurred.

The news spread and the whole world became interested in this  phenomenal activity of writing of these children who were so young and  whom nobody had taught. The people realized that they were confronted by  a phenomenon that could not be explained for besides writing, these  children worked all the time without being forced by anyone to do so.  This was a great revelation but it was not the only contribution of the  children. It was also they, who created the lesson of silence. They  seemed to be a new type of children. Their fame spread and in  consequence, all kinds of people visited the House of Children,  including State ministers and their wives, with whom the children  behaved graciously and beautifully, without anyone urging then, that  even the newspapers in Italy and abroad became excited. So the news  spread, until finally also the Queen became interested. She came to that  quarter so ill-famed that it was considered hell’s doors, to see for  herself the children about whom she had heard wonders.

What was the wonder due to? No one could state it clearly. But it  conquered me forever because it penetrated my heart as a new light. One  day I looked at them with eyes that saw them differently and I asked  myself: “Who are you, are you the same children you were before?” And I  said within myself: “Perhaps you are those children of whom it was said  that they would come to save humanity. If so, I shall follow you.” Since  then, I am she who tries to grasp their message and to follow them.

And in order to follow them, I changed my whole life. I was nearly  40. I had in front of me a doctors’ career and a professorship at the  University. But I left all because I felt compelled to follow them and  to find others who could follow them, for I saw that in them lay the  secret of the soul.

You must realize that what happened was something so great and so  stirring that its importance could never be sufficiently recognized.  That it will never be sufficiently studied, is certain, for it is the  secret of life itself. We cannot fully know its causes. It is not  possible that it came because of my method, for at the time my method  did not yet exist. This is the clearest proof that it was a revelation  that emanated from the children themselves.

My educational method has grown from these as well as from many other  revelations, given by the children, You know from what I have told you,  that all the details included in the method, have come from the efforts  to follow the child. The new path has been shown to us. No one knows  exactly how it arose, it just came into being and showed us the new way.

It has nothing to do with any educational method of the past, nor  with any educational method of the future. It stands alone as the  contribution of the child himself. Perhaps it is the first of its kind,  which has been built by him step by step.

 It cannot have come from an adult person; the thought, the very  principle that the adult should stand aside to make room for the child,  could never have come from the adult.

Anyone who wants to follow my method must understand that he should not honor me but follow the child as his leader.”