THE MONTESSORI METHOD AND THE KINDERGARTEN.
I. INTRODUCTION.
The educational world is still eagerly discussing the comparative merits of an experiment which was made by Dr. Maria Montessori in Rome with a few poor children gathered from the tenement districts of that city and placed by her in large, light, airy rooms connected with a model tenement house recently established by an association of philanthropic Roman citizens.
Much misunderstanding prevails with regard to Dr. Montessori's work. Notwithstanding the fact that she has somewhat suddenly attained a world-wide reputation, she modestly claims to have established only one pedagogical laboratory, her idea being that many more must be established and the results compared before a scientific system of pedagogy can be worked out. She lays no claims to a new^ method of pedagogy, but rather to a method of a new science of pedagogy. The beginnings of this new science had alread}^ manifested themselves in education by the special attention given to physically handicapped children, to mentally defective individuals, and to moral derelicts. The same influence is observable in many other directions—in the attempts to provide a wholesome recreation for the congested sections of our great cities; in the effort to deepen social life for the isolated workers in the agFicultural districts; in the advocacy of farm life for boys instead of juvenile courts and houses of correction. It is also observable in the more scientific treatment of prisoners in our more advanced penal institutions. Eugenics, hygiene, anthropology, and similar studies have become topics of general interest instead of subjects reserved only for specialists. Better still, we are awakening to the fact that the efforts of "experimental psychology," although they have brought forth valuable by-products, have failed to reduce man to the laws of physics. The inner spirit or personality of man has refused to be reduced to the laws of mere organic matter. Dr. Montessori's worlc is thoroughly in accord with this principle. Notwithstanding her exacting and thorough training as a scientist, she has absolute faith in the importance of the study of the child's ego or personality and claims that it will be the chief concern of pedagogy in the near future.
Any estimate of Madame Montessori's work, to be of practical value to the mother or teacher, will necessarily involve a comparison between the Montessori method and that of the kindergarten, since the kindergarten is the only system of organized educational work for young children that has so far received general recognition. It is important to remind ourselves, however, that the welfare of the little child is of far more significance than the mere settlement of rival claims between the kindergarten and Montessori. Only by taking this larger view of the subject can we come to any just or satisfactory estimate of Dr. Montessori's education of young children, and that will be the chief consideration in this bulletin rather than an extended account of her psychological view, which is not new. It will be necessary to show, however, how the latter has shaped the former.
The contributions in Dr. Montessori's work that are of most practical value to us come largely from her training as a physician and a student of anthropology. It is doubtful if any kindergartner has made so thorough a study of the physical needs of children. She has also the advantage of the scientific advance which experimental psychology has made since Froebel's day, concerning the effects of the bodily condition upon the mental progress of children. Owing to her anthropological studies, she has furnished us with a very simple and easily comprehended chart, which shows the average height, weight, etc., of the normal child, at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of age, and thereby gives a standard, by means of which the abnormality of any child can be easily ascertained.
The kindergarten as organized by Friedrich Froebel
I. INTRODUCTION.
The educational world is still eagerly discussing the comparative merits of an experiment which was made by Dr. Maria Montessori in Rome with a few poor children gathered from the tenement districts of that city and placed by her in large, light, airy rooms connected with a model tenement house recently established by an association of philanthropic Roman citizens.
Much misunderstanding prevails with regard to Dr. Montessori's work. Notwithstanding the fact that she has somewhat suddenly attained a world-wide reputation, she modestly claims to have established only one pedagogical laboratory, her idea being that many more must be established and the results compared before a scientific system of pedagogy can be worked out. She lays no claims to a new^ method of pedagogy, but rather to a method of a new science of pedagogy. The beginnings of this new science had alread}^ manifested themselves in education by the special attention given to physically handicapped children, to mentally defective individuals, and to moral derelicts. The same influence is observable in many other directions—in the attempts to provide a wholesome recreation for the congested sections of our great cities; in the effort to deepen social life for the isolated workers in the agFicultural districts; in the advocacy of farm life for boys instead of juvenile courts and houses of correction. It is also observable in the more scientific treatment of prisoners in our more advanced penal institutions. Eugenics, hygiene, anthropology, and similar studies have become topics of general interest instead of subjects reserved only for specialists. Better still, we are awakening to the fact that the efforts of "experimental psychology," although they have brought forth valuable by-products, have failed to reduce man to the laws of physics. The inner spirit or personality of man has refused to be reduced to the laws of mere organic matter. Dr. Montessori's worlc is thoroughly in accord with this principle. Notwithstanding her exacting and thorough training as a scientist, she has absolute faith in the importance of the study of the child's ego or personality and claims that it will be the chief concern of pedagogy in the near future.
Any estimate of Madame Montessori's work, to be of practical value to the mother or teacher, will necessarily involve a comparison between the Montessori method and that of the kindergarten, since the kindergarten is the only system of organized educational work for young children that has so far received general recognition. It is important to remind ourselves, however, that the welfare of the little child is of far more significance than the mere settlement of rival claims between the kindergarten and Montessori. Only by taking this larger view of the subject can we come to any just or satisfactory estimate of Dr. Montessori's education of young children, and that will be the chief consideration in this bulletin rather than an extended account of her psychological view, which is not new. It will be necessary to show, however, how the latter has shaped the former.
The contributions in Dr. Montessori's work that are of most practical value to us come largely from her training as a physician and a student of anthropology. It is doubtful if any kindergartner has made so thorough a study of the physical needs of children. She has also the advantage of the scientific advance which experimental psychology has made since Froebel's day, concerning the effects of the bodily condition upon the mental progress of children. Owing to her anthropological studies, she has furnished us with a very simple and easily comprehended chart, which shows the average height, weight, etc., of the normal child, at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 years of age, and thereby gives a standard, by means of which the abnormality of any child can be easily ascertained.
The kindergarten as organized by Friedrich Froebel
