Imperial Valley press. (El Centro, Calif.) 1907-current, 1913-12-27
Tells Method of
Child Teaching
(By United Press Associations)

New YORK, Dec. Z(-Df. maria
Montessori, the great Italian educator
of children, who comes to this country
to teach her system for the uplift of
the human race through the medium
of consistent education, today told the
United Press of her aims and ambi-
lions for the fundamental phases Of
her methods. Miss Anne E. George,
director of the work for the Monies
sori Educational Association in Amer
lea, interpreted for the educator, who
does not speak English.
"No system of education can be
told in a few words or in a few
hundred Words" said DR.. Montessori
81 have told of my method in my
books, and yet I find that the same
thing must be told over and over again
in different words to fit different
cases with which I have to deal.
might say that my method is one
which leads the child to teach itself
The teacher is not teacher-merely
director of the activities of the
child's mind, body. and general tenn
permanent so as to bring out the things
which are naturally within the child
OuU IlOC OIOuSAC OuU NY Vic hNCAo6S
system of education.
Liberty of the child is another
very fundamental thing. In my school
the little ones are free to pursue their
own best natural inclinations. The fas-
tering of spontaneity in the child is
another great factor which must be
reckoned with.
IL o1i1I xr,t,a n ho
the normal man or woman is the in
dividual who in this world has had the
least attention. Science has done
much for the sick in body and mind
Science has borne within it great
truth, a great force, and society has
responded by honoring science. On
the other hand the common school,
which should long ago have received
the attention of modern science, has
done nothing for normal life and con
sequently society does not honor the
teacher nor give close attention to the
preparation of teachers.
at was through the deficient and
abnormal children that | first learned
my great lessons about the teaching
of childhood l taught my poor un-
fortunate little ones and found that
liberty, opportunities for spontaneous
activity and freedom from the re-
straint of ignorant elders were work
ing wonders. My deficient children
were advancing along the road to
knowledge faster than the normal chill
dren in the ordinary schools. Why
not set free the normal by the same
method, thought.
"Since then l have studied the nor
NAL child with results which have sur
prised me. I took simple means.
offered stimuli from the outside ma
terial to quicken their selection Of
things which they studied of their
own volition, and soon discovered that
the child, left alone and untrammeled
upon by the limiting surroundings and
the modern paraphernalia of public
schools would soon teach himself to do
things which he would not learn in
four times the number of weeks in the
ordinary school.
"Our scientists have never had the
attitude of humility toward the nor
NAL child which they have displayed
toward the smallest germs in their
microscope slides. The greatest doc
tor goes humbly to the bedside of a
sick child, but not to the side of its
normal brother. This is why we have
not succeeded in penetrating scientifi-
cally into the knowledge of the nor
NAL man. Christ, when he taught the
science of life, the way of life, taught
humility as its first principal, and
said, He who would be master of all
must be servant of all, and he who
would be master must serve
at was thus that tried to approach
the task which had set for myself.
I found that teachers in the public
schools often pour flood of words
presenting various phases of the SUBJ
iect on the confused pupil. 1t was my
belief that with simplicity children
would learn the same things more
clearly and with less effort and less
loss. 1t was my intention to analyze
in order that the child might receive
his perceptions clearly and concisely.
"My attitude was to be that of a
scientist. I was not coming to teach
them. l came with the order of the
scientist who desires to come upon the
spontaneous manifestations Of life and