1. In what ways was Maria Montessori a pioneer for women's rights?
Maria Montessori was a pioneer for women's rights in her fight to pursue her beliefs despite the barriers facing women in Italy then. She was very much a pioneer through example, refusing to follow the normal path that women followed then by first wanting to be an engineer and studying in a technical school and then pursuing medicine when no woman has ever done that before in Italy.
When she met up with the head of the medical faculty to discuss the possibility that she could enter the faculty but was spurned, she left with the parting words of , “ I know I will be a doctor.” She continued this persistence by matriculating for the medical faculty and finally getting into it.
Her exemplary fight to pursue what she wants despite the place that women had in society then was portrayed in her struggles during her studies where she was treated coldly by her male compatriots. She not only persisted to excel but won over many of her critics. Dr. Maria also had to fight her personal inhibitions with the rigours of her medical studies as shown in the episode when she first had to work in the mortuary.
Montessori's fight for women's rights continued soon after her graduation when she became the Italian representative for a conference on women's rights in Germany. There she impressed much with her spontaneity and insight into the issues facing women in those days. Throughout her fight to do what she believed was right, Montessori did not see any reason to part from her feminine nature. stamping her own version of a liberated woman.
In what ways did she lead an important educational movement for reform?
Dr. Montessori's wave of reform started from her work with the disabled where she called for changes to how they are being taught. She believed that they become a liability to society only because the system they were put into did not teach them to be more than what they are because society has already perceived them as lesser beings.
Montessori stated in the Pedagogical Congress in Turin in 1898 that “the intellectual idiot and the moral imbecile are capable of being educated and have instincts that can be used to lead them to the good.”1
She later translated her opinions in her work at the Orthophrenic School for two years which she called her first and indeed my true degree in pedagogy. She achieved a breakthrough when the children who were thought to be of no hope to learn anything were able to read and write, with some passing the national examination, then the average level of education of Italians, after being taught at the school.
Montessori brought scientific pedagogy to a new level. She not only furthered Itard's and Seguin's work, she also brought in her medical and anthropological background into education and began a pedagogical revolution where the child, not the teacher or anything else became the center of learning. “ The subject of our study is humanity; our purpose is to become teachers. Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child...” 2
3. In what ways to you feel she was "human"?
Despite her privileged upbringing, Montessori never saw herself as being above the less well-off. As a child, she befriended a hunchbacked child and went for walks with her. She was often a champion for the underdogs; women, the disabled and of course, children.
Montessori also continued to live in Spain and not return to Barcelona after her visit to the United States in 1915 so that her son will not be conscripted into military service which would have conflicted with her stand against war and militaristic nationalism.
In her speech on “ Education and Peace” , Montessori talked about how important it was that human instincts must keep up with the advancement of technology which in the wrong hands could have catastrophic consequences for “if the sidereal forces are used blindly by men who know nothing about them with the aim of destroying one another- the attempt will be speedily successful.”3
4. How did her humanity impact her role as a world leader both positively and negatively?
One of the strongest negative impact of her humanity on her role as a world leader was how she agreed to go along with Mussolini in his support for the Montessori movement which was in truth for his own fascist ambitions.
In her stand that she was apolitical and that the “cause of the child” superseded ephemeral distinctions of party and nation. She believed that despite the brutalities of the regime, it was far better that she is in the system taking charge of the education of the children and hence for the betterment of society in future.
Those unstable times however also brought opportunities for her work to be carried out among the victims of war. Out of her plea for the establishment of the White Cross to treat the children of war, Montessori classes were set up in almost thirty cities in France for children who had been the victims of war.
She also contributed to other war relief efforts such as the Haus der Kinder in Vienna, pumping in support from England towards the school that was built to serve the destitute children who were victims of war.
The world wars also made her an advocate for peace around the world and she was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize thrice. Her work brought her around the world for the most part of her life such that her country is a star which turns around the sun and is called the Earth.
5. What is the greatest contribution of her life to the world?
Dr. Montessori's gave to the world her philosophy and method of education where the child can discover for himself and is able to apply what he learns to new situations in a school. Through this she has freed the child from the slavery imposed in schools where the child is confined to the chair and table and made to repeat lessons.
6. What would you like to add about the story of her life?
More than half a century after Dr. Montessori's death, her work has continued to enjoy a continued renaissance and has spread throughout the world.
My hope is that this love for the child is brought into public education so that a majority, if not all the children will be able to discover their true self and their role in this life. There is lack of spirituality in the education of the masses which at times has been made into a factory for the economic growth of the future.
An education should not only be about being number one, but to love knowledge and to live by a code of conduct that would bring good to society at large because if education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.”
1Kramer, R. (1988). Maria Montessori A Biography, p.75
2 Ibid, p.98
3Ibid, p. 302
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