QUOTES AND NOTES

In August of1915 Dr. Montessori spoke to the National Educational Association, Department of
Elementary Education. This talk was later published in the AMS Triangle magazine

“When you have solved the problem of controlling the attention of the child,
you have solved the entire problem of its education. The importance of a
scheme to concentrate the attention is self-evident. There exists in children
that exterior variability of attention that makes it so difficult to give them the
first lessons.”
“The ability to incessantly recall a wandering and scattered attention is the real
root of judgment, character and will; that system of education which succeeds
in bringing this faculty to the highest degree should be the ideal and standard
system of education.”

“When we speak of normalization of the child we direct our attention to the

child’s ability to come to us willingly when called to do so. These normalized
children when called softly…stop their work and immediately come to us. These
children are obedient to our requests without wavering; displaying their
devotion and love of our authority and direction. This is seen as the
development of inner strength and character, not as submission but as a
willingness to obey out of trust.”

1946 The AMS Triangle magazine

Addressing a group of trainees Dr. Montessori is quoted saying:

“There is only one line of development which leads to normalization as we

speak of it. Deviation of character is seen in children as an illness, a repression
of energy. These children who posses forms of deviations in character are
wounded psychologically.

When we set the energy free the child is cured. This is not to mean we give
freedom to children in the form of neglect. What is the use of freedom if it is
to develop their deviations further and not to correct it?”

“When we speak of freedom in education leading to the normalized child we

mean freedom for creative energy which urges life toward developments in
focus and concentration.
The teacher must interfere before the child is normalized. But she must be
trained to recognize the first moment of true concentration and not interfere
as this moment of true concentration is what leads to normalization.

“She must interfere to stop any disruption to the class any behavior which
common sense dictates, must be stopped.”

“I want to make this clear what ever instruction is necessary must be given. We
are guided by the children’s development. So when we say ‘follow the child’ I do
not suppose the child to be a responsible being able to tell us what they should
do, what I mean is; the child possesses characteristics which serve as our guide
in giving instruction according to their developmental stage.”

1947

“These children are not the same as the children we first received when I began
the first schools. These children behave quite naughty and are easily distracted
from their task.
When I first began my work with children they were disciplined punitively
by their parents, so we only had to free them from being set upon and give
them the lessons necessary for this freedom.”

“The difficulties we see in children, these children who are a problem, have
become like a flood. In the old days when we began this was not a problem, bad
behavior, difficult children. This should not be seen as evolution or a change in
the children, a new child drawn to misbehavior, but as a missing element
essential for life, some psychological element which is missing.
Correction of this new phenomenon can only be brought about through
interesting work which allows for productive interaction with the environment.
A repetition of activity and real concentration upon a task.
Directed properly on how to behave socially, on how to care for himself,
how to be a productive part of the social order he will regain his equilibrium
over time.”

In his book, Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work, E.M. Standing described the following
characteristics of normalization in the child between the age of three and six:
• A love of order
• A love of work
• Profound spontaneous concentration
• Attachment to reality
• Love of silence and of working alone
• Sublimation of the possessive instinct
• Obedience
• Independence and initiative
• Spontaneous self-discipline
• Joy
• The power to act from real choice and not just from idle curiosity