Chapter 16 To use the Montessori education method correctly

Someone asked, Montessori's educational thought is a foreigner's educational method, is it suitable for our Chinese children? People don't pay attention to her and her thinking, and they don't pay attention to observe the children. In short, out of 100 people, 99 of them will come up with this question: Is it suitable for children's education in foreign countries to be placed in our country? ?Montessori has long been recognized as an internationally renowned educator and thinker recognized in the history of world children's education.Her methods, ideas and theories belong to the International, to the whole world, because they are universal to human beings.She has long since become a citizen of the world.Her work is scientific, and science knows no boundaries.

Education is a science.Early human education is basically the same.Why do you say that?For example, according to Montessori's own theoretical point of view, she said that childhood, especially 0-6 years old, is the two poles of life compared with adults.Just like the South Pole and the North Pole of the earth. 7 years old is not a continuation of 6 years old.In fact, everything he laid before the age of 6 is the foundation for his whole life, not for a certain culture, or a certain school, or a certain kind of knowledge transformation.This is a universal characteristic of human beings. Culture, more completely national culture, is special but universal.Language, art, behavior patterns, ways of thinking, and customs are both special and common.This particularity is the reason for the existence and development of national culture; this universality is the reason for the intercommunication, mutual understanding and mutual penetration of national cultures.

What the Montessori method wants to improve is the basic quality of people, the basic character of human nature. Someone asked again, what should I do if I come out of a Montessori school and am outnumbered, or the golden rooster is independent, and I don’t adapt to the existing society?We know that an excellent person, a person with excellent character, is very adaptable no matter which society he is in.Because man is not a machine, nor a puppet, he has spiritual power. Human beings are based on spirit.So in any one place, he should be able to adapt.All his strength comes from his inner spirit, and this foundation should be laid for him.If we only regard this person as a specific phenomenon and environment of ours, or think that he should live in this environment forever, and cultivate it in this way, then this person may never be able to adapt.

why?Because today we find that our society today is different from what we imagined in the past, but people have to adapt.People in the past, or people educated in the past, are not adapted to today, some are partially adapted, some are fully adapted, some created today, and some are ahead of today.The education in the past should have created the latter types of people.So what will our future society look like?we do not know.But after we bring Montessori education today, when we apply it, we first create the future based on it.Montessori himself said: "I just created a scientific method, which is suitable for any nation." She also said that the purpose of this education is to cultivate children's development potential, ability to adapt to and use the environment.The new concept of education also tells us that the current education system is no longer capable of cultivating newcomers for the future society. Only by fully developing human nature can we create newcomers in the future.

We found Montessori when we were really engaging in educational science for children, and we were "targeted" looking for methods, ideas and theories to help us.We use it, not copy it.We also study what other great parents, teachers, educators, thinkers, psychologists have written.So it is impossible for us to follow the European way completely.Not only because we are not foreigners with yellow hair and blue eyes, we are Chinese.We can only use our thinking habits and cultural concepts to understand Montessori, but we are in common with the whole world on one point, that is, the grasp of truth and science.As long as we focus or pay attention to children, we have actually become Chinese and nationalized.When we brought it, we had digested it with our unique culture.

The key lies in the starting point of the problem, the goal of our work.Under the premise of a certain level of thinking, we can get close to the truth by focusing on the children.When we face children and ask countless whys, we are close to children and the truth.Not for the implementation of a well-known educational method, not for "new educational methods", not to increase the variety and form of education, not for economic benefits, etc., but for the growth of children. In fact, it is impossible for Chinese Montessori kindergartens to be like Europeans in the whole process of implementing the Montessori education method, because their overall cultural status is different from ours.For example, in the process of treating our children, we have to overcome many of our own weaknesses.For example, in managing children, we must constantly remind ourselves to keep our hands off our own business and give this right to children; on the other hand, we must overcome the limitations of the education we have received for decades.

In educational thinking and educational concepts, we lag behind the international advanced educational thinking for nearly a century. Montessori's educational thinking is an example.When we always thought that children are educated by us adults, this educational view has begun to change at the beginning of this century: children will rely on their own inner spirit to develop themselves.While we still believe today that developing children’s intelligence and mastering knowledge is the primary task, at the beginning of this century, people have pointed out that the difference between traditional education and modern education is that the purpose of modern education is to develop life, greatly develop humanity and human nature. The potential of such a concept change makes people at a loss in the face of Montessori education, and it will take decades to change.Therefore, Sinicizing Montessori education is an extremely dangerous signal. It does not mean excluding educational concepts and only using educational methods.For us, the concept is more important than the method, isn't it?