On war and peace, sickness and health

Reading Seminar, 2 March 2017
Washington Montessori Institute
Maria Montessori, Education and Peace, Part I: Foundations for Peace

“We were deeply moved at the discovery of a real and awesome conflict, a ceaseless war that confronts the child from the very day he is born and is part of his life all during his formative years. This conflict is between the adult and the child, between the strong and the weak, and, we might add, between the blind and the clear-sighted.” (Education and Peace, p.12)

15-minute reflection (edited):

There is a persistent conflict between the adult and the child, because they have very different priorities. When the child fights back he is called the ‘troublesome two’ or the ‘threenager’. It is easy for the adult to win, just because we are in a dictatorial position, but the cost of war is borne by both winners and losers. After WWI our ancestors experienced Great Depression and Fascism. Today we have the refugee crisis. The costs of oppressive parenting are just as such; they are partly immediate, and partly repaid long into the future.

Til today we still pray for world peace, and this ‘peace’ is merely understood as the absence of war — still, a wild dream. But if we think of our physical beings, will we call ourselves healthy as long as we’re not coughing or sneezing? Health is much more than the absence of disease or sickness. (Note 1)

If we think of the goal(s) of the human being, at its very foundation lies the goals of survival and adaptation. What we consider as civilisation now is man’s adaptation to the environment, to use less and less resources (incl time) on survival, and more and more time on self-fulfillment and social progression, which in turn should drive civilisation further. Man, who once fights hard to merely ‘not die’, can now focus on a more positive way of being alive.

If instead, man spends this extra time on fighting, then there is no progression. In the same way, if the child spends his effort to fight his parents, to try so hard to exert his will, to throw tantrums and break down inconsolably because his intentions are disrupted, then the child merely eats and grow in size, but his spirit shall not expand.

---

Note 1: On Health and Positive Peace

“Personal health is closely related to man’s mastery of himself and to the reverence shown to life and all its natural beauties. The aim became not so much to fight against disease as to attain health, thus shielding oneself against disease in general. This was a new idea, and when it was first propounded man was not a healthy creature.” (Education and Peace, p.9)

“[T]he plague represents a sudden, catastrophic scourge, and tuberculosis represents the gradual self-destruction of the weak personality.” (Education and Peace, p.11)

Social Awareness

Reading Seminar, 23 February 2017
Washington Montessori Institute
Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 22 “Social Development”;
Chapter 23 “Cohesion in the Social Unit”

“Good laws and a good government cannot hold the mass of men together and make them act in harmony, unless the individuals themselves are oriented toward something that gives them solidarity and makes them into a group. The masses, in their turn, are more or less strong and active according to the level of development, and of inner stability, of the personalities composing them.” (The Absorbent Mind, p.215)

15-minute reflection (consolidated):

As the mighty adult, recognise that by proactively helping, you are stripping children of the chance to solve their own problems. They are not helpless — so your help is an insult. (Note 1)

Rather than solving a problem, your role is to engage children with each other, then allow them to interact themselves. It can be as simple as facilitating a dialogue, that each have their turn to say something. ‘Engagement’ means children hear each other and respect each other’s words, that “stop hitting” said by a child is just as urgent as that said by an adult — which isn’t quite often the case now. Perhaps children, now coming from smaller and more ‘knowledgeable’ families, are too used to adults’ involvement/intervention.

Social awareness stems from engagement; understanding and respect cannot come by if one does not see, listen or notice. Ignorance is the opposite of awareness.

Hence, apart from engaging children with each other, you should often demonstrate using your senses, such as noticing there’s a wet patch on the floor, noticing that the soil is dry, noticing that the corner is dusty… noticing is fundamental to care — care of self, environment and others.

Intelligence is largely about perception. How a person solves a problem depends on how he perceives and analyses the situation. The more you see, the more you understand, the better you are capable of judging. If you don’t see, your ability is pretty limited.

When children become capable of attending to each other, you may then step back and appreciate these mischievous and creative beings who will find their own creative solutions, almost entirely out of our imagination.

Acknowledge that the adult have the best view of the classroom/environment, but the children see each other close-up. They are capable of noticing more than us. How can you possibly see nearly and clearly when you’re taking a bird’s-eye view?

So let them solve their problems!

---

Note 1: Development comes from problem-solving

“When adults interfere in this first stage of preparation for social life, they nearly always make mistakes. When children are ‘walking on the line’ one of them may go in the opposite direction to all the others, and a collision seems inevitable. One’s impulse is to seize the child and turn him around. But he looks out very well for himself, and solves the difficulty — not always in the same fashion, but always satisfactorily. Such problems abound at every step, and it gives the children great pleasure to face them. They feel irritated if we intervene, and find a way if left to themselves. This is all social experience, and it provides constant practice in dealing suitably with situations that no teacher would be able to invent. The teacher, instead, usually intervenes, but her solution differs from that of the children and this disturbs the harmony of the group. Apart from exceptional cases, we ought to leave such problems to the children. We can study their behaviour objectively, and of this very little is known. It is through these daily experiences that a social order comes into being.” (The Absorbent Mind, p.203)

Freedom of circulation in class and its implications

Reading Seminar, 20 October 2016
Washington Montessori Institute
Maria Montessori, The Child, Society and the World, Chapter IV “Montessori’s ‘Alternative Comprehensive School’ ”

“These are the things you should remember: primarily the interest of the child, which brings the child to fix himself on the study. Secondly, the co-operation of the children, and this is immensely aided by the fact that the ages of the children are not alike; the older children are interested in the younger, and the younger in the older. So we come to the conclusion that not only the older ones can help the younger ones but they will also profit from the fact. Thirdly there are the human instincts which bring man to attach himself to one place, and which result in order and discipline. It is curious that the remark mostly made by visitors is that their strongest impression is of the silence that reigns over the school. The most fervent activities of these children are carried out in a silence that had never been imposed on them.” (The Child, Society and the World, p.69)

15-minute reflection (edited):

In Chapter 22 “Social Development” of The Absorbent Mind, Dr Montessori talked about the competitive, rivalristic nature of same-aged classrooms (schooling separated by ages) (Note 1).

Our group discussed Montessori elementary (6-12) students freely going into the primary (3-6) classrooms, sometimes to re-experience a concrete material — to connect it with a new challenge or knowledge. This act of ‘going back’ is frowned upon by society, or by those of us who went through traditional schooling. Same-aged classes and the idea of being an infallible ‘A’ student promotes the idea of segregation, by grade/age and by attainment. The precious opportunity to connect, both with experience/knowledge and with people are sacrificed.

Mixed age classes are naturally conducive to the interaction between older and younger children, where teaching and learning will happen spontaneously. On top of that, it is also the foundation for a cohesive society — an integrated one that is not segregated by class or by seniority, by religious faith or by hierarchy of power.

Our discussion about children acting as a ‘control of error’ has brought us to talking about how much traditional education emphasises ‘infallibility’. If schooling is factory-modelled, of course the blueprint (teacher and curriculum) and output (student and evaluation) have to all be free from defects. Standardisation is a must, for how can there be two versions of ‘the perfect final product’? With this understanding, and comparing it with Montessori, one shall see that there is no ‘expert’ expectation in the latter setting. Children are more than welcomed to teach their peers regardless of whether they have or have not the expertise, for that is the time when they become better and better in their understanding, grow as a whole person, and work towards realising their true selves. This is the road, the process to perfection.

---

Note 1: On mixed-age setting

“The charm of social life is in the number of different types that one meets. Nothing is duller than a Home for the Aged. To segregate by age is one of the cruellest and mos t inhuman things one can do, and this is equally true for children. It breaks the bonds of social life, deprives it of nourishment. […] Our schools show that children of different ages help one another. The younger ones see what the older ones are doing and ask for explanations. These are readily given, and the instruction is really valuable, for the mind of a five year old is so much nearer than ours to the mind of a child of three… [t]here is between them a natural mental ‘osmosis’. […] All the older ones become heroes and teachers, and the tiniest are their admirers. These look to the former for inspiration, then go on with their own work. In the other kind of school, where children in the same class are all of the same age, the more intelligent could easily teach others, but this is hardly ever allowed. The only thing they may do is to answer the teacher’s questions when the less intelligent cannot. The result is that their cleverness often provokes envy. Envy is unknown to little children. They are not abashed by an older child knowing more than they do, for they sense that when they are bigger their turn will come. There is love and admiration on both sides; a true brotherhood. In the old type of school… [t]he brighter children became conceited and dominated the others, whereas in our schools the five year old feels himself a protector of the younger one. It is hard to believe how deep this atmosphere of protection of admiration becomes in practice. The class gets to be a group cemented by affection.” (The Absorbent Mind, p.204-205)

Illustrations on the Four Planes of Development

Reading Seminar, 27 September 2016
Washington Montessori Institute
The Four Planes of Education (AMI pamphlet)
“Montessori’s phases of development”, illustrated by Camillo Grazzini

“Education then becomes a matter of helping these energies; for the soul is not a stone for sculpting according to the artist’s talent, but is free energy whose expression and unfolding obeys its own inner laws.” (The Four Planes of Education, p.31)

Background: the ‘Four Planes’ are the four distinct stages of man’s development. Like Piaget’s and Erikson’s, this is Montessori’s stage theory of development, where each plane has its distinctive characteristics and needs to be met.

15-minute reflection on group discussion:

The mathematical mind is strongly captivated by the charts discussed in today’s seminar. I presented my own interpretations of them, and with supplemental words from my group-mates, I shall summarise below:

“The Bulb”:

• Bulb diagram is a differential (d/dx), i.e. change. The triangle diagram beneath is cumulative, i.e. sum.
• Bulb diagram shows organic nature of change, hence ‘artsy’ illustration. The triangle diagram is uniform because of the ‘empty vessel’ concept of traditional, factory-modelled schooling, where input is uniform.

“Constructive Rhythm of Life”:

• Again, the triangle diagram is about schooling, or a version of man that is perceived by society. Society sees sum. Accumulation is evident to man. Potential, on the other hand, is unseen to most. It happens ‘in darkness’ like a photograph development. ‘Empty vessel’ is evident again, because size of triangle is proportional to number of upward arrows.
• Inverted triangle diagram on top is deliberately made up of uniform triangles to stress equal importance of each stage. Red and blue symbolises different types of energy (creative vs. calm), but they are of equal importance. Height of triangle = evidence of characteristics/sensitivity of that stage. Area of triangle is work done in establishing it.

We spent time discussing “The Bulb” diagram, how the organic bulb illustrates human potential, while the bottom diagram illustrates human thought. The accumulation of thought = civilization. Man as a society would of course put emphasis on civilization, and not the unseen, intangible potential. The latter takes spirituality.

In Physics, ‘potential’ and ‘work’ are related concepts. Potential is voltage, work is energy dissipated. One needs to do work to realise potential. The result of this work will present itself as a cumulative diagram much like the one below, except that the rate of change (i.e. slope) could not be uniform (a straight line). The only reason for uniformity is if man is viewed as empty vessels, which man shall only have what he receives in schooling. Since traditional schooling is uniform input, the triangles have straight hypotenuse. Otherwise, if according to the nature of man, it should look something like this:

Last, we discussed what ‘finality’ means and why it is placed in both graphs. Normally, final can mean fixed, complete, done – this is my ‘final work’, for example. Here, finality can mean ‘my work is done’ too – the work of human development is complete, full human development has been expended, his spontaneous creative energy on character development fully dissipated.

I hate to feel that my ‘creative’ days are over (2 years beyond finality now), but perhaps I can be happy with the character I have created, and work on the accumulation of thought instead.

On Montessori’s Scientific Observation

Reading seminar, 21 September 2016
Washington Montessori Institute
Maria Montessori, The Discovery of the Child, Chapter 2 (“History of the Methods”)

15-minute reflection on group discussion:

It is unfair to say that teachers in traditional schools do no observation, but there certainly is little room for scientific observation. There is no room and time for experimentation — be it formally setting up control vs. experimental groups and conducting treatments to the latter, or as simple as giving customised instruction to certain students and observing what progress have been made. Resources are limited and teachers have their requirements to meet. I have seen many teachers who have tried to help weaker students (in Hong Kong) or stronger students (in UK), but none have ever been able to cater for personality differences — these are too subtle to be noticed by general observation of untrained or insensitive people. However, generally in a class, it is the best and the worst that are sacrificed, simply because it is more efficient to cater to the average majority.

It is most ideal that a teacher be trained in scientific observation (Note 1), but as Dr Montessori herself had said on p.34 of The Discovery of the Child, observation is a psychological science, transformation is educational science. Hence, our group went on to talk about the implementation of the Montessori method in certain countries and its social impact.

Although Montessori had its roots a century ago in the poorest neighbourhoods such as San Lorenzo, Italy, the aristocrats seem to have most of the access. Prince George has given the method a lot of publicity, but state regulations continue to pose a lot of barriers, e.g. safety regulations, curriculum requirements, for Montessori schools to receive funding or any kind of subsidy. The poor has access to the socialists’ vision of free schooling, that, because is free, should take least resources. Factory-modelled education prevails; classrooms continue to be dull and cramped, because of cost. If experimentation cannot happen, there can be no room for better education.

I’ll end with a business analogy — any company would only spend money serving their richest customers. Customisation comes with a premium, and although all children are equally valuable in their spirit and to a Montessorian, their parents, who pay the bills, are not. For Montessori to reach further and lower into the grass roots, where Dr Montessori had her heart at (though not initially, she admitted her prejudice), there needs to be a lot of lobbying work. But how would that be possible when the rich and powerful exploits/reap profit from the weakness and dependencies of people?

P.S.: Also discussed in group discussion: how Montessori primary education is most needed in Hong Kong, but its impact unsustainable — factors including parenting culture, limited constructivist education, …

---

Note 1: What is scientific observation in Montessori education?

Think of a physics environment, that we are to study a relationship/phenomenon. The scientific study begins with setting up and designing the experiment (apparatus, instruments, procedure; don’t forget to pre-test these!), then gathering data (record and observation); afterwards data analysis is conducted for evidence or proof, coming to a conclusion of the phenomena, and lastly this conclusion be applied, utilised or reproduced. The first 2 steps will be performed at the laboratory.

Observation is to do with lab work. To observe means to neutrally take note of all that happens. Data is gathered as such, and so is reliability of the study. We observe that the sensitivity of apparatuses is constant, the controlled environment is maintained, the data is collected accurately (no careless mistakes), and also our own sanity (and neutrality, integrity…)!

Dr Montessori purports that the study of a person takes the following equation (Advanced Montessori Method Vol.1, p.87-89):

P = I + E

where P = psychical factor,
I = “individual, natural, spotaneous activity” of an individual life,
E = “external instrument” which provides experience for character-building

In the context of a Montessori classroom observation, I = unknown (no perfect knowledge of individual’s nature) and E = the prepared environment (constant for all I-s).

To appraise P, I is defined as an arbitrary constant, so P is proportional to E. Hence, the purpose of observation is not to gather data for the study of the individual child, but rather “finding external material means for natural development” (ibid., p.86).

As we know natural development is meeting the child’s needs, this means we are looking out for evident needs and how needs are being met or unmet in our prepared environment, classroom or home. It is essentially a demand-supply study.

We do not study I (the individual’s nature) as we cannot maintain an identical E for different children — they have homes to return to.

P (psychical factor) is recorded as the state of internal order (or level of discipline — not in the traditional inhibited sense though). Internal order can be understood as mind-body harmony, which is attained when the person’s physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual needs are adequately met. There is contentment and deep happiness, and this person, child or adult, appears collected and joyfully present.

As to how this internal order is achieved, tis the legacy of Dr Montessori — the transformation — through her unique curriculum and solid principles, rooted in educational science. Not the scope of my thoughts on observation today. 😉

知行合一！(knowledge and action in unison) This is our goal for life — the full realisation of the human spirit.