Charlotte Mason's Letter to the Editor

I read the letter that Charlotte Mason wrote about Montessori on Aimee Natal's site (the original is here or you can read my modern English paraphrase here), and I have a couple thoughts of my own. In one sense, I agree with Aimee, that CM reduced Montessori to a 'peculiar novelty.' Charlotte did go on and on about Montessori's method of blindfolding children to force their other senses to compensate so as to engage their attention more. I suspect that CM is grossly misrepresenting Montessori's method; I'm pretty certain that Montessori's method entailed a LOT more than blindfolding children so that they had to rely on a sense of touch. I found the book 'Maria Montessori - Her Life and Work' by E.M. Standing at a used bookstore for 99 cents yesterday, so I plan to make it one of the next books I read, and then I'll know more whether CM missed a lot of what Montessori was doing or not.

I've always thought that, in some of CM's criticisms of education sprinkled throughout her books, she had Montessori specifically in mind, and her letter to the editor makes me more sure of that than ever. But I think Montessori may have improved since CM's day, so the Montessori she was reacting against so strongly then might not be the Montessori of today. But I think CM made a good point in observing that "the note of popular education today is contempt for knowledge and for the books in which the knowledge of mankind is lodged. 'Education by things' is boldly advocated, regardless of the principle that things lead only to more and more various things and are without effect on the thoughts and therefore on the character and conduct of a man." It's books that enlarge and broaden the mind, not information gained from tactile, sensory experience.