Montessori - ch 19 and 20

I changed my mind about skipping the Froebel chapters. In an e-group I'm on, we're just about at the part of CM's volume 1 where she says what she likes and doesn't like about Froebel. So this suddenly became more interesting for me. :) There's still one more chapter in the book, which I'll post this weekend. Then the book will truly be done.

Chapter 19 - Montessori and Froebel: Similarities

(Froebel was the father of Kindergarten)

Both Montessori and Froebel love and reverence the child as a spiritual being (CM also agreed here).

Both felt that the vital element in education and learning was the child's own activity, and that shouldn't be interfered with.

Both use teaching materials, although Montessori's are more closely related to Gestalt and Froebel's are called 'gifts' and are more spiritual and metaphysical (this sounds more like a difference than a similarity).

Both saw the child as soft wax to be molded. And both saw the development of humans as stages of metamorphosis - infant, toddler, child, youth, man. If anything is missed at any one of these stages, it becomes like a 'dropped stitch' in life and can't be made up for later. This is related to sensitive periods, such as the 'absorbent mind' stage of preschool. (This sounds to me like 'windows of opportunity.')

Both saw the child as an explorer, collecting data to build his mind with, and both felt that more was gained if the child discovered and figured things out for himself. But both felt that adults could offer some help. For Montessori, that help was providing a prepared environment. For Froebel, the help was more direct (by answering questions, I think.)

Macrocosm/microcosm - both felt that the child sought to recreate the order and knowledge he saw in his world, which reflected God's order and knowledge as manifested in Creation.

Both felt that too much interference and not enough opportunity to allow children to develop according to their own nature is the cause of deviations, abnormal behavior and bad habits.

Both understood that, for children to know the right thing to do, they needed more than to be told what to do. Their bodies and muscles needed to practice doing it. Froebel used 'drill' to teach coordination. Montessori put more emphasis on this wih her focus on life skills. (CM emphasized training the muscles to do tasks excellently, but she didn't feel that training the muscles had any impact on the mind as Froebel and Montessori did.)

Both were profoundly keen on freedom and autonomy - but only in the sense of being free within the law, never as a license to do wrong.


Chapter 20 - Montessori and Froebel: Differences

Although both aimed at education through self-activity, the differences between Montessori and Froebel may explain why Montessori was more successful.

Froebel's 'teaching unit' consisted of 8-10 children, so that would be an ideal class size. Since Montessori's 'teaching unit' is one child learning independently, larger class sizes of 35 students are more efficient.

Montessori puts more faith in the child's 'inner light' to choose what and when to learn within the confines of the prepared environment, so the teacher's role is merely to direct in the background. A Froebel teacher teaches. (CM said that, in a Froebel kindergarten, everything rested on the teacher's kindliness, enthusiasm and cheerfulness.)

In a Montessori school, children learn through self-initiated work. In a Froebel school, they learn through play.

Montessori didn't think it was healthy for children to hear fairy tales before they were old enough to sort fact from fiction - around age 5. While they were still in the exploring and data-collecting phase of their development, presenting fantasy would only confuse them and scare them with thoughts of witches and goblins that might stay in their minds into adulthood. There are enough fascinating real things in the world to spark preschool children's imaginations--nature itself offers lots of real fascination. Montessori found that children tended to role play about being independent. In a Montessori school, they are independent. They set real tables for real meals and clean real messes - so they don't need to act it out in play. Froebel focused on play and the imagination, even suggesting activities to act out (the 'flapping like butterflies and frisking like lambs' that CM criticized). Montessori focused on work and intellect and believed the imagination would take care of itself because people were designed to be creative. It is as true for children as adults that work brings the greatest satisfaction, and all play and no work makes recreation boring. Montessori felt that much of children's playing was an attempt to escape the authoritative adult world where children didn't fit and mastery is frustratingly impossible. Under the right circumstances (prepared environment, freedom to work) Montessori hd no objection to play. She even sometimes had them role play situations or scenes in stories. Froebelians objected to Montessori's insistance that teaching materials be used only for their intended purpose. Froebel would have praised children using them imaginatively, but that was contrary to Montessori's purposes. If the child wants to wash something, let him wash real (child-sized) laundry. If he wants to build, let him use real building materials, not the graduated cylinders.

Froebel was pantheistic (Nordic, the book says) while Montessori was Catholic and believed in one God.

Froebel emphasized 'making the inner the outer' through self-expression, while Montessori focused on the child internalizing and ordering the outside world in his mind - more like 'making the outer the inner.'

To start at the beginning of this series, click here.
Read the final installment.