Looking for the Good New Days

One of the staples of intergenerational gatherings is that older members reach a point where they talk about all the things that didn’t exist in “the good old days”.  The checklist usually includes mobile phones and the internet alongside on-demand TV and DoorDash.  Within a few minutes they are often busy on their brand-new iPhone ordering take out for delivery so they can eat a meal in front of the latest Netflix bingeable series.

Early humans were able to travel, survive and thrive in new environments through innovation and discovery in, for example, fire, tools, clothing and diet.  In living memory millions have come to see flying across vast distances as normal and embraced dizzying technological changes.  To borrow from Steven Rose, “It is in the nature of living systems to continually construct themselves, albeit in circumstances not of their own choosing.” (Rose, Steven. Lifelines. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).  Adaptation happens, acceptance follows and the younger generations wonder what all the fuss was about.

People talk about the good old days and the golden age but life is lived going forward.  Far better to ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive and believe the future’s so bright you’ve got to wear shades.  Making Montessori the preferred choice for education and society requires us to articulate reasons why we can make the world a better place.

Where Reality Meets Aspiration

We face a world where there is enormous concern about the prospects for graduates, scary reports about a mental health crisis engulfing young people and the challenges of ageing populations.  All that alongside the profound and seemingly inescapable problems of climate change, geopolitical conflict, and global health emergencies.  Some might say it makes the education of children a problem for another day.  That’s why we have to explain and justify why policy makers should put us at the front of the queue in their consideration of realistic agents of change for a better society.

We cannot make progress by pretending the issues do not exist or by being too modest and retiring in a world of social media, 24-hour news and near relentless adversarial content.  For some, words like grace and courtesy are for losers, rather than guides to behaviour, and we must find ways of having our voice heard.  Pragmatism and realism must take their place alongside the inspiring heart of an optimist and a belief in the underlying goodness of human nature.

The economist, John Maynard Keynes famously said, “In the long run we are all dead”, but it is generally accepted that this was his sharp reminder of the need for intervention and investment in the present to mitigate current problems.  Our call must reflect how our philosophy and principles can lead to rapid change in all parts of society and improve life today.  It is also the basis for demanding more investment in early childhood education as the surest route to long-term success.       

What It Is To Be Human

I have argued in several articles that we have much more to say about the current and potential influence of Montessori on everyone in society.  It’s suitability across educational settings was reinforced by a recent research paper, highlighted in the AMI Research Threads series, which concluded, “Within the context of its vast adaptability, Montessori education may be aptly applied to meet the learning and development needs of children in any setting and under virtually any condition.”  Engaging with the elderly, being used as a business tool, being a springboard for entrepreneurs, and providing greater wellbeing are increasingly well documented examples of our influence across generations.  Developing credible research, persuading parents, speaking up more powerfully, publicly and with a greater combined voice will take us forward.  

Another response may lie in re-centering the concept of fundamental human tendencies.  It may offer an opportunity to reflect on and recognize the shared characteristics of people in societies where the cult of the self or individual has taken hold.  It could be a bridge with other societies around the world where ideas of obligation to community and society exercise a stronger influence but where there is a hunger to understand and appreciate individuality.

In an essay many years ago, I wrote about the human tendencies, which were delightfully reframed as constructive instincts by some colleagues, and how they could be placed in the constructive rhythm of life Montessorians call four planes of development.  But the expression of those human tendencies is not fixed irrevocably at any age.  Individuals can do the work, yes that four letter word we know so well, to transform themselves and their relationships at any time of their life.

Evolution and Metamorphosis

Charles Darwin was an avid observer and chronicler of his own children’s development to an extent that has inspired research into the evolutionary value of laughter in four month old children.   The answers would have come as no surprise to Maria Montessori who told us, “The greatness of the human personality begins at the hour of birth.” (The Absorbent Mind, p. 4).  From the moment of birth, some suggest even before, the child is alert, aware and learning.  We are prepared and primed to adapt to whatever circumstances we find.

We know that we must prepare children for a world that is volatile, uncertain and irrevocably interconnected while ensuring that they have time to develop the “human tendencies given to all human beings.” (Stephenson, Margaret “The Human Tendencies” The NAMTA Journal 25.3 (2000, Summer): 5-22).  But we must not forget that throughout their life as adult every individual has the capacity to find those tendencies that circumstances, fear, humiliation, and disappointment may have submerged.

Maria Montessori believed in the ability of adults to change and concluded that for teachers this “includes…a preparation of the spirit.” (The Absorbent Mind, p.132)  My colleagues Guadalupe Borbolla has written and lectured on “The Spiritual Preparation of the Adult” and the way this puts the adult “in a position of humility and grandeur.”   Research suggests that personality is not immutable and that change in behaviour can be fundamental.  The challenge for Montessori is to engage effectively to show that we have a role to play in making that change which is applicable to everyone.

Constructive Instincts for the Rhythm of Life

This subtitle uses a phrase, which emerged on the fourth day of a new 6-12 course in Kenya, because Montessori is a philosophy rather than a choice of words, curriculum or environment.  We have seen around the world, as a leading global advocate for Montessori, that our founder’s concepts can be expressed with relevance and deep understanding in many ways.  We have also seen that Montessori can be practiced with meaning and insight that lifts the spirits in the most marginalized of societies and in the most unpromising circumstances.

If you have read this far you may be interested to consider a list of human tendencies. As noted above there is no dogma or fixed list and it is always interesting to discuss how best to express these features. I express them here as I did in my essay in 2015 with a focus on the action and outcomes. The human tendencies urge us to:

• engage in exploration,
• seek to orientate ourselves,
• extract order and meaning from our surroundings,
• strive to become independent,
• seek out others (to be gregarious),
• engage in meaningful activity/work,
• communicate and express ourselves,
• give our full attention (concentration),
• imitate what we see around us in “our” way,
• use our creative imagination,
• develop our capacities (self-perfection),
• exactness,
• curiosity,
• repetition,and
• calculation

The tendencies have to be experienced with a sense of being fully alive and using the entire breadth of intellectual, physical, social and emotional capabilities.  This is not a passive, spoon-fed, production-line vision of development but a vibrant, active, fully involved and uniquely individual experience.  As Maria Montessori said, we work “in the service of the complete human being, able to exercise in freedom self-discipline, will, and judgement – unperverted by prejudice and undistorted by fear”. (To Educate the Human Potential)    

It’s quite a long list but then we are quite complicated beings.  I suspect that it is a very powerful list of attributes for anyone who wants to navigate an uncertain world.  One could certainly imagine it as a highly desirable list of characteristics wanted by any employer or as we seek leaders with the grit, gumption and guile to find the way to a better future.

For the Sake of Humanity

Whenever I hear young people speak there is a wonderful certainty about the future and the ability to change.  The responses of children aged from 5 to 18 from Montessori schools when they were asked to talk about International Peace Day last year also show a capacity to recognise problems and consider constructive answers.  Their thoughtfulness and will to make progress is echoed in the work of the Emergency Response pilot team of adults working with our President Alain Tschudin in South Africa.  

What is most extraordinary to consider is that Maria Montessori articulated the inherent human tendencies more than a hundred years ago.  They seem fundamentally unchanged from the motivations and perspectives of the small, roaming groups who emerged from Africa to eventually populate the world.  It is reasonable to believe that they will not change in the next 100 years.

Montessori is uniquely positioned to build on its legacy and understanding of these tendencies and to provide the environment and support that people need to make progress.  We can also help prepare the physical and mental environments that will allow individuals, communities, business, and even countries, to engage more effectively and in ways that are both mutually respectful and highly productive. Montessori is the route to the good new days. 

Lynne Lawrence, AMI Executive Director