Maria Montessori, who died in May of 1952, is today in the forefront of those educators
and psychologists who deal with the upbringing and education of very young children.
The first woman to receive a medical degree in Italy, by fighting against the establishment,
Dr. Montessori was born in 1870, grew up to practice medicine; was an assistant
at the Psychiatric Clinic at the University of Rome, Director of the Orthophrenic
School in a Roman slum, which she had established in order to teach these children;
was the holder of the Magistero Femminile at the Feminine University of Rome; and
Professor of Anthropology at the University of Rome. She was also the permanent
examiner of the Faculty of Pedagogy at the University. In 1906, in her middle-thirties,
she renounced all her positions in order to dedicate herself to the study of education
of young children.
Dr. Montessori worked in France, Germany, England, Austria, India, Holland, the
Argentine Republic, the Scandinavian countries, Indian subcontinent and United States.
Today, in Montessori schools all over the world, her teachings still lead the way
for the many who believe in the overwhelming influence of the first six years of
a child's life.
Pinnacle Montessori's aim is to spread the Montessori method of learning by building
operational excellence around the class rooms and have motivated, dedicated and
passionate teachers.
Dr. Montessori writes in her, "The Absorbent Mind": book
"The current world of education is like an island where people, cut off from the
world, are prepared for life by exclusion from it."
"And so we discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but
that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It
is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of experiences in which the
child acts on his/her environment. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare
and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made
for the child."
"Today, while the world is in conflict, and many plans are afoot for its future
reconstruction, education is widely regarded as one of the best means for bringing
this about. For, no one disputes that mankind-from the mental point of view-is far
below the level that civilization claims to have reached.
I too, believe that humanity is still far from that stage of maturity needed for
the realization of its aspirations, for the construction, that is, of a harmonious
and peaceful society and the elimination of wars. Men are not yet ready to shape
their own destinies, to control and direct world events, of which-instead-they become
victims....If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children,
for the children are the makers of men."