Spontaneous Activity in EducationMontessori, Maria
Science
Spontaneous Activity in Education
Montessori, Maria
Montessori method of education
However, the properly organized environment is not everything. Even in
intellectual education it was not the spontaneous exercise alone which
refreshed the intelligence; but further, the lessons of the teacher
which confirmed and illuminated the internal order in process of
development. On these occasions she said: "This is red, this is
green." Now she will say: "This is right, this is wrong." And it will
not be unusual to find children like the one described above, who make
good and evil the center of consciousness, and, placing it above
material bread and intellectual nourishment, will propound the
question more vital to them than any other: "What is good? and what is
evil?" But we must not forget that moral lessons should be brief; and
that Moses, the father of the sages, in order to inculcate morality,
not in a child, but in a race, gave ten simple commandments, which to
Christ seemed superfluous. It is true, however, that at the head of
these was the "law" of love; and that Christ substituted for the
Decalogue an amplification of that law, which comprises within itself
all legislations and moral codes.
* * * * *
It is possible that good and evil may be distinguished by means of an
"internal sense," apart from cognitions of morality; and in such a
case, of course, the good and evil in question would be absolute; that
is to say, they would be bound up with life itself and not with
acquired social habits. We always speak of a "voice of conscience"
which teaches us from within to distinguish the two things: good
confers serenity, which is order; enthusiasm, which is strength; evil
is signalized as an anguish which is at times unbearable: remorse,
which is not only darkness and disorder, but fever, a malady of the
soul. It is certain that the laws of society, public opinion, material
well-being, and threats of peril would all be powerless to produce
these various sensations. Often serenity is to be found among the
unfortunate, whereas the remorse of Lady Macbeth, who saw the spot of
blood upon her hand, gnawed at the heart of one who had acquired a
kingdom.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account