This is the treasure we need today - helping the child become independent of us and make his way by himself, receiving in return his gifts of hope and light.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of fostering independence in children, allowing them to grow and shine on their own.
Maria Montessori highlights the value of nurturing children's independence rather than making them overly reliant on adults. By encouraging them to navigate their own paths, they not only develop self-sufficiency but also bring hope and positivity into the world, enriching both their lives and those around them.
In practice
During a speech at a parenting conference, to inspire parents to encourage their children's independence.
... the first thing his education demands is the provision of an environment in which he can develop the powers given him by nature. This does not mean just to amuse him and let him do what he likes. But it does mean that we have to adjust our minds to doing a work of collaboration with nature, to being obedient to one of her laws, the law which decrees that development comes from environmental experience.
When we want to infuse new ideas, _x000D_ to modify or better the habits and customs of a people, _x000D_ to breathe new vigor into its national traits, _x000D_ we must use the children as our vehicle; for little can be accomplished with adults.
Noble ideas, great sentiments have always existed and have always been transmitted, but wars have never ceased.
What we need is a world full of miracles, like the miracle of seeing the young child seeking work and independence, and manifesting a wealth of enthusiasm and love.
To aid life, leaving it free, however, that is the basic task of the educator.
It is fortunate, I think, that nature is not bounded by human reason and by laboratory work and experimentation, for by the laws of pure reason and by microscopic investigation, it might easily have been proved, long before this, that children could not be born.
There are perhaps no days of our childhood we lived so fully as those we spent with a favorite book.
Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.
What are called 'public schools' in many of America's wealthy communities aren't really 'public' at all. In effect, they're private schools, whose tuition is hidden away in the purchase price of upscale homes there, and in the corresponding property taxes.
Teachers teach because they care. Teaching young people is what they do best. It requires long hours, patience, and care.
What teachers and the administration in that era never seemed to see was that the mental work of what they called daydreaming often required more effort and concentration than it would have taken simply to listen in class. Laziness is not the issue. It is just not the work dictated by the administration.
The first ten, twelve or fifteen years of life are excavated of inherent moral worth in order to accommodate a regimen of basic training for the adult years that many of the poorest children may not even live to know.
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