Question and Answer: Is the Montessori Method not Outdated?

Questions fall like seeds upon the mind. Some blow away, some enrich the soil of thought, a rare few germinate and grow, invigorating the spirit and the intellect.

Question: After sifting through the many questions posed at parents' evenings, one remains: Is the Montessori method not outdated?

Answer: The Montessori method is undated. It is not subject to any one time, to any one space.

Life as a phenomenon is being intensely investigated on all levels of science. Many of the orthodox disciplines have evolved to become "life sciences"; biochemistry, bio-physics, biology as an intrinsic part of psychology, etc. Maria Montessori was a pioneer of the "bio" sciences. Today she would no doubt be known as a bio-pedagogue. She herself called her method "an aid to life".

(...)Another aspect of the Montessori method, the aspect that is best known and in many cases the only one that is known, is the vast range of autodidactic materials Maria Montessori developed. Those for the very young child were created mostly in the first half of this century; it is not surprising that people wonder whether they are perhaps outdated, particularly since great quantities of excellent teaching aids have been designed in recent decades.

But there is a difference between these materials, and the names chosen to denote them express this difference admirably: "teaching aids" vs. "autodidactic materials". Teaching aids help teachers convey to the children what adults or a group of adults feel should be conveyed to them. Autodidactic materials are tools that help the young child teach himself the arts required to become a member of his group, following the dictates of inner laws.