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Question:
Do you have any helpful resources concerning
Montessori education? I have a friend who is planning to send his kids to a Christian
school, where the Montessori-principles for education is used. If I understand it
correctly, Montessori education is closer to new age than to the Bible.
Answer:
I hope to find time to
give a more complete answer later, but for now I will simply post some
information that might guide you. First, look at this statement of
beliefs
from the International Montessori
Council website. Notice how the Montessori philosophy fits into the UN plan for
Global
Education:
"We
believe that:
• Our actions as adults should mirror what we teach our children.
• A culturally diverse, inclusive attitude creates a respectful, collaborative
culture that is essential to our mission and vision.
• Maintaining absolute integrity by communicating openly and honestly among
ourselves and with those we serve is essential to our success.
• Recognizing and respecting the individual needs of everyone involved in our work
helps build a "sense of community" among us.
• Our commitment to the educational experience encompasses academic excellence,
teaching of universal values and nurturing the spirit, global understanding and
service.
• A doorway to world peace through the education of children is possible in our
time.
• Parents are full members who stand with us as partners in the Montessori
educational process...."
The following quotes from an article titled "Religion
and Montessori"
show the beliefs of the Maria Montessori, the founder and inspiration behind the
Montessori philosophy. You can visit the
website
to see the quotes in context.
”In the book, 'The
child, society and the The Child, Society and the World: Unpublished
Speeches and Writings, Dr Montessori addresses the question on religion, first
within a religious setting and then to a secular group. She says...
“We must remember that
religion is a
universal sentiment which is inside everybody and has been inside every person
since the beginning of the world. It is not something which we must give to the
child". Maria Montessori …
“According to our
educational theory, the child is driven to develop by way of the needs and tendencies
that are innate to all of humanity. What we - as Montessorians- implement in our
prepared environments rests on the notion that it must correspond to these natural
drives….
“Dr Montessori identified religious sentiment to be an expression of the human tendency toward
elevation. … that tendency that
urges humanity to go beyond the every day, mundane aspects of life, and uplift their
souls to spiritual realities.
“The
intention is to be one with god, by establishing spiritual ties with god.
“Just as language has
many expressions: English, Swedish, Swahili, and so forth, so does elevation
express itself by way of different creeds: Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and many
different belief systems in order to communicate with and about god.
“… little children…. are immersed in an spiritual atmosphere". …
“There
should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Dr Montessori was not only brought up as a
roman catholic, but also remained to be one throughout her life. …
“Yet, it is important to
state that Montessori’s reference to religion was not limited to catholicism. In the
same manner that she did not expect everyone to speak italian, she did not limit her
discoveries within the spiritual sphere of christianity….
“Confirming the existence
of this spirituality wherever she went, and seeing the many religious forms it
took, Montessori felt free to talk about her investigations about the spiritual
development of the child: ‘In India I have given a course in religion to people of
many
different religions, hindus, moslems, catholics and others’….
“... she could be
classified as a positivist... she very much tried to reconcile the scientific approach
with the revelations - spiritual in nature - she had witnessed… throughout
the world and among many different creeds....
"RELIGION IN THE
DIFFERENT STAGES
(0-2
- Love for the environment)
1st
stage: 2-4 - Sensory period
2nd
stage: 5-7(10) - Instruction period
3rd
stage: Adolescence
… “The child
unconscious drinks in divine power, whilst the reasoning consciousness of the
adult is but human.”
"...protect in their
development those natural energies implanted in them by the guiding hand of god."
For more
information, see Montessori Online,
The
INTERNATIONAL MONTESSORI Index and American
Montessori Society
Notes from
my files:
1.
For more than three decades, Robert Muller served as Under-Secretary General of the
United Nations. His vision of a World Core Curriculum, as outlined in his book
New Genesis: Shaping a Global Spirituality, was endorsed by the influential
Association
for Supervision and Curriculum
Development
(ASCD), the curriculum branch of the NEA (National Education Association) and is being
used as model or basis for the core curriculum adopted in nations around the world.
Muller's
driving vision is a world united through global education and evolving spiritually
toward ultimate perfection. He admits that his beliefs are based on the channeled
teachings of "Tibetan Master Djhwal Khul," a spirit guide to occultist Alice
Bailey. Speaking at an international conference on world peace sponsored by the
UN
Population Fund, the University of Peace, and the Government of Costa Rica, Muller said,
This
statement became part of the Declaration of Human Responsibilities for Peace and
Sustainable Development adopted at "The Conference in Search of the true
Meaning of Peace," held in Costa Rica from 25 to 30 June, 1989.
In his
acceptance speech of the 1989 UNESCO Peace Education Prize on September, 1990, in Paris,
Robert Muller shared his dream of a new world education program. Part of his dream was:
"That all human beings of this earth become instruments of peace, thus fulfilling
the cosmic function deeply engraved in each of us."
For
more information (with documentation) about Robert Muller, his occult beliefs and his
World Core Curriculum, click Brave
New Schools, Chapter 2- The International Agenda
2.
Phillip Gang, an early leader in the Montessori movement, served as a member of the
original design team for UNESCO's Global Education Project led by Robert
Muller. Later, he founded and headed the Global Alliance to Transform Education
(GATE).
3. While Montessori Schools may vary considerably,
they generally promote an acceptance of the global spirituality needed to build world
citizens. The following story shows what can happen in a Montessori schools that
welcome the more overt demonstrations of contemporary paganism. This example may seem
unusually dramatic, but it shows the nature of the beast behind the nice, peace-loving
façade.
A
few years ago, I talked with a Christian teacher in a Montessori school in Georgia.
(I'll call her Lynn). She had called
to ask about the significance of a sacred red circle--or ellipse--marked on the floor of
the second grade classroom. The second
grade teacher had warned her students never to touch or cross that line except to
participate in certain classroom rituals.
Lynn
called again a week later to tell me about some of the occult manifestations in this
elementary school. One little boy tortures
and kills little animals, another boy bites other students, and third boy
threatens to use magic power to burn his teachers. A fourth child had collapsed on the
floor that week writhing and shaking in a frightening demonstrations of demonic
possession.
"All
the kids are hyper and angry," said Lynn. "They're
wild and uncontrollable, full of vulgar words. They
fly off the handle for no reason. They
never laugh. I teach at church in the
morning, and my Sunday school kids don't act that way."
Some
of these violent expressions may be explained by the occult connections of its teachers.
For example, the head of the school belongs to a spiritist "church,"
and a second grade teacher admits to having at least two demonic "spirit
guides" whom she met through sweat lodge ceremonies and a Ouija Board.
But
occult connections are becoming increasingly common in schools everywhere. In A
Twist of Faith I tell about a hike in Muir Woods with a elementary school
teacher from Kansas City who admitted she was also a witch and a lesbian. Countless
women involved in feminist spirituality (goddess worship, witchcraft, Native American
shamanism, etc.) are teaching their beliefs to our children in schools across the
country.
Since
Lynn had spent 20 years on a Navajo reservation, her Montessori principal told her to
lead a summer camp teaching Native American culture.
The school has already ordered a teepee from an Indian craftsman. As a Christian, she was naturally
reluctant to teach from a curriculum titled, "A Study to Bond all
Creatures of Earth to Each Other." She
asked me to pray for her.
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