Favorite Quotes

In an effort to raise awareness of the profound impact Maria Montessori had in the field of human development as it relates to the education of the child, I will periodically share with you some of my favorite Montessori quotes. 

“The most important period of the life is not the age of university studies, but the first one – from birth to six.  For that is the time when man’s intelligence itself, his greatest implement is being formed.”

Montessori theorized that human beings are born with natural motivations for development and learning.  We are born with natural impulses leading to further potentialities such as movement and language.  Montessori referred to these impulses as critical forces which need stimulation from the environment to develop.  These internal factors are exhibited in the unconscious absorbent mind, a term Montessori referred to as the unique way in which children acquire information.  Due to the fact that these unconscious memories are stored in the brain, Montessori expounded that the formation of the child’s personality should be protected during this critical stage.  Children absorb information unconsciously through their environment.  For this reason, it is of paramount importance that the environment provides the most beneficial activities so that optimum learning may take place.  It is during the stage of the Absorbent Mind, from birth to six, which forms the very foundation upon which will lay all other learning.