Montessori Quotes

“The child doesn't just live in his environment, it becomes a part of him.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“Instead of opportunities for serious accomplishment in our culture, we supply our children with expensive toys, hoping that these will occupy them and keep them from disturbing us.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“Adults must aim to diminish their egocentric and authoritarian attitude toward the child and adopt a passive attitude in order to aid in his devleopment.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“The child must be given activities that encourage independence, and he must not be served by others in acts he can learn to perform himself.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“...Montessori decided her teachers must each write their own textbook based on their own understanding of Montessori education... her own personal guidebook to refer to, revise, and add to throughout her teaching career.
...By writing her own guidebook, the Montessori teacher is forced to think through her personal approach to the materials and the children on a deeper level than if she were merely handed someone else's answers. This policy of asking each teacher to state her own understanding of Montessori philosophy is consistent with a philosophy and method of education that asks children to discover their own answers, instead of expecting to appropriate and substitute someone else's experiences for their own.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“The small child walks to develop his powers, he is building up his being. He goes slowly. He has neither rhythmic step nor goal. But things around him allure him and urge him forward.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“parents moved to Rome in order that their only daughter might receive a better education. They encouraged her to become a teacher, the only career open to women at the time. However, Montessori was a women’s”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“She was quite surprised to notice that the "toys" she had placed in the room were among those things virtually untouched.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“Teachers are discouraged because it is impossible for them to meet the demands being placed on them. They are asked to spend their days in the exhausting position of having to control and dominate children. They must herd, push, and pull them as one body through a set curriculum. Only those who have had to attempt this inhuman and unnatural endeavor could possibly appreciate the strain it places on the teacher who singlehandedly must accomplish it.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“Perhaps worst of all, excellent students were betraying their individuality and the development of whatever unique talents they might possess to play the “school game.” They were functioning like computers: experts at absorbing what the teacher put forth, sorting out what she wanted back, and regurgitating it in the manner in which she most liked to receive it.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“In 1896 she became the first woman to”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“A clue can be taken from the discarded toys. Why does the child reject them? Because, according to Montessori, they do not bring the child into contact with reality. What the child wants and needs are objects and activities that can serve as a preparation for the adult world where he realizes he is one day to take his place.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“This means that everything the child must use in taking care of himself must be in proportion to his size and ability; the hook to hang his clothes on; the places where he washes and brushes and teeth, where he hangs his towel....”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach

“He is exiled in a school where to often his capacity for constructive growth and self realization is repressed.”
― Paula Polk Lillard, Montessori: A Modern Approach