#recently had a conversation with a therapist about how education is (potentially, if you do it right) the front end trauma prevention portion of their work, which is the clean up, post trauma work.
#and that’s why I worked in education #and they said ‘ohhhhhhhh’
#and maybe there’s still a pathway for them to help when they are burned out on the therapy end.
The weirdest thing about having a mix of Montessori and non-Montessori students (as we do in the summer) is that all the non-Montessori students are constantly asking me if they can go to the bathroom.
Child? What about me makes you think I want to be in charge of your bladder? Yes, please, go to the bathroom when your body tells you to and leave me out of it.
Traditional classrooms must be tyrannical empires of bladder control.
This gem from Maria Montessori’s P͟s͟y͟c͟h͟o͟g͟e͟o͟m͟e͟t͟r͟y͟ :
“I do not want to discuss the argument raised by many regarding interest and effort here, contrasting these two faces of the same coin. In fact, many have said that it is necessary to choose between interest and effort in education – calling interest pleasant execution and effort unpleasant execution. However, effort is implemented actively, using one’s own energy: and this is done when there is interest. Man is not a machine. He acts when his interest, generosity or enthusiasm is aroused. Furthermore this living, active and strong man will know how to make the unpleasant effort.”
The adjective that stood out to me was generosity. I have countless times witnessed in the classroom a child patiently and kindly helping another child with an activity that is nowhere near their favorite out of a straightforward sense of generosity. Not only that, I regularly watch generosity spark the other two adjectives in that sentence: interest and enthusiasm. We are collaborative beings meant to do things together and nowhere is this more clear than in a well-functioning Montessori elementary environment.
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