MONTESSORI EDUCATION IS THE PANACEA TO NIGERIA'S EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIETAL MALADY.
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Maria Montessori was born on August 31, 1870, in
Chiaravalle Italy, to Alessandro Montessori and Renilde Stoppani. She
began her academic career at age 6, in a public elementary school, where
she did reasonably well. In 1883, at age 13, she enrolled in a
technical secondary school: Regio Scuola Tecnical Michelangelo
Buonarroti where she studied Italian, Arithmetic, Algebra, and
Geometry…and she graduated in 1886 with good grades. In 1890, Maria
gained admission into the university of Rome to major in Natural
Sciences; it was during her stay here that she became greatly influenced
by the works of Physicians and Educationists such as: Jean Marc Gaspard
Itard and Edouard Seguin, and began to develop her philosophy and
methods in 1897, attending courses in pedagogy at the University of Rome
and studying the educational theory of the previous two hundred years.
In 1907 Maria Montessori opened her first classroom, the Casa dei
Bambini or
Children’s house, in a tenement building in Rome. From the beginning,
she based her work on her observation of children and their
experimentation with the environment, materials, and lessons available
to them. She frequently referred to her works as "scientific pedagogy”.
Montessori Education is fundamentally a model of human development and
an educational approach based on that model. The model has two basic
elements: firstly, the children engage in psychological
self-construction by means of interaction with their environment.
Secondly, children, especially under the age of 6 have an innate path of
psychological development. Based on her observations, Maria
believed that children at liberty to choose and act freely within an
environment prepared according to her model, will act spontaneously for
optimal development.
Montessori Education spread to the US in 1907 and became widely known in education and popular publications. However, the conflict between Maria Montessori and the American educational establishment; especially the publication in 1914 of a critical booklet titled "The Montessori System", examined by the influential Education Teacher, William Heard Kilpatrick, limited the spread of her ideas and they languished after 1914. Montessori Education returned to the US in 1960 and has since spread to thousands of schools there. Maria continued to extend her work during her life time, developing a comprehensive model of psychological development from birth till age 24, as well as educational approaches for children aged zero to three, three to six and six to twelve. She wrote and lectured about ages twelve to eighteen and beyond, but these programs where not developed during her life time.
The prevalent system of education in Nigeria is that, where the teacher in the classroom is the “focal point “, instead of the pupil; where the teacher dictates the pace of a child’s intellectual and psychological development. However, Montessori Education allows every child a degree of freedom within control, to learn what he or she has an aptitude for. This is in stark contrast to the conventional system of education (in Nigeria and most countries), where the child is put through a rigorous academic curriculum that tends to make the child totally dependent, unable to explore his environment independently and unable to maximize whatever talent he or she has been bestowed upon by the creator.
The impact of Montessori Education on the Nigerian society would be profoundly positive, if it is incorporated into the Nigerian Educational system. Imagine the joy of a child when he or she is permitted to choose what to learn. For instance, if a 3-year old child has an uncanny talent in music or painting, Montessori education provides a platform for this child to enhance that talent, unlike the conventional educational system where such a child's talent could be ignored, obviously because its curriculum has no room for the development of such talents; which on the other hand, is what Montessori education offers.
The structure of a society is determined by the orientation of the inhabitants of that society; i.e. as a result of the orientation acquired from childhood. The Nigerian society is what it is today because of the negative orientation acquired by the current generation that constitute the Nigerian society today. The damage has already been done to the psyche of the current generation of Nigerians; so it is highly imperative for the Federal Government, Ministry of Education alongside religious bodies, to adopt Montessori Education as a means of getting rid of the negative orientation that has knowingly or inadvertently been inculcated into the psyche of this generation (especially the youths and inadvertently, the children); The negative orientation (of corruption, dependence, lack of self-reliance, lack of productivity and much more).,has to be expunged from their psyche. Western countries (such as the US, Italy and others) that have long embraced and invested in Montessori education are reaping its benefits today: in terms of high productivity in almost all sectors of their respective economies.
I therefore use this medium to urge the Federal Government to invest heavily in Montessori Education (instead of looting the National Treasury), because Montessori Education is quite capital intensive. If this is done, I see a future where the Nigerian Citizen would be self-reliant and hence not depending on the Government for everything; a future where a Nigerian citizen would do the right thing, not because he or she is being watched, but because it is the right thing to do. I also foresee a future, where paying lip-service to our duties would be a thing of the past. Let us embrace Montessori education now, not for us alone but for posterity, because THE CHILDREN OF TODAY ARE TOMORROWS LEADERS!
Montessori Education spread to the US in 1907 and became widely known in education and popular publications. However, the conflict between Maria Montessori and the American educational establishment; especially the publication in 1914 of a critical booklet titled "The Montessori System", examined by the influential Education Teacher, William Heard Kilpatrick, limited the spread of her ideas and they languished after 1914. Montessori Education returned to the US in 1960 and has since spread to thousands of schools there. Maria continued to extend her work during her life time, developing a comprehensive model of psychological development from birth till age 24, as well as educational approaches for children aged zero to three, three to six and six to twelve. She wrote and lectured about ages twelve to eighteen and beyond, but these programs where not developed during her life time.
The prevalent system of education in Nigeria is that, where the teacher in the classroom is the “focal point “, instead of the pupil; where the teacher dictates the pace of a child’s intellectual and psychological development. However, Montessori Education allows every child a degree of freedom within control, to learn what he or she has an aptitude for. This is in stark contrast to the conventional system of education (in Nigeria and most countries), where the child is put through a rigorous academic curriculum that tends to make the child totally dependent, unable to explore his environment independently and unable to maximize whatever talent he or she has been bestowed upon by the creator.
The impact of Montessori Education on the Nigerian society would be profoundly positive, if it is incorporated into the Nigerian Educational system. Imagine the joy of a child when he or she is permitted to choose what to learn. For instance, if a 3-year old child has an uncanny talent in music or painting, Montessori education provides a platform for this child to enhance that talent, unlike the conventional educational system where such a child's talent could be ignored, obviously because its curriculum has no room for the development of such talents; which on the other hand, is what Montessori education offers.
The structure of a society is determined by the orientation of the inhabitants of that society; i.e. as a result of the orientation acquired from childhood. The Nigerian society is what it is today because of the negative orientation acquired by the current generation that constitute the Nigerian society today. The damage has already been done to the psyche of the current generation of Nigerians; so it is highly imperative for the Federal Government, Ministry of Education alongside religious bodies, to adopt Montessori Education as a means of getting rid of the negative orientation that has knowingly or inadvertently been inculcated into the psyche of this generation (especially the youths and inadvertently, the children); The negative orientation (of corruption, dependence, lack of self-reliance, lack of productivity and much more).,has to be expunged from their psyche. Western countries (such as the US, Italy and others) that have long embraced and invested in Montessori education are reaping its benefits today: in terms of high productivity in almost all sectors of their respective economies.
I therefore use this medium to urge the Federal Government to invest heavily in Montessori Education (instead of looting the National Treasury), because Montessori Education is quite capital intensive. If this is done, I see a future where the Nigerian Citizen would be self-reliant and hence not depending on the Government for everything; a future where a Nigerian citizen would do the right thing, not because he or she is being watched, but because it is the right thing to do. I also foresee a future, where paying lip-service to our duties would be a thing of the past. Let us embrace Montessori education now, not for us alone but for posterity, because THE CHILDREN OF TODAY ARE TOMORROWS LEADERS!
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