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On this, the 150th anniversary of your birth, we celebrate your life and express our gratitude. You contributed so much to children’s lives and to all of us who discovered your work as adults.
Thank you for patiently observing and listening to the children who taught you how to create learning environments where they can blossom. You inspired a new cross-disciplinary field of science that looks at children and their development from many perspectives that has led to the creation of schools that are not only effective for a much wider range of children; they are replicable, adaptable, and sustainable.
Schools inspired by your work have been established and sustained all over the world for 113 years since you opened the first Casa Dei Bambini in 1907.
You taught us that children are capable of amazing things, no matter how young, regardless of gender, race, or ethnic background.
Even more importantly, you taught us that the children of poverty can, with the right stimulation and support, develop their full human potential.
You demonstrated that although human beings are born with the capacity for goodness or evil, we can nurture kindness and empathy, just as we can encourage the development of their innate intelligence, curiosity, creativity, and sense of wonder.
You demonstrated that although human beings are born with the capacity for goodness or evil, we can nurture kindness and empathy, just as we can encourage the development of their innate intelligence, curiosity, creativity, and sense of wonder.
You taught us that we must see every child as a universe of one, unique human beings who are already full human beings today, not one day in the future when they grow up.
You demonstrated the importance of not only giving children independence and choice but helping them to realize their own capabilities and value of their unique voice in this world.
And you taught us that the Montessori method is really the Montessori way.
Montessori is not limited to the classroom; it is a way of life, and is equally valuable in the family, in the office, and in civil life.
You helped us see that we can save the world and save the planet by teaching peace and teaching children how to resolve conflicts without violence, hear one another and cherish one another, and live in a spirit of collaboration and partnership rather than shortsightedness and greed.
The gift you gave us all is the gift of great hope for the future of all humanity.
And you showed us and inspired us to recognize that the only way to change the future for all human beings is really through the child.
The world’s children are the fulcrum and the lever with which we together can build a better world.
So, Dr. Maria Montessori, we congratulate you on this anniversary of your birth and thank you for your contribution to the world and to us as individual human beings.
