although the children do exceedingly well, they
still do make lapses. The writer saw soup spilled
and mistakes made in distributing lunch-baskets.
37
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
His friend saw a glass and a plate broken. Sec-
ond, there were no evidences of greater skill or
ability than could reasonably be expected from
the amount of attention paid by the school to
the specific exercise itself. Here, as elsewhere,
"practice makes perfect."
The question that concerns us, however, fc,
rather the value of such "practical life" activi-
ties to our American schools. The long school
day is well worth consideration. Where mothers
are so closely confined to duties either at home or
on the outside that the children cannot receive
proper attention, all-day care of the young chil-
dren by the kindergarten would be highly desir-
able. Again, in large cities, where opportunities
for open air play are few or difficult of manage-
ment, all children alike would probably benefit
from regularly supervised playground exercises.
If, then, the kindergartens for the very poor
everywhere, and for practically all classes in the
large cities, could have an all-day session with
much time spent in the open air, the results
would probably be highly beneficial. The admin-
istrative difficulties connected with such enlarged
functions of the kindergarten, while great, would
not prove insuperable, if only the desirability of
such changes were admitted.
38
EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE
What " practical life" exercises should be in-
cluded in any particular kindergarten will clearly
depend upon the community. If the mothers of
the children who attend the kindergarten are too
busy, or too careless, to see that the children
appear in the morning clean and neatly dressed,
evidently, the duty of that kindergarten is differ-
ent from what it would be if the children came
from another class of homes. This is to say
nothing more than that the curriculum of any
school should be a reflex of the needs of the
locality served — a principle well recognized in
present-day school theory.
In this connection we give most cordial ap-
proval to the Montessori practice of letting the
child do for himself as far as this may be feasible.
In the homes of the poor, necessity may force the
child to attend to his wants. Within limits, no
training could be better. Among the wealthier,
the over-zealous nurse or the indulgent mother
too often strives to anticipate each want and
effort of the child. No service could be worse
directed. As we have already discussed, the
claims of morality and intelligence alike demand
that thd[ individual come into first-hand contact
with actual situations of thwarted impulse.\ The
personal striving and contriving incident to meet-
39
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
ing such situations are most wholesome, both to
forming intelligent self-reliance and to furnishing
the organized data necessary for meeting other
situations. Here again we hope much from the
Montessori corroboration of a doctrine long and
widely preached, but too often disregarded.
The general idea of including among the school
exercises such occupations as are mainly valu-
able from demands of immediate utility is one
that proves attractive. It is well recognized that
cooking as a school subject, for example, does
not arouse the same serious interest among our
pupils that it formerly aroused in the home, when
the girl who took it up did so to meet the immedi-
ate need in the household. The motivation, as
we say, is largely lacking in the artificial situa-
tion of the schoolroom. If, now, the school can
bring into its service something of the gripping
interest that attaches to actual and immediate
social demand, we shall have the real effort that
counts. It must be admitted, however, that this
will not hold of all the " practical life" activities,
because some of the most insistent of these have
never aroused in young children any great inter-
nal motivation even in the best homes: washing
the face and hands, for example. In such cases,
the social approval or disapproval of the school-
40
EXERCISES OF PRACTICAL LIFE
room may prove distinctly helpful in fixing a
habit that might never be learned in inferior
home surroundings.
While no one could suppose that a curriculum
devised for a particular class in Rome would
serve, unmodified, in America, we have no hesi-
tation in concluding that we can find suggestion
for thought in the long school day, in the prac-
tical effort to adapt the school exercises to the
needs of the community, and in the possible
increase of motivation by the introduction of
activities the demand for which is immediate and
actual. The whole conception is but part of the
world-wide demand that the school shall func-
tion more definitely as a social institution, adapt-
ing itself to its own environment and utilizing
more fully actual life situations.
VII
SENSE-TRAINING BY MEANS OF THE
DIDACTIC APPARATUS
No topic is more fundamental to the Montessori
method, as understood by its author and her fol-
lowers, than is its system of sense-training. This
was Madam Montessori's initial approach to the
study of education; and throughout, it has deter-
mined her general point of view. One fourth of
the exposition of the system as found in her book
is given to this one topic. The didactic appara-
tus — the most striking feature of the system to
the popular mind — was devised to make possi-
ble a proper training of the senses. Evidently a
careful consideration of this most fundamental
part of the system is necessary to any first-hand
appreciation of the Montessori method.
While writers on sense - training have not
always been careful to differentiate their several
theories, we can easily distinguish three separate
lines of thinking in this field. The first is that the
sense-organ itself can be improved. That is, by
systematic training we can, for example, make
42
SENSE-TRAINING
the eye, as an optical instrument, see more and
better. One would thus look out of the trained
eye as through an improved telescope. To this
notion the two remaining groups of theorists
unite in entering a protest. It is not the organ
itself, these say, that is changed; a new brain
connection has been set up; nothing more. A
certain color means that this peach is ready to
eat. The child thereafter looks for that color,
and notes it when present. A connection has
been made between a color — present but pre-
viously unnoticed — and the pleasurable expec-
tation of eating the peach. In the sense that he
notices more, the child may be said to see more.
The difference, however, is not that the optical
image has been changed; but only that certain
portions of that image are now differently con-
nected in the child's conscious world.
Which of these theories is true? Consider a
typical case. Contrast Fenimore Cooper's Indian
with a student of languages. Is there any doubt,
we may imagine some one asking, that the Indian
has a keener eye, that he can see more, and more
distinctly? If the trial of strength be in the forest,
certainly; the scholar is hopelessly inferior. But
bring the Indian into a library. Place before him
a page of Latin and a page of French. The two
43
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
will appear to him alike, a blur of little marks.
One glance, however, tells the scholar that the
one is Latin and the other French. Which eye,
then, really sees the better? Is it not clear that
in this case each one sees according to the experi-
ence he has had, according to the connections
that have been set up? We may safely accept the
judgment of the authorities that the sense-
organs of the normal child, after the age of two
or three, do not in themselves change by train-
ing.
Let us now differentiate the second and third
theories. These agree in saying that sense-
training is a matter of making brain connections.
They differ as to how specialized the effect of
such training is. The second of the three theories
says that if the child has learned to discriminate
a certain group of visual forms, he has trained his
power of visual discrimination so that thereafter
he can the better discriminate any matter of
sight. The third says that there is no general
power or faculty of visual discrimination or of
anything else, that training along one line will
carry over into another line only in the degree
that the two lines of activity have common
elements. The discussion of this point is too
lengthy to enter upon here. It suffices to say
44
SENSE-TRAINING
that after a great deal of investigation there is
substantial agreement on the general statement
of the third theory as made above. Although
there yet remain differences of opinion as to what
constitute common elements, the old notion of
the existence of faculties of the mind and their
consequent general training is now entirely
rejected by competent psychologists. We no
longer speak of judgment as a general power that
can be trained; nor of discrimination, nor of
observation.
What practical difference would it make which
theory any one might hold? Pedagogically, the
applications of the several theories will be widely
divergent. If one hold to either the first or the
second theories, he will feel that training of some
gymnastic kind is the desideratum. He will say,
refine the sense of sight; train the general power
of visual discrimination. And so, generally, no
matter what specific activity you engage in, it
is the training that counts. The sense-qualities
of objects which you may happen to learn are
of relative insignificance; it is the refinement of
sense that we seek. The third theory says, on the
contrary, it is what you learn that counts. If it
be a matter of sense-training, then learn to make
those discriminations of color, form, or other
45
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
sense-quality, that will enter fruitfully into your
subsequent life.
Where now stands Madam Montessori? In
general she puts great emphasis upon "the edu-
cation of the senses." That she accepts either
the first or second theory would seem to be justi-
fied by such a statement as "we must not con-
fuse the education of the senses with the concrete
ideas which may be gathered from our environ-
ment by means of the senses." And similarly,
when she speaks of blindfolding the child "for
the education of the senses in general, such as
in the tactile, thermic, baric, and stereognostic
exercises." Accordingly, such phrases as "edu-
cation of the stereognostic sense," "education of
the chromatic sense," suffice to show either care-
lessness in thinking or erroneous theory. Sim-
ilarly for such statements as "the education of
the senses makes men observers," "before he
can become a doctor, he must gain a capacity
for discriminating between sense-stimuli." These
statements certainly seem to imply a belief in the
validity of the general transfer of training; and
the more one studies Madam Montessori's writ-
ings, the more convinced does he become that
she holds to some such position. Apparently she
vacillates between the first and second theories.
46
SENSE-TRAINING
Perhaps the most unmistakable assertion of her
position is the following: "It is exactly in the
repetition of the exercises that the education of
the senses consist; their aim is not that the child
shall know colors, forms, and the different quali-
ties of objects, but that he refine his senses
through an exercise of attention, of comparison,
of judgment. These exercises are true intellectual
gymnastics. Such gymnastics, reasonably di-
rected by means of various devices, aid in the
formation of the intellect, just as physical exer-
cises fortify the general health and quicken the
growth of the body." l
Here we have most of the earmarks of the old
theory of general discipline: "not that the child
shall know colors, forms . . . but that he refine his
senses " ; " intellectual gymnastics " ; and the same
old analogy of mind and body. After the writer
had read Madam Montessori's book and had
studied the apparatus, he was anxious to ascer-
tain at first hand, if he could, her opinion on the
question of the general transfer of mental train-
ing. The interview was difficult, as the inter-
preter was not versed in psychology; but the
writer came away convinced that Madam Mon-
tessori had up to that time not so much as heard
1 The Montessori Method, p. 360.
47
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
of the controversy on general transfer; and that
she still held to the doctrine of formal discipline
discarded years previously in both Germany and
America.
Important as it is to establish Madam Mon-
tessori's intention in devising the didactic appa-
ratus, it is equally important — perhaps more so
— to ask what is the actual effect of the appara-
tus when used by children. If we set aside the
various buttoning and fastening apparatus as
belonging, at least indirectly, to the " practical
life" activities, and certain other pieces of
apparatus to be discussed in connection with
writing, all that is left calls for some form of
sense-discrimination. This apparatus is so de-
vised that discriminations may be made either
between widely varying stimuli, as a ten-centi-
meter cube and a one-centimeter cube, or be-
tween those which differ only slightly, as the
nine-centimeter cube and the eight-centimeter
cube. It is a matter of common as well as of
scientific knowledge that practice with a series
of graduated stimuli results in finer discrimina-
tions made more quickly than was at first possi-
ble. This will be true, in all probability, of any
normal child who may deal with the Montessori
apparatus. He will, for example, learn to discrim-
4 8
SENSE-TRAINING
inate infallibly, perhaps, and almost instantly
the several weight blocks. If one please so to
term it, he has educated his "baric sense." But
does this mean that he will be able to distinguish
weights in all the ordinary affairs of life? By no
means. It may be that he will never use his
specific skill at all. He will surely never use it
directly, unless there should chance to come a
demand for the discrimination of small weights
under conditions quite similar to those under
which the skill was acquired. His skill, for ex-
ample, would not suffice to tell whether any given
letter would go for two cents. The formal train-
ing with the weight blocks would not prove a
sufficient substitute for practice with the weight
of letters. Has he, then, gained absolutely noth-
ing that will carry over? The extent to which he
has profited is still under dispute. He has cer-
tainly added to his concept of weight. But the
value of this increment is a comparative one,
depending upon what he already had got or
would otherwise incidentally get, and on the
present need for the concept. In general, it
seems true that the really necessary concepts,
such as of hardness, of heat, or of weight, etc.,
come in the normally rich experience of the
49
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
child-life; and conversely, those that do not so
come are not then necessary.
In the same way, the training got with each of
the several pieces of the didactic apparatus is
genuine, but highly specialized, and along lines
for the most part so removed from ordinary life
conditions that the probability of its function-
ing directly as skill is very remote: too remote,
except possibly with the colors, for us to desire
the particular skill attained. Of what advantage
will it be to the child to recognize that this given
cylinder fits into the second hole of the doubly
varying cylinder box? If one should reply that
the advantage lies in bringing the child to make
discriminations, we should again be in the midst
of the discussion as to the general transfer of
training. The specific result is certainly the
training in this particular discrimination, and
not a general power.
It is true that any experience with color or
form or weight helps to make one's concepts of
these things; and pleasurable experience along
any one of these lines will lead the child to look
for further allied experiences. It is further true
that growth comes from the organization of such
experiences, and that this is the training that we
really wish. In these ways exercise with this
SO
SENSE-TRAINING
apparatus may be, indeed, will be, of service;
because from it comes opportunity for the con-
scious consideration of such experiences. The
formal and mechanical aspect of the training
is, however, practically valueless. Any play in
which the consideration of a size-experience, for
example, enters, will do just as well as does the
broad stair of the didactic apparatus. All must
approve Madam Montessori's wish to provide
more fruitful sense-experiences. Most children
need more activity of this kind. The natural
fondness of the young child for manipulation and
the like is sufficient proof of the fact. Care, too,
is necessary that the opportunities offered be
sufficiently varied and sufficiently ordered to
bring the desired richness of experience. But
these considerations — all important though
they be — afford no support for the dogma of
general transfer, nor do they call for an apparatus
so formal and mechanical in character as the
system under review offers.
We must, then, take exactly the opposite view
from Madam Montessori as to the nature of
sense- training. She says that the "aim is not
that the child shall know colors, forms, and the
different qualities of objects." We say that the
aim is exactly that he may know such things,
51
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
and we don't care about his getting any sense-
training outside of this. We conclude, accord-
ingly, that Madam Montessori's doctrine of
sense-training is based on an outworn and cast- |
off psychological theory ; that the didactic appa-
ratus devised to carry this theory into effect is in
so far worthless; that what little value remains
to the apparatus could be better got from the
sense-experiences incidental to properly directed
play with wisely chosen, but less expensive and
more childlike, playthings.
VIII
THE SCHOOL ARTS: READING, WRITING, AND
ARITHMETIC
No small interest has attached to the reported
ease with which children of the Montessori
schools learn to read and write. In the popular
mind, this comes in an almost occult manner
from that individual development which has re-
sulted from the sense-training of the didactic
apparatus. A system in which such tangible
results ensue from so tangible a set of apparatus
is bound to attract attention. When, moreover,
it is reported that the children in these marvelous
schools are left entirely free, and, as it were, play
themselves into this learning, the acme of educa-
tional achievement seems, indeed, at hand.
One acquainted, however, with the history of
education is prepared to hear of remarkable suc-
cesses attending the enthusiasm of a new project.
Pestalozzi's visitors gave accounts of his success
that seem wonderful even to-day. The monitorial
schools were similarly acclaimed as ushering in a
S3
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
new era of ease and rapidity in learning. Base-
dow's daughter, Emilie, apparently surpassed
all in her marvelous acquisition of new languages.
Ten weeks at the age of three and a half gave her
French, and the next year an equal time gave
both a speaking and a reading knowledge of
Latin. Enthusiasm and the exceptional case
always account for much. If there be a perma-*
nent contribution, it must be more tangible.
Proper scrutiny must be able to find it.
Madam Montessori teaches the beginnings of
reading and writing simultaneously. For easier
criticism we shall treat the two separately. When
we examine the accounts of the teaching of read-
ing in the Montessori schools we find an intelli-
gent utilization of the phonetic character of the
Italian language. In this language, to speak
generally, one sign represents one sound, and
vice versa. The method of teaching, then, is to
associate the sounds (but not the names) of the
several letters with their forms, beginning with
the vowels. The names of the letters are not used
during this early period. With a one-to-one
correspondence of sounds and symbols, the whole
alphabet can be readily taught. It is thus easy
to build up with letters any given word, or, con-
versely, to call any word by recalling the sounds
54
THE SCHOOL ARTS
attached to its several letters. If, however, one
should try to apply this method in America, the
unphonetic character of the English language
would present formidable difficulties. Any at-
tempt to meet these difficulties could but result
in a plan identical with one or another of the
quasi -phonetic methods familiar enough to
American primary teachers. It thus turns out
that the Montessori method of teaching reading
has nothing of novelty in it for America. What
it can offer has long been present with us, and a
vogue previously won has for a decade been pass-
ing away.
When we come to writing, the question is
somewhat different. Here a special technique has
been worked out. From some observations on
an indirect method of teaching a defective to sew,
Madam Montessori "saw that the necessary
movements of the hand had been prepared without
having the child sew." From this she concluded,
in relation to any complex activity, that "we
should really find the way to teach the child how,
before making him execute the task" "Prepara-
tory movements could be carried on and reduced
to a mechanism, by means of repeated exercises
not in the work itself, but in that which prepares
for it. Pupils could then come to the real work,
SS
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
able to perform it without ever having directly
set their hands to it before."
Following up this idea, the process of writing
was analyzed into two essential elements, "the
muscular mechanism necessary in holding and
managing the instrument of writing" and "the
visual-muscular image of the alphabetical signs."
Special exercises were devised to give the child
simultaneous training in these two elements of
writing. The apparatus for the first consists of
metal geometrical figures and colored pencils.
The child takes a triangle, for example, draws
about it, and then with a crayon fills in the figure
so made. With practice of this sort he gains con-
trol in the use of the pencil. The apparatus for
giving the second element consists of sand-paper
letters mounted on cards and a box of alphabets
cut from paper. These letters of both kinds are
in clear script. It is in connection with this sec-
ond element that the reading is taught. When the
association of the sound with the form is being
taught, the sand-paper letters are used; and the
child is required to trace each letter with his
index finger as if writing it. They are encour-
aged to do this repeatedly even with the eyes
shut. The child is thus gaining at the same time
both visual and muscular images of the letter and
56
THE SCHOOL ARTS
associating these with each other and with the
sound. As soon as the child knows some of the
vowels and consonants, the box of letters is put
before him. The directress selects a simple word,
pronounces it so clearly as to analyze it into its
constituent sounds, and calls for the correspond-
ing letters. The next exercise is for the child
to read a word set before him. This he does by
calling in succession the sounds corresponding to
the several letters. It is evident how essential is
the phonetic alphabet to the success of the plan.
After both the elements of the writing process,
carried on thus simultaneously, are well fixed, it
is a simple matter to have the child write. In-
deed, according to reports, this takes place so
suddenly as to warrant the phrase "exploding
into writing. ,, It is easy to believe this, because
the manipulation of the pencil, the muscular
image of the word, and the knowledge of the
value of the letters are all present. The second
and third of these having already been joined, it
only remains to connect the first with these two.
This is the more readily done since the gradual
perfection of the first and second, even as sepa-
rate activities, has all the while been bringing
them closer together. The result is writing. It
only remains to be said that this writing, while
57
THE MONTESSORI SYSTEM
very slow, is unusually good. The beauty of the
writing, quite as much as the reported ease of
acquisition, has brought the system into favor-
able publicity.
The appraisal of Madam Montessori's contri-