Ignorance Isn

Montessori for All

Ignorance Isn't Always Bliss

"Montessori Schooling... Is it for Christians?" Despatch Magazine, part of Endtimes Ministries in Australia, published this article about Montessori schooling in September of 1997. You can read it here. If it becomes unavailable, I have kept a copy.

I was absolutely horrified when I read the article: it was full of false information and false assumptions. Here are certain points I will clarify:

The article begins with mention of Dr. Robert Muller's recommendation of the Montessori method, and how this just proves the unworthiness of the method. Dr. Muller is a New Age person, as the article claims; that he recommends the Montessori method means nothing, especially if you know nothing about the method. Dr. Muller also encouraged peace--shall we stop trying to have a peaceful world? His World Core Curriculum also encourages proper care of self. Should Christians reject that, as well? Should we, because he is involved in New Age beliefs, shun whatever he recommends?

The article supposedly informs people of the "dark nature" of Montessori teachings, which include "Mother Goddess, earth and nature worship, the Nazi Aryan race teaching, Babylonian mythology, New Age myths about Atlantis and Lemuria, The Cosmic Christ, the New Age “Plan” for the globe, the Universal Oneness teachings, Unity for the world et al." None of this is true. While some Montessori school somewhere may have put these things in its curriculum, they are certainly not a part of the Montessori method itself. (Although, Babylonian mythology may be present in the elementary curriculum as part of their historical studies on cultures.) Anybody can call their school a Montessori school, regardless of how much of the method they are actually following and regardless of what they add to it.

Maria Montessori's links to Mussolini. Rita Kramer covers this topic quite well in her biography of Montessori. Perhaps the most important note in all this is that Mussolini ordered all teachers to declare their loyalty to fascism in 1931 and the Montessori teachers refused. All Montessori schools in Italy were closed in 1934 and Maria Montessori was forced into exile.¹

The article suggests that Maria Montessori was a great friend of the Nazis. This couldn't be farther from the truth. While both Hitler and Mussolini originally believed her method could be used to further their fascist visions, they quickly found that the freedom encouraged in schools went against that. In 1933 Hitler had Montessori schools closed and her books were burned.²

Maria Montessori is called a Theosophist because Gandhi was a big supporter of the Montessori method. Given her method encouraged peace and was aimed at developing peaceful children, of course Gandhi would be supportive. However, one can not logically conclude that because Gandhi approved, that means that Maria Montessori was a Theosophist. She spent a lot of time in India, but she became more and more devoutly Catholic as the years passed on.

The article comments on Cosmic Education as being New Age. Cosmic Education in the Montessori method has nothing to do with New Age Cosmic Christ ideas or anything else. Cosmic Education is simply the child learning about the world and universe and his place in it. It also approaches the learning of history, geography, science and anything one could learn as intertwined parts of a whole, instead of separate subjects where the child does not see the relationship between them.

The article claims that "[m]any, many New Age communities use the Montessori method, here in Australia and globally". Except for the mentioned Elizabeth Clare Prophet, I have been unable to find online any other obviously New Age groups using the method. Besides, just because a method is used by people with differing beliefs, doesn't mean the method actually encompasses those beliefs. The Nazis had schools; it doesn't mean that schools everywhere promote Nazi beliefs.

Texe Marrs is cited, and it is my guess that he is likely the main source of Montessori information for this article. For those who are unfamiliar with this man, he as an ultimate extremist, not only in Christian beliefs but in his conspiracy theories. He makes conclusions about things and people at the drop of a hat and one could either be terribly frightened by the fact he believes these things or laugh. In his Feb. 2003 online newsletter, he had that Planet X is on a potential crash course with Earth and may be hitting within the next few months, as well as Planet X being part of horrible secret doctrines for various groups. March 2003 has that NASA has secret magic going on and that the first astronauts to the moon were claiming it for Lucifer. He has many past prophecies that have simply not happened, each as weird as the next (we were all supposed to have been issued a Universal Biometrics ID Card by Dec. 31, 2000, part of the world's undoing and the next step in our destruction.) His opinions on the Montessori method are not based on any sort of fact, but by his belief in conspiracies abounding.

The article did eventually use some factual material: one paragraph from a NAMTA journal and another from one of Maria Montessori's books. Unfortunately, the interpretations of those paragraphs are very far from what they mean. One also has to remember that Maria Montessori did not originally write in English and that her books were written between 50-100 years ago. The language used then isn't necessarily what one would use now. For example, some people are very hung up about Maria Montessori using the word "psychic" in her writings. Her use of that word, however, was in terms of the psyche, not in psychic abilities as the word is now used today.

Some completely unfounded statements are found in the article, such as NAMTA and Maria Montessori believing in reincarnation. The article states:

She was a true Theosophist. She also taught that each child is already a perfectly developed adult human being, which fits in nicely with the present day New Age belief that the world needs to be led by children, who are considered to be capable of running their own lives at the age of ten years.

This is utterly untrue and I can only guess that it was retrieved from Texe Marrs' writings. Maria Montessori in no way whatsoever taught that each child is already a perfectly developed adult. She, in fact, taught the complete opposite: that the child created the adult he was to become from his activities as a child. There would be no need to understand child development and its different stages, which are crucial to the Montessori method, if children were already miniature adults. Nowhere in any of Maria Montessori's literature does it say or even hint at a belief in reincarnation, a concept which would actually be contrary to her Catholic faith.

The final paragraph of the article begins with, "It is impossible to endorse the Montessori Method and remain true to the Bible and to Christ Jesus!" To be frightened of something you know nothing about AND to warn others of false information is truly sad. This is certainly a case where ignorance isn't providing bliss.

Daisy Witherell Déry
last revision January 2004

1. http://www.hmma.org/montessori/
2. http://www.kreamont.at/pdfdocs/montessori.pdf