I’ve spoken and written at length on this Substack about how Montessori cannot be separated from social justice.
Montessori herself was a social revolutionary. She believed that if we fostered positive human development that our natural human tendency to live in interdependence with one another would flourish.
Montessori believed that human unity already existed, but that we merely socialized ourselves to forget our interdependence. She wrote about this at length in her book Education and Peace, and it is a theme across nearly all of her writings.
It’s important to remember that Montessori’s method of education arose out of her theory of the cosmos. She did not create a method, and then a theory of human existence to support it. She started with our natural human tendencies and from there built her method.
So when Montessorians say that it is our natural human tendency to live in equitable interdependence, we aren’t making that up; in fact, modern research in Self-Determination Theory has uncovered the same findings that Montessori wrote about in the early 1900’s.
To put it another way, engaging in social justice so we can live in equitable interdependence is not a new idea. It’s our human nature.
Yet in our modern political world, we are in a time where the values of social justice and DEI are hotly debated.
After the recording of this podcast, but before it was published, I came across a post on LinkedIn which claimed that Montessori pedagogy was antithetical to social justice. This individual claimed, on her website, that social justice is a form of “Marxism” and that it “placed the group over the individual” and therefore was “harmful” to development.
Quite literally everything from that definition is incorrect, and it’s so obvious that this person has not seriously read Montessori or Marx, so I won’t go into the details here. Upon review of her website, it was clear that she took quotes from Montessori and Ayn Rand so out of context that they would appear to someone who is not well read in this area to believe that her idea is supported. However, anyone who has seriously read Montessori would know otherwise.
I bring this anecdote up for a reason.
We are living in a time where anyone with an internet connection can spread misinformation, knowingly or unknowingly, and influence others, particularly those whose ideas are based in fear.
If you’re curious, I did respond to this person and asked her how she reconciled her ideas against Montessori’s broad base of work which disproves her ideas.
The response?
Buy the “book” (which was self-published and not peer reviewed) and find out.
Those of us who are serious about education and human development, who have read Montessori with a critical and honest eye, must call out this behavior and these ideas. Anyone can cherry pick quotes from any author to justify a particular position; we must be steadfast in our uplifting of diverse voices while also not tolerating those based in hate, misinformation, or simply a blind desire to push a particular opinion.
In this latest podcast episode, my guest Hannah Richardson, Founder of Montessori Maker’s Group, did a beautiful job of explaining how social justice is inherent to Montessori education and painted a vision for the equitable and interdependent future that Montessori herself described over 100 years ago.
Hannah does incredible with with Montessori Makers Group, and has a podcast of her own, so definitely check out her work! Her latest episode, Social Responsibility for Belonging: The Heart of Montessori Justice, digs even further into this topic!
So if you’re looking to truly understand the relationship between Montessori and social justice, this is a great place to start.
I would also recommend looking into Montessori for Social Justice and Embracing Equity, two stellar organizations doing important work for social justice and DEI in these times.
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Breaking the Paradigm is a division of Developing Education, which is on a mission to transform education globally to foster human development and flourishing for all people.
First Intention: Curriculum and pedagogy support for Montessori adolescent practitioners, specifically with math and language across the prepared environment.
The Enlightened Educator Project: Supporting educators with mindfulness and resiliency through professional development and downloadable resources.
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