THE MONTESSORI METHOD - online book

In February, 1911, Professor Henry W. Holmes, of the Division of Education of Harvard University, did me the honour to suggest that an English translation be made of my Italian volume, "Metodo delta Pedagogia Scientifica applicato all' educazione infantile nelle Case dei Bambini." This suggestion represented one of the greatest events in the history of my educational work. To-day, that to which I then looked forward as an unusual privilege has become an accomplished fact. The Italian edition of "II Metodo delta Pedagogia Scientiftca" had no preface, because the book itself I con­sider nothing more than the preface to a more compre­hensive work, the aim and extent of which it only indi­cates. For the educational method for children of from three to six years set forth here is but the earnest of a work that, developing the same principle and method, shall cover in a like manner the successive stages of education. Moreover, the method which obtains in the Case dei Bam­bini offers, it seems to me, an experimental field for the study of man, and promises, perhaps, the development of a science that shall disclose other secrets of nature. In the period that has elapsed between the publication of the Italian and American editions, I have had, with my pupils, the opportunity to simplify and render more exact certain practical details of the method, and to gather addi­tional observations concerning discipline. The results attest the vitality of the method and the necessity for an extended scientific collaboration in the near future, and are embodied in two new chapters written for the American edition. I know that my method has been widely spoken of in America, thanks to Mr. S. S. McClure, who has pre­sented it through the pages of his well-known magazine. Indeed, many Americans have already come to Rome for the purpose of observing personally the practical applica­tion of the method in my little schools. If, encouraged by this movement, I may express a hope for the future, it is that my work in Rome shall become the centre of an effi­cient and helpful collaboration. To the Harvard professors who have made my work known in America and to McClure*s Magazine, a mere acknowledgment of what I owe them is a barren response; but it is my hope that the method itself, in its effect upon the children of America, may prove an adequate expression of my gratitude.

I have had to rearrange the pages a bit so the illustrations are all now at the beginning of the book. Otherwise the page order is unchanged. Deduct 100 from the numbers shown to get the original page numbers.