Space To Grow

Kamis, 15 November 2012

Montessori Their Way: Depok, Bogor, Jakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia; Our aim is not only to make the child understand, and still less to force him to memorize, but so to touch his imagination as to enthuse him to his innermost core. The training of the teacher who is to help life is something far more than the learning of ideas. It includes the training of character; it is a preparation of the spirit. It is my belief that the thing which we should cultivate in our teachers is more the spirit than the mechanical skill of the scientist; that is, the direction of the preparation should be toward the spirit rather than toward the mechanism. The teacher's task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child. The word education must not be understood in the sense of teaching but of assisting the psychological development of the child. Education should no longer be mostly imparting of knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentialities. It is not enough for the teacher to love the child. She must first love and understand the universe. She must prepare herself, and truly work at it.