“What happens to children after Montessori school?” is only partially answered by the assurance that the elementary Montessori environment and its commitment to cosmic education is now available. Although cosmic education is a completely effective approach for the child 6-12, parents and educators now ask “what is beyond the cosmic education?”. Is the work of Montessori education completed once the child reaches the age of 12?
Erdkinder
The Erdkinder farm-school model for the 12-18 year old child is a unique and appropriate physical setting for the teenage child, consistent with this aged child’s fundamental nature. However, effective Erdkinder cannot be realized solely through the form of a particular physical setting and certain curriculum guidelines. There must be a commitment and communication with respect to appropriate fundamental principles. The recent research and experimentation with regard to these principles so far has revealed only partial knowledge.
What is known about the 12-18 period is that the teenage child must traverse barriers and engage issues which have not been completely resolved by adult society; economic survival, self-worth, commitment to the fundamental dignity of man, and a sense of adequacy and effectiveness. The challenge to discover the principles of Montessori secondary education is precisely the challenge before adult society; e.g., to confront the conditions of hunger, violence, poverty, inadequacy and ineffectiveness with a sense of joy and satisfaction.
Mysterious Preparation
The work of preparing for Montessori secondary education is not just performed by those individuals engaged in experimental Erdkinder projects. The entire Montessori community participates in the preparation for the emergence of this final stage of Montessori education by an essentially unknown and mysterious process of extending Montessori principles into adult society by engagement with social forces outside and beyond the classroom; creating new Montessori schools, providing public workshops, supporting the work of Montessori organizations and public interest groups and engaging in political and community action.
Time, effort and money
There is no guarantee as to when the work of Montessori education will be completed. However, progress can be measured by a sense of joy and satisfaction as the results of work in society are increasingly acknowledged and realized
The barriers associated with time, effort and money with which adult society seems to entangled, are actually opportunities to realize the ability to create new conditions of adequacy and effectiveness in society. With boldness and courage, individuals can create a new society, independent of considerations of time, effort and money. Beyond the cosmic education lies the completion of the work of Montessori education, the transformation of adult society.
Originally published in 1980 in Vol. 1, No. 5 issue of The Montessori Observer