A failure of communication lies at the heart of the problems and difficulties which have historically deterred the realization of Dr. Montessori’s vision of a “new education”—a universal commitment to the principles of individual liberty, observation and preparation of the environment. This failed communication is readily apparent among the general public, including parents and educators, who oppose the child’s true nature as revealed by the Montessori classroom experience.
Communication problems associated with Montessori education result from the way in which adults have traditionally engaged in the process of communication. Mastery of communication, by contrast, effectively empowers the individual to fully realize the vision of the “new education”.
Communication in Adult Society
The normal adult communicates within an elaborate system of beliefs and mental images from the past. Typically “new” knowledge acquired by an adult is unconsciously and automatically distorted to conform to the individual’s own particular system of beliefs. Since such distortion is unconscious, the individual fails to recognize the fundamental ineffectiveness of the process by which knowledge is acquired. The normal adult has, in effect, reduced the notion of “communication” to the level of manipulation of concepts— a process essentially devoid of power or effect.
Conceptual Manipulation
Communication as a process of conceptual manipulation places all “new” knowledge acquired by such process within the individual’s existing system of beliefs—a mental structure conceived in its totality as inalterable truth. “New” knowledge is automatically distorted to conform to already known elements —i.e., “conceptualized” — to justify and substantiate one’s existing system of beliefs. Such conceptual manipulation has no fundamental effect on the underlying framework of reality within an individual. Conceptual manipulation is not communication.
What is Communication
Communication is, in essence, a recreation of experience —within a single individual. Such “experience” is the totality of phenomenon occurring in the present moment. A “re-created” experience is an exact reflection of the original experience — nothing added and nothing subtracted. The extent of distortion to the original experience— by addition or subtraction of something — measures the extent to which the experience has failed in its communication.
Failure of Communication
A failure of communication is the distortion of an experience to conform to an individual’s system of beliefs. Such a “failed” communication amounts to an “incomplete” re-creation —the original experience being only partially reflected in association with the concept resulting from the addition and subtraction of elements.
Completing Communication
“Incomplete” communication can be “completed” in a process of realizing experience in the present moment. Such a completion process amounts to a confrontational engagement with one’s system of beliefs. In Montessori education, completing communication in the classroom is the process of “normalization”.
Normalization as Communication
“Normalization” —the child’s profound shift from random movement or action to order and harmony — creatively engages the disharmony in the child’s environment, including the teacher’s own system of beliefs. The normalized child communicates its true nature to the teacher, in the present moment, who spontaneously “re-creates” this experience as “complete” — i.e., “perfect”. The teacher’s commitment to Montessori principles is vital to enable this fundamental communication to occur.
Communicating Commitment
A commitment to Montessori principles is communicated by IMS to individuals through means such as Montessori teacher training. The IMS training course aims specifically to communicate a commitment to Montessori principles through a series of assignments and exercises which engage the student’s system of beliefs with respect to Montessori principles. Outside such a commitment to Montessori principles, the “communication” of Montessori education amounts to conceptual manipulation -fundamentally without effect or power with respect to realizing the “new education”.
Communicating Montessori Education
“Montessori education”—as a concept— distorts the fundamental Montessori classroom experience. A manipulation of such a Montessori education concept can be readily associated with a vast assortment of conceptual elements; e. g., classroom materials, physical facilities, certification and accreditation standards, organizational identification, and specific beliefs and attitudes. Effective communication of Montessori education recognizes and disengages from such conceptual elements which have been traditionally associated with Montessori education.
Power of Communication
Effective communication empowers the individual to realize a created experience from within one’s self-independent of all external circumstances. When the created experience communicated is a commitment to Montessori principles, the “new education” can be realized.
Originally published in 1982 in Vol. 3, No. 4 issue of The Montessori Observer