“Lack of character, or defects of character disappear of themselves, without any need for preaching by grownups or for grown-up examples. One does not need to threaten or cajole, but only to ‘normalize the conditions’ under which the child lives.”
Dr. Maria Montessori from Absorbent Mind, p.299
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Character teaching, Lee Havis conducts CT tutoring with children in the streets of Cebu, Philippines |
Lee Havis, creator of the Character Teaching project, explains its operation in interview in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
by Lee Havis
The “Character Teaching” (CT) project arose in 2000 when I was in McAllen, TX conducting an IMS workshop training. While in the area, I took a visit just across the nearby Mexican border, into the town of Las Flores, now Nuevo Progreso, MX. While there, I was soon approached by a number of poor children on the street asking for money. Struck by their poverty and desperate circumstances, I wondered how I could give them help in a more respectful, life-affirming way than just giving them money. Thinking about a solution, I wondered how could I give them money in a way that follows laws of nature. More specifically, I asked what could the child give me in the exchange for the money that he wanted? But what does a poor street child have of value to exchange for money? TIME!. So, I set about creating an experimental “exchange of value” interaction, time for money, that I could implement with these children when the opportunity arose again.
Back home, I devised the experiment by organizing a set of interesting lessons I could give the children to fill a few minutes of their time, after which they would receive the agreed upon sum of money for their time and attention. Having in hand a set of low-tech “Montessori” materials in a carrying bag, I returned to that same town some months later and conducted the experiment. Happily, the experiment was just as successful as I thought it would be.
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| Lee conducting “Character Teaching” experiment with children on the streets of Las Flores, Mexico. | ||
Following up this experiment in Las Flores, I organized a more complete, formal plan for conducting this project, and set about contacting political and educational leaders to obtain financial supporters and partners for their support and cooperation. Sadly, potential sponsors rejected the concept of exchange of value as naive and idealistic, or simply sought to divert my plan to one easier to understand according to their conventional beliefs about children and education. For more detailed information on the project’s development, see Background and History.
In 2003, with the discovery of IMS technology, I was even more eager to launch the CT project, because this new practical knowledge would greatly facilitate the large number of teachers required for its intended full-scale operation. I now see the project as the highest and best way to duplicate Dr. Montessori’s original “new education” as she did with poor children in Rome, Italy in 1907. It is the promise to bring about a totally new and better humanity in the world. While the CT project has not yet been formally launched anywhere, it has nonetheless achieved interest and some initial planning in a number of countries, which is set forth here. For more information, please consult IMS directly, such as by email to havis@imsmontessori.org.