Break from Our Regularly Scheduled Programming
I will get back to Maria, but for last couple & the next few days I will be reading the archives of a blog that I found & feel like I need to read. I'm not sure if I can/will/should comment on it here. I'll think it over.
The Montessori Method – Chapter 3
INAUGURAL ADDRESS DELIVERED ON THE OCCASION OF THE OPENING OF ONE OF THE "CHILDREN'S HOUSES"
Adding the hyperlinks for each clipping seems excessive since we all know how to use Ctrl+F, so from now on I'm just going to link to the chapter in the heading at the beginning of the post here.
Observations
So Maria Montessori was a communist?
I actually have no idea what her political beliefs would be if she were to participate in today's discussion, but based on this chapter, at least, she seems to be extremely optimistic about the beneficial effects of "communising". It is a jarring thing to read, but it does force you to remember that there was a time when no one in Europe had heard of Lenin, Hitler or Stalin. There was a time where it was possible to imagine that socialism could actually alleviate the ill effects of scarcity without having to contend with a horrendous historical track record.
This chapter was also notable for Montessori's direct attention to the problems of poverty--true destitution well in excess of anything commonly encountered in America today. I haven't read Charles Murray's latest, but based on the reviews I've seen it seems as though he could have used parts of this speech to form the backbone of his own argument: The isolation of the poor from the rich leaves the former in a desperate state as much for their lack of positive moral models as for access to more conventional forms of economic capital.
The Montessori Method – Chapter 2
Observations
I don't have much to comment upon in this chapter as it is mostly autobiography: providing a broad history of how Maria Montessori came to study education and open her "Children's Houses."
She again emphasizes the centrality of the spirit of experimentation to her pedagogical theory. I'm on board. I hesitate to call it naivety, but I associate the greatest experiences of my life with an attitude in which I lacked any clear expectations.
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, in 2nd grade I gave a presentation on the country of Italy. From that day on, I had a permanent, burning desire to visit the country. I finally realized my wish as a junior in college when I spent a semester abroad in the town of Bergamo.
I discovered almost as soon as I set foot on European soil that I had no idea of what I wanted to do while I was there. I had dreamed of going for over a decade, and upon arriving it was very much like waking from a dream: a hazy intuition, feelings stronger than thoughts, everything giving way rapidly to the reality of the external world. With no clear direction, but a powerful drive to move ahead, I made new friends, tried new foods, visited new places and learned new customs that delighted me more and more each day and drew me forward at a thrilling pace. Four months passed in the blink of an eye and filled me up with a mountain of memories.
I returned to the U.S. a better, richer man than I left, aware of my good fortune and committed to nurturing and developing the openness and determination that had taken hold and grown so much in me. Several years have passed with plenty of ups and downs, but I've stayed on the right trajectory and now with Holden in my life I again find myself upon the threshold of an undiscovered country of full of marvelous opportunity.
The Montessori Method – Chapter 1
Observations
In this first chapter, Montessori takes a strident tone impugning the status quo for releasing unprepared teachers on unsuspecting students all of whom are subject to unqualified and immodest experts.
On the one hand, she expresses a great deal of admiration for the scientific method, and there is no doubt that she feels that human intellectual development is a topic that is both worthy of and amenable to rigorous experimental inquiry. On the other hand, she has nothing but contempt for many of the devices and methods that have been implemented in the educational domain in the name of science.
She makes the argument that the traditional approach to education has been influenced more by the institution of slavery than any other form of social interaction. She proposes that a proper approach to guiding the development of children would instead be grounded in a spirit of liberty. I am naturally sympathetic.
She also addresses the importance of intrinsic motivation in promoting genuine growth and accomplishment. She regards systems of externally imposed punishment and reward as barbarous methods of distortion and control. Again, I am sympathetic; however, I think she is too quick to dismiss the contributions of those who merely have a job as opposed to a vocation.
The Montessori Method – Introduction
I've copied the html from the link on the right to my Kindle where I'm reading the book. I really like the Kindle (I have the touch model), and I'm a big fan of the note taking features it makes available. Using your personal Kindle webpage is a great way of tracking and organizing those notes...as long as you are dealing with books that you purchased through Amazon. Obviously not the case here, so I'm having to avail myself of direct access to the "My Clippings.txt" file on the actual device.
These posts might just be note dumps so I'll keep them below the fold. Of course, I might find some additional useful things to say in the process, so maybe I'll but an "Observations" section here in the body & if you're interested, you can see what passages occasioned my thoughts. I'm sure it will evolve, hopefully for the better, as I proceed through the book. Passages are in block quotes, my notes follow directly.
Observations
Based on the description of Maria Montessori's methods given by the author of this introduction, Henry W. Holmes, it is easy for me to see why I am so attracted to them. I don't know if my libertarian streak is more due to my genes or to my own experience in a Montessori school when I was younger (probably both reinforcing each other), but the emphasis on individual exploration and mastery of the world we inhabit resonates with my own beliefs and desires regarding the experience of a good life. I ask myself, "What do I hope for Holden to be when he becomes an adult?" and the first word that comes to mind is "capable".
Many things in life are unpredictable, but there are many things that are also responsive to our actions. Learning to identify what can be done and learning how to do something are indistinguishable in my mind. Frustrations are inevitable, but the persistence will often lead to competency and the more we experience competency and eventually mastery, the less we will fear the future and the more we will delight in the present. I'm not sure any of us much know how to handle the past, but that usually isn't a problem if you aren't tempted to dwell upon it.
Kitchen Commander
Holden sitting in his corner in his kitchen
This is Holden in his "spot" next to the play kitchens we bought for him for Christmas. He has also defined a "spot" for me just to his left which he will point to and adamently command me to sit in.
It is interesting to watch him grow more more attached to the things and spaces that are "his". He definitely wants us to play with him, but he wants to be in charge of what we do.
The will to power is strong in this one. 
There is No Forever
There is only NOW. Or at least, that's what I take to be the gist of this NYT piece. I actually really liked this quote from William Gibson:
“People my age are products of a culture of the capital-F Future,” William Gibson said in 2010. “The younger you are, the less you are a product of that. If you’re 15 or so today, I suspect that you inhabit a sort of endless digital Now, a state of atemporality enabled by our increasingly efficient communal prosthetic memory.”
It was a serendipitous moment to stumble across the link to this article at the top of my Twitter feed after just publishing my first post on this site complaining of the ephemeral nature of that and other social networking services deemed essential in this day and age.
Despite sounding a lament of sorts, I really don't share the author's sense of regret at the loss of things like Polaroids and phone numbers. I like my Kindle more than any paper book I've ever owned or read. There are more photos of me, my family and friends spread out across Facebook, Flickr, hard-drives, thumb drives, physical photo albums and everything else than I will ever be able to look at. I have swallowed enough of eastern philosophy to actually believe that an ability to appreciate the infinite depth and dimension of the present moment does more to promote one's health than either a mind like a trap or a limitless imagination. If the cloud allows us to focus more by taking more for granted, I think that is a trade we should be happy to make.
Human Development as a Hobby
I've decided to inaugurate this website as a repository for items that are essential to my evolving identity. To the extent that other people are engage in this sort of endeavor, I imagine most of them rely on Facebook or Twitter or maybe even Google+ if they're extra geeky.
I like all of those services, but they all seem to me to be focused on filtering the raw vitality of the internet into a more accessible stream from which to sip. Believe me, I drink deeply from those sources, but what I want to accomplish here is not just to share, or store, or see the world, but to work towards building something more substantial within myself and my community.
I'm actually driven in large part by thoughts of my son, Holden. He's not quite 2 years old and he makes up an immense part of all that brings joy and meaning into my life. My wife, Susan, and our family as a whole make up much of the rest, though the remainder (filled with work, friends and hobbies) is far from insignificant.
Anyways, back to Holden. I watch him as he is growing up and I am thrilled to be a part of it, and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to see the experience of life as it is reflected in such fresh, young eyes. It makes me reflect upon my own life, from my own 30 year-old perspective, and wonder how well I know the world and how to enhance what is valuable in it. I feel confident that I have done some good things in that regard (helping to bring Holden about being tops among them), but I'd like to do more.
In that vein, I am aspiring to learn as much as I can about human development by studying my son and myself as I interact with him. My current view is that Maria Montessori seems to have the most enlightening perspective on the growth of children into adults, so I intend to make her works an integral part of this journey.
This seems like a long enough introductory post, so let me end with an attempt to express my motives and goals succinctly: meet the world on its terms, learn to live in it on your own.