My System of Education

Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician and educator worldwide known for her philosophy of education (the Montessori method) and her writings on scientific pedagogy.
Today we propose to our readers My System of Education, a lecture delivered by Maria Montessori before the National Education Association in August, 1915, and reprinted from the Journal of the Association, 1915.
This text represents a pivotal moment in educational history. In 1915, Maria Montessori addressed an international audience to explain that her method was not merely a “theory” for preschoolers, but a scientific system capable of being extended to children up to ten years of age. At the heart of her presentation is the shift from “old pedagogy”—which viewed the child as a passive recipient—to a “new pedagogy” based on the child as an active, self-forming personality.
Montessori identifies the “psychologic fact” of attention as the foundation of her entire system.
For Montessori, the teacher’s primary task is to conquer the “wandering attention” and provide the environment where this deep concentration can occur. She explains that her educational materials are not toys, but “pedagogical instruments” designed with the precision of an optician’s lens.