13/10/2023
CONSTRUCTIVE ENERGIES
At each age one must seek for the opportunity for the greatest effort, and the greatest social experience one can reach actively. This is why I said before that the child of seven years must have other kinds of social experiences. We can say that up to seven years the experiences have been in a small house that belonged to him. Now he must go out from it and make greater efforts…
The basis of all is to satisfy the constructive energies of man, the rest follows…
The “valorisation” of the individual is in close relation with maximum effort. As a consequence, the child is always urged to a more difficult life. Instead, we have the instinct to give always an easier life. To make things easier means that the child is not satisfied, and his development will have many defects. He needs to feel capable of overcoming obstacles, of doing always more difficult things. The instinct of the adult tends to make it impossible for the child to achieve this development. The idea of helping and protecting is too much in our minds. I mean the direct protection that the child feels, not the protection that should take the form of organising the society necessary for his development. Page 24-25 From the book: “Citizen of the world” Chapter 3, The lecture: “Moral and Social Education”, presented at the Montessori Congress held in Edinburgh in 1938 https://montessori-pierson.com/vol-14-basic-ideas-of-montessori-s-educational-theory.html; https://montessori-pierson.com/ciudadano-del-mundo.html
The picture is Maria Montessori at the Congress in Edinburgh in 1938 where this lecture was delivered
