05/09/2026
CHILDREN AS A VEHICLE FOR BRINGING CHANGE TO HUMANITY
…Group characteristics remain from one generation to the next because of the children who absorb them. Once there, it is impossible to change them. You can change the conscious mind, but not the subconscious mind. Something remains which you cannot disturb. The work of the child is like heredity, a heredity that is created by each child who constructs a man of his group. The consequence is that if you want to change these deep deposits in man which are against those of another group, you cannot turn to the adult. They can understand, but they can do nothing. Instead you must take humanity during the age of growing, when the subconscious is being built up just by doing something in the environment, not by direct instruction to the intelligence. Place the child so that he can absorb something from the environment which will be part of him forever – so that he can have the chance of understanding afterwards – so that the subconscious and the conscious are not too greatly in conflict – so that in his deep deposits he is not stunted – so that he is not living within the narrow confines of his group, but in a vaster environment. We must prepare a wider environment for childhood if men are ever to understand each other better. Not just to understand each other at a rational level, but so that they can act together following their deep characteristics.
This is the most important aspect of childhood from the psychological side. We must look to the children as a vehicle for bringing change to humanity, which has now become confined by prejudices and habits that cannot be eradicated. You can persuade, but you cannot alter the facts. The facts come from a deeper origin. To understand is not sufficient. We must educate humanity from the beginning for this purpose and put the children in an environment where they are not the prey of prejudices. Page 101 from the book The 1946 London Lectures: https://montessori-pierson.com/products/the-1946-london-lectures-vol-17 ;https://montessori-pierson.com/products/las-conferencias-de-londres-en-1946-vol-17