By Catharine Calder

September 21 is International Peace Day, so it is fitting that we recognize one of the last century’s most remarkable woman on the eve of this celebration.

Maria Montessori dedicated her life to children, education and peace. She believed that the ultimate goal of education is peace, and that each new generation of children renews our hope for a more peaceful world.

Although Maria Montessori is best known for her work as an educator, she began her career as a physician. In fact, she was Italy’s first female doctor. Although young Maria was forced to sit behind a screen throughout her years in medical school, she successfully obtained a degree. Her placement in the slums of Rome to care for the children of impoverished women sent her off on the path that would impact children and education around the world.

Montessori observed that children learn through experiences with a prepared environment. She believed, and her observations have been supported by independent research in recent years, that teaching by rote and emphasizing repetition without understanding is an impediment to human development. Rather, she created materials so that the children, who had been discounted as uneducable, would learn. At the end of one year, the children in the first Casa de Bambini (Children’s House) in 1907 exceeded all others on their annual exams.

Montessori’s method of learning through discovery is firmly rooted in the belief that every human—including the youngest of children—have an inherent desire to understand the world. The drive to learn is as strong as the desire to walk. If we don’t interfere but rather support this inherent human curiosity, children flourish.

Respect is the foundation for all of Montessori’s work. If one visits a Montessori classroom, the respect for individual choices is evident. Of course, with choices also comes the responsibility for one’s choices, something children accept with ease.

Montessori left Italy for India during World War II where she established schools and came to know Gandhi. Like so many others, Gandhi was amazed to see children working and learning in peaceful and harmonious ways. He wrote, the “more I came in touch” with these schools, “I began to understand that the foundation was good and splendid,” that “children could be taught through the laws of nature—nature, consistent with human dignity, not nature that governs the beast.”

At the age of 80 in 1950, Maria Montessori continued to advocate for peace through education. She participated in the founding meetings of UNESCO and to this day, Montessori schools have a close working relationship with the United Nations. The American Montessori Society is a recognized non-governmental organization (NGO) at the UN, giving a greater voice to Montessori and peace education.

This year, we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Maria Montessori’s birth. Her contributions to peace—through education—are incalculable. One can find Montessori schools on six continents. Monroe should be proud to know that it is home to the only Montessori school in the nation that is fully accredited from infancy through high school.

Tomorrow, September 21, is International Peace Day. If you drive past Meadow Montessori on S. Raisinville Rd., you will see children of all ages at the Peace Pole celebrating and singing “Light a Candle for Peace.” Join us in our commitment to respect all humans, as we work each day to realize Montessori’s vision of a peaceful world.

Catharine Calder lives in Monroe and is Head of School at Meadow Montessori. She is representing Women’s Vote, Women’s Voice, Women’s Equality, a group celebrating the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.