“It is a most unnatural and cruel thing to put people of the same age together. It is one of the most cruel things we do to children…” Page 331.

Uh oh! What did Maria Montessori mean by this blanket statement?

“In most schools there is first the separation of the sexes and then that of the ages, separated into classes. This is a fundamental error leading to all sorts of mis-takes ; it is an artificial isolation which cannot develop the social sense.” Page 331.

Let’s be real! Ask yourself this: outside of a teaching setting – where else do you see same age grouping occurring in life? School, swimming lessons, girl guides and the like are all headed and directed by designated teachers and usually have children arranged according to sex and age. So why would Montessori feel this arrangement stunts social development? Why is same age grouping ‘an artificial isolation’?

Let’s consider the first concrete experience a child has in developing him or herself socially. In the family setting (one with siblings especially) – the child grows in a vertically grouped environment. A vertically grouped environment is simply one where children are able to learn within different age groups.  Children socialise with the parents, uncles, aunties, cousins, grandparents – all different ages – vertical grouping. It is easy to see then how grouping according to age isolates artificially. It is simply not nature’s order but one designed by man.

It’s understandable why most schools decide to group children according to their age. It fits their plan for how to educate children. The curriculum is curated according to the apparent abilities of the child according to their age but let’s take a quick look at how children learn best. 

Put simply; children learn by doing. They hear and understand with their eyes and physical concrete experiences first – led by their spiritual intuition. This is why it is encouraged to model the behaviour desired. So how do children teach differently from adults?

Montessori explains that there is a ‘mental osmosis’ between children in nearing ages that exists; one that does not for the adult-child communication. 

“…children do teach, whereas, judging by examination results, apparently qualified teachers do not teach!” Page 335.

Spicy! Yet still sentiments shared today as they clearly were over one hundred and fifty years ago. Are adults able to teach children more effectively than children can each other?

“The smaller child is animated, because he does understand what the older one does, and the older one is animated, because he can teach what he knows.” Pages 335-336.

For example, if a child misbehaves in class the automatic go to for some teachers would be to reprimand and rush to correct whereas Montessori observed that although another child may point out that the behaviour was disagreeable, the older child, having recently experienced that which the younger child has, is that much more connected with and able to empathise and communicate with understanding than the adult. This being normalised children that is.

” If the adults step in to adjust, the children get nervous, but if they are left alone they solve them peacefully.” Page 329.

This harmony and mental osmosis is demonstrated well where vertical grouping exists and the importance of child-child teaching opportunities is shown not only in the way they mutually respect the similar stages of each other’s learning development but in the ways they set forth extending and consolidating their own learning. 

“They respect each other and only help when help is a real necessity. This enlightens us greatly, because they evidently have an intuition of, and show respect for, the essential need of the child not to be helped uselessly.” Page 337.

What does useless help look like? It definitely does have an air of hastiness to it. For example, when it’s a weekday and the clock is ticking – rather than allow say a toddler to work out how to put on his or her coat – the parent usually does it for him/her.

Or if a child who is learning to walk on the way to nursery with his dad – usually taking his or her time to stroll and take in the surrounding environment is straddled to a pushchair because, once again, the clock is ticking and dad may not want to be late for work.

In a class a school, the teacher shows the child what to do usually and quickly move on to the next area of a subject rather than the child be given as much time as is needed to truly master through repeating the what is being taught because there is not enough time in the academic year to engage and explore deeply with each topic.

All these are examples of useless help and have an impact on the social development of the child because the opportunity to work things out by themselves with each other is not presented naturally.

The need to assist and do things for the child definitely stunts their ability to problem-solve independently and limits the development of social skills. As mentioned above, children learn by doing and this includes making mistakes and working out how to correct them on their own. and, most importantly, taking the time they need to do so. Useless help encourages a dependency on others to get the job done for you; which is an unhealthy practice to encourage.

All of the Montessori materials have what is called a control of error which allows the child to clearly identify with the use of their developing sense – where they have a need to correct themselves.

Vertically grouping children in an environment as such we can see how the younger child may benefit from observing and even asking for support from an older child who has mastered the activity he or she is trying to. All this occurs with an energy of mutual respect as opposed to an added pressure to perform which is often the case with a teacher-child communication in the instance of correction.

“…the small one sees what the elder one does and asks about it, and the older one gives an explanation.  This is really teaching, but the explanation and teaching of a child of five years is so near to the understanding of the child of three years that the little one understands easily, whereas we should not reach his intelligence.” Page 332.

 

Importance of Child Speak for Social Development

As adults we have developed past the stage of the child which means that, although we assume we are better at explaining things to a child, in some cases it is only the child who can do this most effectively.

Montessori describes an instance where a child broke a glass vase in class and instead of being met with condemnation or feelings of guilt being ladened- the other children in the class, who had also gone through the same experience, got to work with assisting the child in clearing up the mess.

“…there is an instinct that attracts them to help one who is weak with encouragement and consolation and this is an instinct of social evolution.” Page 339.

In same age classes at school there is almost an accepted celebration of competition at play. Who got the highest score? Who wrote the neatest? Children often get rewarded for being the best at this or that and those who aren’t as well developed feel inadequate despite any encouragement from the adult teacher.

In vertically aged groupings the child who is less developed in a skill can quietly observe those who are more advanced; go away and practise until they too master the skill. There is a silent admiration whilst observing the more advanced child because they yearn to also be able to do the same. 

“The children are not only not envious at all, but the achievements of other children evoke an enthusiastic admiration and joy.” Page 340.

With any new skill, the mastery of it comes through repetition and in repeating something new skills are shaped.  Older children benefit from vertical grouping because they not only develop their sense of social responsibility but can also refine their own sense of self too.

The older child also develops a sense of social responsibility and feels honoured to be the one to whom others seek support.

“…the child of five with the child of three feels himself a protector.”

Page 333. 

In vertically aged grouping the onus is not on the older child to teach. It occurs naturally whilst he or she is learning. It is the presence of the older child at work that teaches more than anything. For the older child, the opportunity to realise the importance of rules and principles is presented. If a younger child, still learning the rules of the setting, disrupts its flow, the older child is able to model by example. The ability to explain a concept rather than simply being able to master it is also strengthened. The emotional understanding and maturity of the older child is developed too as they come across scenarios which they may have encountered previously demonstrated by younger children in a less effective way. Realising how far they have grown from that.  Vertical grouping for the older child also teaches them mentorship and leadership skills; how to work effectively with others including how best to guide in a range of situations.

“People become worried whether the five years old will acquire sufficient knowledge if he is always teaching younger ones. In the first place, he is not always teaching, he has his freedom and it is respected. Apart from that, in teaching he fixes his own knowledge, because he has to analyse and re-handle it in order to teach, so he sees it with greater clarity.” Page 334.

Vertical grouping reflects real life but for children, giving them the freedom to develop within limits goes hand in hand. 

“A three years old can see a nine years old extracting the square root, he asks him what he is doing. If the answer gives him no inspiration he goes back to his own class where there are objects of inspiration, but the six year old would be interested and would find inspiration there. With this freedom one can see the limits of the intelligence of each age.” 

Page 334-335.

The ability to choose and organise self is central to developing an independent and savvy individual so when a child is normalised, has such freedom and the environment is well prepared including being vertically grouped (as it would be in any other life experience outside of a class) there is no end to his or her success!

“Generally if a teacher interferes, she has an idea quite different from that of the children and disturbs the social harmony of the class. If there is such a problem, we should, but for exceptional cases, leave the children alone and mind our own business, because in so doing we are able to see how the children solve these problems and observe a manifestation of the behaviour of childhood, of the real behaviour which the adult does not know at all. Through all these daily experiences a social construction takes place.”

Page 334-335.

 

Bibliography

The Absorbent Mind, Montessori Maria, The Theosophical Publishing House, 1949