{"id":13354,"date":"2019-11-05T15:53:21","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T20:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/?p=13354"},"modified":"2019-12-05T15:56:22","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T20:56:22","slug":"one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Educators"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD<\/span><\/p>\n

The story of one of the most remarkable students of human learning in the 20th century is not widely known.\u00a0 This is a pity, partly because the story itself is so rich.\u00a0 She became one of the first women in her nation to graduate from medical school, began her educational\u00a0career<\/span><\/a>\u00a0working with disabled students, refused to bow to the will of a dictator who originally supported her (Benito Mussolini), and became one of the most influential educators of the 20th century.\u00a0 Her name was Maria Montessori.<\/span><\/p>\n

Born in Italy in 1870, Montessori performed well as a student.\u00a0 She defied her father and entered an all-male technical school, where she studied engineering and mathematics and graduated in 1890.\u00a0 Again bucking\u00a0gender<\/span><\/a>\u00a0norms, she then enrolled in medical school.\u00a0 As a woman, she was forced to enter classrooms only after her male colleagues had been seated.\u00a0 She could participate in anatomy dissections only after hours, when the other students had left.\u00a0 Despite these obstacles, she graduated in 1896 with honors.<\/span><\/p>\n

Montessori began working with disabled children, serving as an advocate for their rights and the rights of their families. She helped to form a league to protect mentally disabled children, eventually joining the faculty of a school designed to train fellow teachers.\u00a0 She organized the\u00a0education<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of low-income children in Rome.\u00a0 Known as Casa dei Bambini (\u201cChildren\u2019s House\u201d), it was here that Montessori began to develop and apply her educational principles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Montessori observed that children required no direction from teachers, often becoming spontaneously absorbed in play and learning.\u00a0 She determined that
\nchildren were intrinsically motivated to learn, which was a great source of joy to them.\u00a0 Left largely to their own devices, they could master a variety of activities, such as conversation, reading and writing, and artistic expression.<\/span><\/p>\n

She wrote: <\/i>“What is the greatest sign of success of a teacher?\u00a0 The children are now working as if I did not exist.\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In 1909 Montessori began offering her first training courses on her methods for teachers.\u00a0 Soon she found herself so busy focusing on her educational approach that she gave up the practice of medicine entirely.\u00a0 Within a few years, Montessori schools sprouted around the world, from Western Europe to the Indian subcontinent, the Far East, and America.\u00a0 In addition to offering courses, she published numerous books and manuals that outlined her approach.<\/span><\/p>\n

Montessori moved to Spain in 1915 but traveled widely.\u00a0 Initially popular with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his Fascist party, by 1930 she fell out of favor — she refused to allow her schools to participate in promoting the ruling party\u2019s ideology.\u00a0 She believed that education should promote peace.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Montessori died in the Netherlands in 1952 at the age of 81.\u00a0 Today there are approximately 5,000 US Montessori schools, and similar programs can be found in over 140 countries worldwide.\u00a0 A remarkably diverse group of notable people are Montessori alumni, including chef Julia Child, Google founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, basketball player Stephen Curry, and actor George Clooney.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Montessori\u2019s story offers many lessons: Don\u2019t let stereotypes based in arbitrary characteristics such as gender stand in your way.\u00a0 Base everything you do on a higher commitment.\u00a0 Seek out the best teachers and collaborators.\u00a0 And finally, regard your mission not as self-promotion but educating others about better ways to be human.<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD,<\/b> is Chancellor’s Professor of Radiology, Pediatrics, Medical Education, Philosophy, Liberal Arts, Philanthropy, and Medical Humanities and Health Studies at Indiana University. He was a Chancellor Scholar of the Federal Republic of Germany and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters at Northwestern University.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

He is a ten-time recipient of the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award, and was named the 2008 Outstanding Educator by the Radiological Society of North America, the 2011 American Roentgen Ray Society Berlin Scholar in Professionalism, and the 2012 Distinguished Educator of the American Roentgen Ray Society. In 2012, he received the Alpha Omega Alpha Robert J. Glaser Award for Teaching Excellence, the top teaching award from the Association of American Medical Colleges. In 2013, he was the Spinoza Professor at the University of Amsterdam. Dr. Gunderman is the author of more than 700 articles and has published 12 books.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD The story of one of the most remarkable students of human learning in the 20th century is not widely known.\u00a0 This is a pity, partly because the story itself is so rich.\u00a0 She became one of the first women in her nation to graduate from medical school, began her educational\u00a0career\u00a0working with disabled students, refused to bow to the will of a dictator who originally supported her (Benito Mussolini), and became one of the most influential educators of the 20th century.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[67,43],"class_list":["post-13354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montessori","tag-education","tag-montessori"],"yoast_head":"\nOne of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators • Raintree Montessori<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD The story of one of the most remarkable students of human learning in the 20th century is not widely known.\u00a0 This is a pity, partly because the story itself is so rich.\u00a0 She became one of the first women in her nation to graduate from medical school, began her educational\u00a0career\u00a0working with disabled students, refused to bow to the will of a dictator who originally supported her (Benito Mussolini), and became one of the most influential educators of the 20th century.\u00a0 [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Raintree Montessori\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/raintreemontessorischool\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"194\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"259\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Heather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Heather\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Heather\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3aff834a1dc81622d5985ba0201783b8\"},\"headline\":\"One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Educators\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":701,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/download.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"education\",\"Montessori\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Montessori\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/\",\"name\":\"One of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators • Raintree Montessori\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/download.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/download.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/download.jpg\",\"width\":194,\"height\":259},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Educators\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/\",\"name\":\"Raintree Montessori\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Raintree Montessori School\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/raintreeLogoWeb.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/rtr-current\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/06\\\/raintreeLogoWeb.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Raintree Montessori School\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/raintreemontessorischool\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/raintreemontessori\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/3955600\\\/admin\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3aff834a1dc81622d5985ba0201783b8\",\"name\":\"Heather\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/raintreemontessori.org\\\/current\\\/author\\\/heather\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"One of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators • Raintree Montessori","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"One of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators","og_description":"By Richard Gunderman, MD, PhD The story of one of the most remarkable students of human learning in the 20th century is not widely known.\u00a0 This is a pity, partly because the story itself is so rich.\u00a0 She became one of the first women in her nation to graduate from medical school, began her educational\u00a0career\u00a0working with disabled students, refused to bow to the will of a dictator who originally supported her (Benito Mussolini), and became one of the most influential educators of the 20th century.\u00a0 [...]","og_url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/","og_site_name":"Raintree Montessori","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/raintreemontessorischool","article_published_time":"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":194,"height":259,"url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Heather","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Heather","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/"},"author":{"name":"Heather","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#\/schema\/person\/3aff834a1dc81622d5985ba0201783b8"},"headline":"One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Educators","datePublished":"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/"},"wordCount":701,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg","keywords":["education","Montessori"],"articleSection":["Montessori"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/","name":"One of the 20th Century's Greatest Educators • Raintree Montessori","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-05T20:53:21+00:00","dateModified":"2019-12-05T20:56:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2019\/12\/download.jpg","width":194,"height":259},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/one-of-the-20th-centurys-greatest-educators\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"One of the 20th Century’s Greatest Educators"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#website","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/","name":"Raintree Montessori","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#organization","name":"Raintree Montessori School","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2016\/06\/raintreeLogoWeb.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/rtr-current\/uploads\/2016\/06\/raintreeLogoWeb.png","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Raintree Montessori School"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/raintreemontessorischool","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/raintreemontessori","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/3955600\/admin\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/#\/schema\/person\/3aff834a1dc81622d5985ba0201783b8","name":"Heather","url":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/author\/heather\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13354"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13354\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13356,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13354\/revisions\/13356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/raintreemontessori.org\/current\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}