The Importance of the Early Years
Dr. Maria Montessori first introduced the Montessori Method in the early 1900’s. She wrote, “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to the age of six.” She believed that if we want self-directed children, we can not have teacher-directed classrooms. If the desired end product is independent thinking, then the means must be independent learning. Therefore, the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from pre-selected courses of studies but rather to cultivate the natural desire to learn.