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=  =   In 1870 Maria Montessori was born in the province of Ancona, Italy. Not much is known about her early childhood. She graduated from Medical School at the age of 26. Normally graduating from medical school is in itself something to feel proud of, however after graduating Maria became the first (that’s right FIRST) female physician in Italy (that’s at least 5 times more amazing). Two times she was chosen to represent Italy at conferences for women (1896 and 1900).
 * __Maria Montessori __**

Maria was curious about how children learn and interact with their environments. She noticed (through interactions based upon her position as a physician) that kids seem to figure out many problems from their environment through their senses (sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing). Everything about how children learned interested Maria so in 1901 she went back to study psychology in the hopes that through learning about that subject the minds/learning pathways of children would become clear. (She became a professor in 1904 but decided that it just wasn’t for her)

After leaving her teaching post at the University of Rome (1904) she founded the first //Casa dei Bambini// (Children’s House) in 1906. The Children’s House was a school developed around 60 kids from parents who worked in the San Lorenzo district. Maria continued her study of children’s learning habits. She herself saw how the kids picked up ideas easily from their surroundings, and also the manipulation of objects. Through continued experiments, studies, and a “glass house” exhibition she soon gained international recognition. Spain offered her the opportunity to open a research institute (1917) and she was made a government inspector of schools in Italy (1922). However friction with Mussolini’s Italy led her to leave her post in 1934.

 Aside from founding many Montessori schools and the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI 1929), Maria Montessori was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize (1949, 1950, and 1951). She died in Holland in 1952, but her message and ideas continue to be carried on. 

Quote: “There is in the soul of a child an impenetrable secret that is gradually revealed as it develops.” – Maria Montessori

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__Rudolf Steiner __  Rudolf Steiner was born in Kralijevec, Austria (which is now a part of Croatia) in 1861. A brilliant man he studied several subjects at university (mathematics, physics and chemistry). He wrote his thesis however on philosophy. After earning his doctorate he was drawn into the notorious intellectual circles of Vienna.  He held several occupations in a plethora of subjects. He edited Goethe’s scienitific works, collaborated in Schopenahuer’s studies, and published his first book in 1894 (titled: __Intuitive Thinking as a Spritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom__). After that he edited a literary magazine published in Berlin while lecturing about history and natural science. He evened taught a course in public speaking.  Steiner was always interested in the spirit of man. He was spiritual curious and inquisitive. Steiner felt that the organization of society left the spirituality of man wilting and un-inspired. The Waldorf school movement came out of this perceived need to create a place of importance for the cultivation of human spiritual essence.  Rudolf Steiner was a miraculous person. His work has inspired the creation of Biodynamic agriculture, an educational movement and a medical movement. He also worked as an architect, designing the Goethanum in Dornach Switzerland and also the Anthroposophical society and its School of Spiritual Science building. He died in Dornach Switzerland in 1925, but he left us all the best fruits of his labors.

Quote: “Vague and the general phrases - 'the harmonious development of all the powers and talents in the child,' and so forth - cannot provide a basis for a genuine art of education. Such an art of education can only be built on a real knowledge of the human being. Not that these phrases are incorrect, but that at the bottom they are useless as it would be to say of a machine that all its parts must be brought harmoniously into action. To work a machine you must approach it, not with phrases and truisms, but with real and detailed knowledge. So for the art of education it is the knowledge of the members of man's being and of their several developments which is important. There is of course no doubt that they truly realistic art of education, such as is here indicated, will only slowly make its way. This lies, indeed, in the whole mentality of our age, which will long continue to regard the facts of the spiritual world as the vapourings of an imagination run wild, while it takes vague and altogether unreal phrases for the result of a realistic way of thinking.”

Rudolf Steiner. The Education of the Child in light of Anthroposophy. London: Rudolf Steiner Press, 1965.