Many people consider Montessori’s educational method to be exclusively for the elite or wealthy. This misconception likely originated in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when few children attended preschool, and public schools rarely offered kindergarten. During this time, expensive private schools were usually the only option for an early education. Also during this time, Maria Montessori’s revolutionary educational method was gaining momentum in the United States. As a result, many people still associate Montessori with high tuition and the wealthy.
In fact, the pioneering educational method developed by Maria Montessori has a far more humble beginning. In 1907, Maria Montessori opened her first school, Casa dei Bambini, to keep underprivileged children off the streets of San Lorenzo, an impoverished part of Rome.
At that time, Maria Montessori, a brilliant scientist and Italy’s first female physician, had been researching at the University of Rome’s psychiatric clinic. There, she met the clinic’s youngest patients: several children labeled as “deficient and insane” who spent their days in the clinic’s unadorned rooms. There was not much for them to do, or look at, or play with. Ever the scientist at heart, Maria carefully observed and studied these children. She soon discovered that what these children needed above all was mental and sensorial stimulation. She began to develop learning materials for these children. Two years later, many of these so-called deficient children could read, write, and do mathematics at levels comparable with “normal” children their age.
