The Formation of Man

The book talks about the psychology of the Child during the first four years of life, about the formation of the intelligence of a human personality, how is it formed, by means of what processes and in obedience to what laws? She considers the human personality and not a method of education. “Help given in order that the human personality may achieve its independence”. She considers the influence of the environment on the formation of the child, the unconscious mechanism of acquiring its culture and language, the building of its character and the role of the adult in the past and future. She discusses world illiteracy in relation to the alphabet and her method of teaching, reading and writing.

Maria Montessori(1870-1952), Italian physician and educationist, born in Rome, the first woman in Italy to receive a medical degree (1894), she founded a school for children with learning disabilities (1899-1901), and developed a system of education for children of three to six based on spontaneity of expression and freedom and restraint. The system was later worked out for older children, and applied in Montessori schools throughout the world. She opened the first Montessori School for children in the slums of Rome in 1907.