Didacticism Montessori and the Disadvantaged Student

The schools have an obligation and a duty to provide learning experiences for children that will develop in them, to the limit of their potential, those skills, attitudes, and values that will insure their continued education and happiness. The students of today must be prepared to accept their responsibilities as citizens of a problem-ridden, shrinking world of tomorrow. lt is vital that the curriculum be constructed in such a way that the student will be able to deal imaginatively with the problems he will face as an adult. Successful teaching recognizes that each student is an individual and must be respective as such. Discipline, which is necessary for character development, should be provided from without until a student has matured enough to internalize values and become self-disciplined. This is an evolving process. Talented teachers are keenly perceptive, sensitive, and enjoy being with children.They know that child-study is essential if they are to understand children.They have learned that a multitude of factors affect a child's success as a person.These valuable educators are only one influence in a student's total development and that they must understand the many other influences.They are thoroughly familiar with the community, its institutions and mores, and the child's home-life. It is the purpose of this study to ascertain whether the teaching techniques of the "Montessori Method" can be applied to the mentally retarded and whether the application of these techniques is the answer to the need for self-activity shown by children who belong in this category. The term "Self-Activity" will refer not only to the active use of the voluntary muscles, but to the spontaneous activities of the child, as a personalty. The question raised is a very important problem indeed, since its solution may affect the lives of innumerable children all over the world; therefore the writer believes that it deserves careful analysis and research. Furthermore, it would appear that the question is a very timely one, as the discussion about teaching methods in general has reached a state of great animation, and the problem of hour to deal with exceptional children("exceptional" taken in a positive as well as in a negative sense) is one of the most hotly debated issues of this controversy. The growing interest shown by educators as well as laymen in the Montessori method appears to indicate that this system does offer a set of valuable suggestions, and it was in the light of these circumstances that the present study was undertaken.