WHY I CONSIDER MARIA MONTESSORI THE ‘TESLA OF EDUCATION’
When I first learned about Montessori, I often drew parallels with what I knew about Tesla.Even though both worked in very different fields, the ideas they introduced still provide enlightenment to us, decades later. They both lived at a time of significant change, when technology and science advanced rapidly. They both experienced two World Wars, and for different reasons were transplanted from their motherlands.
Both Montessori and Tesla were ahead of their time in their respective fields, and only many years later were their contributions more completely understood. This process of growing understanding still continues to this day, as scientifically we can now better verify the accuracy of their findings.
In their time they weren’t satisfied with just the delivery of theory, they insisted on practical application of their ideas. Both were remarkable humanitarians in different ways, deeply devoted to the implementation of strongly felt ideals – Tesla wanted to provide humankind with free energy, while Montessori wanted to provide all children with equal and superior education for all children, starting at a very early age, to benefit the future of humanity.
From a very early age, Tesla observed nature and natural phenomena, while Montessori did the same with children – both were gifted observers.
Early in her career, Montessori obtained a medical degree, and she was an extraordinarily devoted student, completely dedicated to the goal she had set for herself. For example, she would visit the morgue at night to dissect human cadavers as part of her study, as she was not allowed to attend these classes during the day with the male students – for women to see naked cadavers in the presence of other men was considered inappropriate.
Tesla was similarly devoted to finding the solution to a singular problem – the creation of an alternative current (AC) motor, something that was considered impossible in his day. Even his teachers ridiculed him about his pursuit of this idea, but he eventually succeeded against great odds. Thanks to his devotion to this idea we can today enjoy the benefits of electricity on a global scale.
A strong will and perseverance against great odds is a characteristic of not only Tesla and Montessori, but of all genius inventors. But Tesla and Montessori explored ideas that were way ahead of the time in which they lived.
They both needed investors for the implementation of their ideas and inventions, financial support for what they understood and felt in their fields; they had a vision, but it was extraordinarily difficult to make this clear to their contemporaries. Neither one had an interest in business, or exploiting their ideas for financial gain. They wanted to protect their ideas, but not to obtain monetary benefits from it. As a result, Montessori’s ideas and concepts were never copyrighted, and it’s only after Tesla’s death that US courts decided that Marconi had stolen many of Tesla’s patents.
Tesla’s inventions and ideas heralded the modern world with its understanding of the magnetic field and the many inventions that it generated, harnessing the natural phenomenon of electro-magnetism for humankind’s benefit. It’s the foundation for the many inventions that followed, and most likely applications that haven’t even identified yet.
Montessori did in many ways the same thing, unearthing the inner capacity of children; this capacity can be deployed by the child to form itself without any help from the outside. The determinants of this process that she mapped out and created a method from has in our time been proven at a scientific level, and the same results are obtained.
Both Tesla and Montessori are humanitarian artists and visionaries; while Tesla’s medium was electricity, Montessori’s medium was the young human being. There are still many things for us to discover about the ideas, concepts and inventions they brought to us, many decades after their deaths.