DISCIPLINE AND OBEDIENCE-MONTESSORI PERSPECTIVE

Discipline and Obedience-Montessori Perspective

Discipline And Obedience-Montessori Perspective

Discipline & obedience from Montessori Perspective

The power to obey is the last phase in the development of the will, which in its turn has made obedience possible. Montessori believed that the disorderly and disobedient acts of a young child where from those actions that he/she had yet to develop and so where unable to control successfully. Discipline and obedience could not therefore be inflicted on a young child as had been traditionally thought, nor could it be sustained through rewards and punishments. Obedience is seen as something which develops in the child in much the same way as other aspects of his character.

Discipline Is Fostered Through The Favourable Environment

If discipline comes from within, then what is the job of the teacher? Inner discipline is something, which evolves. It is not something that is automatically present within the child and it can not be taught. The role of the teacher, then, is to be a model and a guide while supporting the child as he develops to the point where he is able to choose to accept and to follow the “rules” of the classroom community. This level of obedience is the point where true inner discipline has been reached. One knows this level of discipline has been reached when children are able to make appropriate behavioral choices even when we are not present.

Discipline presupposes a certain degree of obedience. Before the age of three a child is truly unable to obey unless what is asked of her happens to correspond with one of her vital urges. At this stage, her personality hasn't formed to the level where she is capable of making a choice to obey. It is this level which Montessori termed the first level of obedience. A toddler can obey, but not always. The second level of obedience is reached when the child is capable of understanding another person's wishes and can express them in her own behavior. When this second level of obedience is reached, most parents and teachers would think they had reached their goal. Most adults ask only that children obey. The goals of Montessori reach beyond this, however, to the third level which Montessori called “joyful obedience”. At this stage the child has internalized obedience, or we might say,  had developed self-discipline where he sees clearly the value of what is being offered to him by authority and rushes to obey. This is not blind obedience at all, but is a fully informed choice by a personality which has grown in freedom and developed to its fullest potential. This is what we want for our children. With this level of obedience or self-discipline comes a degree of self-respect in which a child cannot help but respect the rights and needs of others alongside her own. She is then able to learn and grow freely in the security of a community of respectful individuals.

This of course, is a wonderful philosophy, but can Montessori truly deliver these results? ...