“The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded.”
From Childhood to Adolescence, Dr. Maria Montessori.
Our aim is to provide Montessori education to adolescents of ages 12 -16 years to lead them on the path of social and economic independence.
Dr. Maria Montessori observed human development that follows four different planes. The first plane, ages birth to six, second plane six to twelve, third plane twelve to eighteen, and fourth plane eighteen to twenty-four years. She designed a plan of education for each plane of development.
For the third plane, spanning from ages twelve to eighteen, Dr. Maria Montessori identified the need for learners to engage in both academic studies and practical work on the land. She proposed a Centre for Study and Work, where adolescents and selected adults live in a self-contained micro-community, self-governing, and largely self-supporting.
This experience includes initiation into economics and an understanding of its importance in everyday life. Another crucial aspect of this environment is placing adolescents in close contact with nature to instill an appreciation and understanding of our planet’s responsibility, of which we are a part.
“Education should therefore include both forms of work—manual and intellectual—for the same individual, thereby demonstrating through practical experience that these two kinds complement each other and are equally essential to civilized existence.” – Dr. Maria Montessori.
