This article will appear in the next conference book about Gandhi.
The
main objective of Montessori was to educate for peace, on this, she based her
pedagogical vision and her method that respects development stages and needs.
Montessori
witnessed the two world wars and the Spanish civil war, these experiences
marked Maria Montessori in a very significant way, these moments and her faith
in the potential of children, helped her to decide to fully focus on spreading
the importance of working from education to peace.
In
1931, Gandhi and Montessori met in London and a couple of weeks later Gandhi
made a speech at Montessori Training College.
During
some years Maria Montessori lived in India, she coincided with Gandhi several
times, which forged a permanent friendship and contact.
Gandhi
and Montessori have been nominated for the peace award several times; however,
none won the prize.
In
a Montessori school we can see details that stand out from the teachings of
Mahatma:
·
The Truth: Gandhi, dedicated his life to
search for the truth, concluding that everyone learns from their own mistakes.
·
Nonviolence: perhaps it is Gandhi’s most
popular message and in a Montessori school this is transcribed in respect for
others and conflict resolution through the peace table.
·
Simplicity: living simply as Gandhi
believed, spiritual purity can be found, for this he practiced silence and
meditation. We can appreciate the simplicity of Montessori materials.
Both
of them worked for peace from their different perspectives, situations and
positions, they shared the same vision of the world: the future is in the hands
of the new generations, the education of the new generations is in our hands.
Let’s
go deeper now, about Gandhi’s educational vision.
For
Mahatma, any educational act that did not contribute to the moral of the
person, was considered empty, just utilitarism, this type of training is what
the system needs, this is what Gandhi critized.
Today
the formation is no longer at the service of the people and the increase of
their morality as Gandhi defended, it is focusing on an education at the
service of the external needs of the people who receive it.
This
disconnection of education from life, transformed into simple collections of
texts, images or ideas, contribute to the general discouragement with which
learning is approached today.
We
have elitized teaching as a way of social and labor promotion, as a way to get
better jobs and not as a consolidation of the person in life.
In
a neoliberal world the idea or stimulus that is usually transmitted is the
economic one, for an in education. Studying means investment, an investment that
seeks to obtain a return; it is and accumulation of knowledge to increase and
revalue the market value of the person.
Currently
the world could be similar, according to this capitalist model, to a factory or
store where the stock or product is us.
For
Gandhi, the moral superiority of that person who has given meaning to his
actions is the most important thing, specifically to suffering, this is not
desirable but it must reach a meaning when it occurs.
Gandhi
gave meaning and hope to the suffering of his people.
All
these paragraphs could be summarized in a brief Gandhi phrase: they have made
us what we had to be: workers.
We
can say it in many ways, but the most surprising thing of all of this is that
everything that Gandhi criticized in his time, today, it continues happening,
we are a huge global colony that looks like a beehive in which each of us is
what it has to be.
Going
deeper into Gandhi’s philosophy we can perceive that we are colonized from
inside, that is, by ourselves, having given importance to our desire to
dominate over the rest to extract a benefit.
The
victory of Gandhi and the Indian people was to demonstrate that moral
superiority is more effective than economics or military superiority.
They
showed that they did not need the British but the British needed them, with
each Indian they imprisoned or killed they had fewer workers at their disposal.
Gandhi
taught his people the awareness of their superiority of values.
From
this point, we can conclude that everything we learns is worth nothing if it
does not improve the people’s morality.
Relying
on Mahatma’s view again, it is only possible to create better societies with
better people, we only want them more and more effective and profitable.
Gandhi
says that the youth of a nation is their hope, but what happens when it is that
youth that has no place for hope? A country with hope, is a country with vision
and supports for its youth.
We
should ask ourselves if part of our limitations come from our moral poverty,
the educational system is an image of the social system, educational
discouragement is nothing more than the result of social discouragement itself.
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