Maria Montessori and John Amos Comenius

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Before Maria Montessori, there was John Amos Comenius. Was he a great influence to the Montessori Method? It appears so. In 1897 through 1898, she attended courses in pedagogy and read all the major works on educational theory of the past two hundred years. She drew upon most of his ideas to form her own theories in education. Comenius, most famously known as the “Teacher of Nations” and the “Father of Modern Education” was born in Moravia, Czech Republic on March 28, 1592. Also known as Jan Amos Komensky, or Johann Amos Komenski, was a man of many roles. Aside from being a teacher, educator and writer, he was also a priest. He became a religious refugee in Lezno, Poland, where his position as corrector of the Brethren’s School led him to become interested in educational reform. He is considered as “one of the earliest champions of universal education”, a concept expressed in his infamous book, The Great Didactic. He was one of the first individuals who advocated the importance of prenatal care and early childhood learning. Comenius stated, “Man can most easily be formed in early youth and cannot be formed properly except at this stage.” One of his first writings in education is an essay that concentrated on the first six years of life aptly titled "The School of Infancy." It could be described as a handbook especially written for mothers. In this book, he argued on the importance of early instruction, that parents especially mothers, should not leave their children's education entirely to schools as children learn from the moment of birth. He compared the child to that of the nature of plants “that while tender, it is easily bent and formed, but that, when it has grown hard, it is not easy to alter.” This perception of his is in agreement to that of Montessori’s Sensitive Periods. She described this as “a special sensibility which a creature acquires in its
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