Question: In Montessori they speak of the great discipline achieved by the children. How does that come about? We know that Dr. Montessori did not believe in rewards and punishments.
Answer: When Montessorians speak of discipline achieved by children, they are usually talking about the children’s willingness to work. The children are interested in what they are doing. They are calm while doing it. They persist in the task they have set for themselves. They repeat with pleasure the things that they know, ever more perfecting their self-control. They have learned to choose their own activities. They are responsive to the requests of the guide/ teacher even though they might like to stay with their chosen occupation. They will be moving about as their work requires and there are little social exchanges throughout the day. There is no timidity in approaching an adult and their eyes shine with joy in their pursuits of the day.
Visitors who do not know our method are often astonished at what they see. At first the movement may confuse them, but most finally see that there is an order underlying it. Secondly, they may wonder what that teacher has “done to” the group to make them behave so rationally and calmy. Even parents can be amazed at the behavior of their child when he/ she is working in a prepared environment.
How does this kind of discipline come about?
Dr Montessori and all of us who have guided Montessori groups agree that discipline is not an easy state to reach. The first glimmerings of this kind of discipline come when a child becomes interested and involved with a piece of work. It cannot be just any piece of work. It has to be something that the child’s “inner teacher” recognizes as something that is necessary to become a fully developed person of his own culture. All of our work is tied to movement, to doing something; something with an intelligent purpose. We do not need to know what the child’s purpose is. If we see concentration, we recognize that the child has made his own connection and is becoming disciplined. In Discovery of the Child, pp. 304-5, Montessori says that our part in strengthening this experience is through repeated lessons in “silence”. The whole sequence of remaining immobile, listening for one’s name and moving across the room without a sound ‘effectively prepare a child for setting his motor and mental operations and his personality in order.
Once the child can carry out a cycle of work (getting materials, doing the work with concentration, and putting the materials away), the guide must continue to present materials and exercises that will hold the child’s attention and gradually expand his ability to concentrate. Here lies a difficulty. Discipline doesn’t happen by hearing another person speak. Our discipline comes by the indirect route of helping children develop themselves in feely chosen work. Every individual must learn to control himself by his own efforts.
The lessons in Preliminary Movement and in Grace and Courtesy help the child to learn to control her voluntary movements. At the same time they fill the mind with knowledge about how to live in her society. For us, a person is disciplined when she is master of herself. She knows how to control herself and, when necessary, to comply with a rule of life. She can act independently.
Just as we like to sing songs that we know or prepare our favourite recipes, the child enjoys repeating the exercises that she knows. Of course, the child must know the presentation well to get the enjoyment. However, when the child passes beyond the inner need to practise those exercises, there is no more repetition.
The child’s pace is often different from the adult. Here lies another difficulty in our fast-paced world. The adult may think that the result is what counts for the child. The adult may do a part of the task, thinking both to hurry and to please the child. When we observe a child’s disappointment, we realise that the child was intent on the process of doing something rather than on the result of being finished with it.
Lastly, we should mention that this type of discipline is achieved without a critical and demanding adult Instead, the role of the adult is to offer warmth and freedom to choose one’s own activities. The adult’s job is to prepare an environment and to link the child to it. Then we observe. Of course, harmful or unproductive behaviour is quickly curtailed.
Rewards and Punishments
Early in her work, Montessori discovered that external rewards held little meaning for the children. Over and over again they showed her that their “reward” was to keep on working. It was their inner pleasure in what they were doing that was the driving force, nor external rewards.
Soon afterwards Montessori realized that punishments did not promote the kind of inner discipline we have described. Instead, punishments, whether mild or serve, interrupted the flow of creative energy. Dealing with fear of reprisal drains the energy from spontaneous activities. Thus, she eschewed both rewards and punishments.
Today we generally recognize the harm to personality development from negative treatment. However, the child will still need firm limits to maintain his own freedom and discipline and to avoid interference with another’s freedom and discipline. The adult must still offer authority like a crutch when a child need help to manage herself.
Over 30 years ago and still today research showed the definitive harm to spontaneous activities from external praise and rewards. It seems that if a person was already motivated to do an activity to begin with, expected rewards actually interfered with their subsequent interest in this activity.
I believe that as long as teachers and parents have the concept that children have to be commanded instead of educated to be good, systems of rewards and punishments will continue in the world. Our Montessori experience has shown us that it is a complex educational process that a child must learn in order to achieve a strong will for good and at the same time a high level of obedience to those she trusts. Montessori did advise us to show warmth of heart and encouragement for the children in our care. Inner discipline is the pathway to peaceful living.
AMI Communications – 2007/2
