EDUCATION AND PEACE FROM THE MONTESSORI PERSPECTIVE
Education is the best weapon for peace
In the words of Maria Montessori, "education is the best weapon for peace" (Maria Montessori, 2015). As she herself recognized, humanity's best defense cannot be based on weapons, because with them we will not manage to bring prosperity to peoples until we decide to trust in the great "armament for peace" that education represents (M. Montessori, 2015).
Education as an essential element in establishing peace does not consist only of preventing children from being fascinated by war. It is not enough to keep children from playing with toy weapons, or to avoid mentioning that many of humanity's great feats have relied on the use of weapons. Men do not fight in wars because they played with toy weapons in childhood, nor is it enough to give them dates and names to memorize as an incentive to encourage in them the initiative to pursue great deeds. The education that fosters in the individual the idea that they must follow their own path, seeking only personal achievements, has been shown, from Maria Montessori's point of view, to be in a state of mental exhaustion, like grains of sand scattered in the desert, isolated and barren, so that when a storm arrives, the gusts catch those human particles, deprived of a life-giving spirit, and form a deadly whirlwind (M. Montessori, 2015). We must organize our efforts to establish peace, and do so very precisely through education, which marks out a new path for us through the conquest of the human spirit. And all efforts must be directed at the child, who is humanity's hope and promise. From Montessori's perspective we must care for them as the most precious treasure, and by focusing our efforts on them we will be working for the greatness of humanity. Those who want war prepare young people to fight, but those who want peace have forgotten to cultivate the child's spirit. Peace is inherent in human beings themselves; peace does not enslave them, but exalts them; it does not humiliate them, but makes them aware of their power over the universe (M. Montessori, 2015).
Montessori, Maria. Education and Peace. Montessori-Pierson Publishing Company, 2015, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.