From Childhood to Adolescence

Montessori examines the educational concerns of the older child, the adolescent, and even the mature university student. She first analyses the characteristics and needs of children from 7 to 12, asserting that when an appropriate environment is provided, the pre-adolescent readily undertakes fields of study normally reserved for older children. At the time of this book's first publication (1948), its ideas for adolescent education were radically new. She proposed an "experimental school for social life," where adolescents and their teachers would live in a self-contained rural community, self-governing and, to a considerable extent, self-supporting (the Erdkinder). 108 pages.