There are many debates about Maria Montessori personality that are still going on today. Some people are happy with the pedagogical system she created, while others do not understand how it is possible to trust the studies of the woman who left her son to strangers.
Maria, an Italian girl of an official, was growing every day and becoming talented. She loved science and dreamed of becoming a doctor or an engineer. The fact that a woman wanted to become a doctor seemed impossible in nineteenth-century Italian society. Her father did not believe her either.
Maria was determined and successfully passed difficult exams and was even admitted to medical school. When Montessori entered medical school, she was looked down upon by her peers and teachers, just because she was a girl. They openly showed hostility towards her. When doing practical autopsy lessons, all the bodies were male and naked. How could a woman be present?
Despite this atmosphere against her she succeeded. She got a job before she finished school and her focus was on pediatrics and psychiatry. She became an expert in pediatrics and was one of the first women in Italy to receive the title of Doctor of Medical Sciences. He began rescuing children who were believed to be hopeless.
He understood in front of everyone that every child should be treated differently. Step by step, she set up her system.
Secrets of her personal life and separation with the boy
This chapter of Maria's life is quite sad compared to all the success she achieved during her career. While working as a doctor, she had an affair with her colleague, Giuseppe Montesano, which brought about the birth of a son from the extramarital affair. She never married Giuseppe and wanted to keep their relationship and child a secret. She left her son in the care of a nurse, not because she did not love him, but because he was born out of wedlock, which meant that her social status would change to that of a single mother. This status would not allow him to build the career he was striving for. After the boy grew up, Mary finally joined him.
The boy, Mario supported her in all ideas and worked as her assistant. He later continued her work by setting up educational systems on her methodology.
Today kindergartens and schools built on the philosophy of Maria Montessori are spread all over the world. There is one in Albania as well.
