-
Kyle Herman updated new location at New Albany, IN 47150, USA 6 years, 5 months ago
-
Kyle Herman replied to the topic Countering Intolerance With Cosmic Education in the forum my forum new one 9 years, 3 months ago
Regarding your post, Di, I feel the same way. The word tolerance, for me, doesn’t sit well. It feels, as you say, like putting up with something rather than feeling love and appreciation for other people with different experiences and cultures. Acceptance is better, but it still feels a little “off” because I can accept something with…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Rod,
I’m glad you’re finding that work helpful – it’s one of my favorite works of Montessori. The quote you chose is one I’ve gone back to many times. The universe story is more than a way of generating interest, though it certainly does that. Rather, it generates the kind of deep contemplation and fascination that leads to profound…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
There’s more I want to say…my reaction to your last post was reflexive, and I’ve thought a lot about it since I commented this morning. The truth is, your perspective matters to me, and it deserves to be heard. It needs to be heard, especially those of us in America who denounce the heinous acts that some of our soldiers have…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
Unfortunately, it seems that our conversation has taken a turn, and I regret that it seems we cannot have a productive dialogue. I am not angry with you, please know that, but calling me a murderer is deeply offensive and reveals an underlying lack of respect for me as a human being independent of the decisions my country has made and is…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
Thank you for clarifying your position. I totally agree that I live in the lap of luxury, far removed from the unimaginable reality that you have witnessed and lived through yourself. While that may discredit my philosophy to some extent, I think it benefits me to the extent that I can view the situation with some perspective. Just as…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
You speak of analyzing events with an unprejudiced view, and yet you characterize America as the aggressor (the cat in your analogy) and extremist/terrorist groups as the victim (the purely reflexive mouse)…herein lies your contradiction, which does in fact “hinder [your attempt] to find & eliminate the root cause of this cycle of…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, Pictures from Community Montessori's First Big History Exhibition 10 years ago
Thanks, Di! Yeah, I know, I wished the exhibits were more visible, too…I guess you’ll just have to visit Indiana next time we host an exhibition!
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
I encourage you to read some of Montessori’s work because it will allay your concerns about a Montessori teacher viewing a different cultural belief as dysfunctional. Of course, there will, in any institution, be people who don’t hold themselves to the exacting standards of that institution, but to truly qualify as a Montessori teacher…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Noha,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond so thoughtfully to my article. I also see that you signed up for my webinar! Thanks for that, too.
Your concern about the limitations of a peaceful cosmic curriculum within a larger world of economic, political, and social injustice gets right to the heart of the matter.…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman wrote a new post, Pictures from Community Montessori's First Big History Exhibition 10 years ago
This year, in lieu of a final cumulative assessment in Big History, nearly 100 teens participated in a Big History exhibition of their final projects, which were showcased on a walking tour of the eight thresholds […]
-
Fantastic Kyle! I hope you shared this with the Big History Project too! You can always send them a link to this site so they can see the pictures and read your narrative, as well as other resources.
-
Great to see the youthfulness and enthusiasm here, but I kept wishing folk in the picture would move away so that I could see their exhibits. Inspiring, even so, thanks.
-
Thanks, Di! Yeah, I know, I wished the exhibits were more visible, too…I guess you’ll just have to visit Indiana next time we host an exhibition!
-
-
Kyle Herman commented on the post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years ago
Rod,
Thank you for your response. It’s always nice to hear feedback, especially from people outside of Montessori. Regarding your comment that you’d love to see Big History for elementary, it’s my opinion that Montessori has already done the groundbreaking work – long before Big History – for this plane of development with Cosmic Education.…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman wrote a new post, A Match Made In Science: Reconciling Big History and Montessori Education 10 years, 1 month ago
This is my attempt, after receiving much needed guidance from Cynthia Stokes Brown, to bring together two very important educational approaches.
-
Dear Kyle,
I very much enjoyed reading your article ‘A Match made in Science.’ It provided much food for thought.
I don’t know much about Montessori education as I’ve taught in English state and a private (non-Montessori) school. However, I empathize with your approach, as I understand it, that although Montessori’s Cosmic Education was for 6-12 it can be fruitfully adapted to the 12+ years. It seems you are finding Big History a really useful tool to provide a scientific objective foundation of the origins and development of the Universe, Earth and Life. From this firm and sound basis the children can be encouraged to make judgements, shape attitudes and find meaningful relationships to Life. As you say, ‘Montessori can pick up where big History leaves off.’ That sounds great to me!
In a similar vein I would love it if Big History also made an adaptation of their content for 6-12 year olds (this is the year group I teach). However, I feel in this regard, Jennifer’s books are brilliant at providing many of the scientific facts in a child friendly manner.
That being said I feel (Jane and I will present on this in the DTJN programme later in the year) there is also much room to bring Modern Myths into the classroom arena that are based on the latest scientific findings. This way, I feel, we have the best of both worlds – Myth and Science combined. Science to satisfy the logical mind but also myths to engage our emotional, moral and spiritual dimensions of being.
Wishing you all the best in the classroom.
Rod -
Rod,
Thank you for your response. It’s always nice to hear feedback, especially from people outside of Montessori. Regarding your comment that you’d love to see Big History for elementary, it’s my opinion that Montessori has already done the groundbreaking work – long before Big History – for this plane of development with Cosmic Education. If you’re interested in learning more about the philosophy and practice of Cosmic Education, you should read To Educate the Human Potential, as I think this is her most important explication of this theory. I know you said you’re not teaching in a Montessori school, but there’s no reason why you couldn’t pull from her teachings and incorporate them as you see fit.
I’m eager to see your webinar about myth and science. Particularly, I’m curious to see how you define the word “myth.” Thanks again for taking the time to read my article and then to comment on it, and I’d love to hear more about your school and teaching experience sometime.
Best,
Kyle -
Noha,
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond so thoughtfully to my article. I also see that you signed up for my webinar! Thanks for that, too.
Your concern about the limitations of a peaceful cosmic curriculum within a larger world of economic, political, and social injustice gets right to the heart of the matter. It’s important to keep in mind that the scale of this Work is so huge that we cannot expect to “fix” our ills in one or two or even three generations. This is a long-term vision of gradual changes, with each generation making greater and greater inward progress. It’s also important to stress that the goal is not a utopia in which all people always behave ethically (if such an objective standard even exists) and peacefully. It seems to me that a cosmic perspective reveals to us a truth understood very well in eastern philosophy, namely that the universe expresses itself through a duality (most famously represented by the yin yang principle or the concept of “mutual arising”). So, creation can only be understood in comparison with destruction, life can only be understood in terms of death, and indeed, peace can only be understood against the background of violence. Thus, it is not realistic to expect that Justice for All will be achieved. Rather, the goal is to progressively minimize the expression of violence and injustice in the world and maximize the expression of peace and justice.
Now, to the point of Big History or Montessori education playing a “disguised role,” I hope that a closer reading of my article will show that Big History in particular wants to assemble a purely scholarly understanding of the universe and earth and life and humans without making any claims – explicit or implicit – about how our big history ought to be interpreted or used to convey a particular worldview. Fred Spiers in particular is very clear and adamant on this point. Now, with Montessori education, the situation is admittedly a little more ambiguous. After all, the primary goal of Montessori education is to effect the inward progress of man and promote a more peaceful world. So, although we promote free-thinking, celebrate cultural diversity, and invite dynamic discussions from many different viewpoints, if a student (mis)interpreted the cosmic curriculum to suggest that he should destroy life and treat people with disdain or even with violence, then yes, as Montessorians, we would strive to help correct what we would consider a dysfunctional attitude toward the external world. Again though, as Carl Jung so wisely explained, humans are neither angels nor demons. Rather, just like every other duality in the universe, we possess both light and “shadow.” So again, we’re not trying to make children into perfect angels; instead, we are attempting to help nurture their innate light so that it not be overcast by the shadowy aspect of our duality. These children eventually grow up into more “enlightened” adults who shed greater light into the world and raise more enlightened children, and so in this way, with each generation, humanity makes a little more inward progress, and our “shadows” don’t stretch quite so far.
Finally, I have to say I’m not sure what you mean that you disagree with my “political view of what [I] call ‘terrorist’ attacks.” The quotes that you put around “terrorist” seem to imply that you have a different view than I do of what would constitute terrorism, so I must not have been very clear in my articulation of this term. In my mind, anyone or any group that kills innocent people, whether in the name of religion or racism or ethnocentrism, or homophobia, or any other “cause” is a terrorist, and such heinous crimes against humanity have absolutely no conditions whatsoever that excuse them. I do hope we can agree on that point.
I should also like to reiterate that any act of terrorism carried out in the name of religion is a “perversion of religious spirituality.” In other words, such acts are committed by lunatics, not by truly religious people. Again, I hope we can agree on this point. I don’t see this as a political viewpoint at all. To me, it’s a humanitarian viewpoint, one that begins from a true love and respect for all people and all beliefs. Herein lies the flaw of sectarian religions, though, which Wilson acknowledges: the very idea that people outside of one’s religion are somehow “wrong” or “less than” or not in the Higher Power’s favor introduces division and possibly (as we see in the examples of extremists) violence toward people outside of that religious “in-group.” This is why sectarian religion, on its own, cannot unite humanity, as it draws a circle that does not encompass every human being on the planet. Only a cosmic perspective includes all of us and reveals our shared ancestry and our shared fate on this planet.
That doesn’t mean that religion is bad or should be banished. In fact, as I stress in my article, religion can elevate us in very important ways, but sectarian religion will have to evolve to incorporate the all-inclusive perspective that Cosmic Education offers. In other words, we need both science and religion, but both of these approaches to understanding our place in the cosmos will have to bend and be willing to learn from the other side to achieve a more resilient and powerful “New Story.”
I hope that helps clear up any confusion you may have felt after reading my article, and thanks again for your comment. I hope you find upcoming webinar equally thought-provoking.
Best,
Kyle -
Noha,
I encourage you to read some of Montessori’s work because it will allay your concerns about a Montessori teacher viewing a different cultural belief as dysfunctional. Of course, there will, in any institution, be people who don’t hold themselves to the exacting standards of that institution, but to truly qualify as a Montessori teacher means not imposing one’s “subjective biases” onto children. That’s an integral component of what Montessori calls the spiritual preparation of the teacher, and it’s one of the key features that separates Montessori philosophy from the traditional approach.
I understand your point about power and wealth disparities in the world, but one point that we will have to agree to disagree on is what constitutes terrorism. It would be a glaring form of subjective bias indeed to say that murdering innocent people is not terrorism but rather just a “blind reaction” from victims on the weak side of a power structure. Murdering people will never stop the rivers of blood from flowing, nor will it create a balance of power in the world. And it certainly doesn’t matter how justified one side feels in its violence because the truth is, both sides will always feel justified because so many atrocities have been committed already in both directions.From a Montessori perspective, militarism, whether from a “developed” nation or a “developing” one, only hurts the whole of humanity. She writes in Education and Peace, “The impoverishment of one nation does not make another nation richer; rather all nations decline. Destroying one nation is tantamount to cutting off one hand in the mistaken hope that the other hand will thereby become twice as strong.” So, just as it is self-defeating for developing nations to wage war, so too is it self-defeating for the people of the “developing” nation to commit their own barbaric acts of violence. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so wisely put it, “Hate begets hate and violence begets violence.”
As I said in my previous post, the intentional murder of innocent civilians is terrorism, and it makes not one whit of difference whether the people committing these heinous acts are Western or Middle Eastern (i.e., on the “strong” or “weak” side of the “power structure”). I think that to excuse such crimes against humanity, or to “shy away” from calling it what it really is, is very dangerous because it is a form of assent, however implicit or indirect it may be. As a united world, what Montessori calls “a single organism, one nation,” we must categorically denounce and condemn all forms of terrorism and war, otherwise, we are certainly doomed to remain caught in a senseless cycle of violence that destroys life, squanders resources, distracts us from truly pressing ecological issues, and maintains the very imbalance of power that you rightly identify as very problematic, all because each side has its own means of justifying murder, whether they be religious, economic, militaristic, or otherwise.
We cannot bomb our way into peace. We cannot shoot our way into peace. We cannot maim our way into peace. We most likely can’t even talk (politicize) our way into peace. Following the guidance of Montessori, I believe the only recourse we have is to educate our way into peace by protecting the inborn wisdom that children possess, which makes it astoundingly clear to them that no matter what state of development your country is in, no matter what atrocities have been committed against your country in the past, no matter the type of religion you or your nation practices, no matter what your political beliefs, no matter whatever categories you impose on people to separate humans into “us and them,” the reality of life is that we are all connected, and so our fates are all intimately intertwined. Again, such truths need not be taught; rather, all that must be done is to avoid corrupting children with our own “subjective biases.”
As Montessori explains it, “When individuals develop normally, they plainly feel a love not only for things, but for all living creatures. This love is not something that was taught; it is the natural result of leading the right kind of life. We might say that if love appears, we are within the range of the normal, and if it does not, within the range of the abnormal…Love is not the cause but the effect of the normal development of the individual…Our hope for peace in the future lies not in the formal knowledge the adult can pass on to the child, but in the normal development of the new man.” In the mind and heart of this “new man,” there will be no place and no excuse for murder.
-
Noha,
You speak of analyzing events with an unprejudiced view, and yet you characterize America as the aggressor (the cat in your analogy) and extremist/terrorist groups as the victim (the purely reflexive mouse)…herein lies your contradiction, which does in fact “hinder [your attempt] to find & eliminate the root cause of this cycle of violence.”
First of all, we are humans, not cats and mice, and as such, we have the capacity to control our actions using logic and reason in ways that the rest of the animal kingdom cannot.
Secondly, your analogy misses the mark because in the situation we are discussing, both parties are aggressors, neither one (as an entity) classifies an innocent victim. But you know who are the victims? The innocent Iraqi families (and Afghani and Saudi and so on) killed or maimed in American raids. You know who else are victims? The innocent American, Spanish, French, and other European civilians murdered by extremists/terrorists (some of them homegrown right here in our own country).
You ask if I would blame the child for becoming a terrorist and killing other people to exact revenge for the wrongs done to him and his family? My answer is yes. I would blame him, I would blame the terrorist group that armed and trained and brainwashed him, I would blame the American raid that killed innocent civilians, I would blame them all because they’re all caught up in a cycle of violence in which everyone feels justified to kill and no one is strong enough to forgive and work toward peace. Everyone can point to senseless murder committed by the other side and say, “You see?!? Look at what they’ve done! How can you blame me for retaliating with a killing spree of my own?” From each parties’ point of view, they are they mouse, the victim who must now stand up and wipe out that evil cat once and for all. It is a contradiction to say, “I’m against militarism in every sense, but America is the root of the problem, so how can you blame these groups that I won’t call terrorists because they’re just acting outing of blind reflex?”
America is not the root of the problem. Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Israel, and so on are not the root of the problem. As long as we continue pointing fingers at one another, we will surely continue to point guns at and drop bombs on one another. The root of the problem is, as Montessori has explained, the fact that our inward progress has not kept pace with our outward progress, so we live in an extraordinarily complex and advanced physical world with a violent history of grievances for everyone, while our spiritual world is desolate and barren. So yes, I would say that most children in the world – including America – are not developing in the “normal” conditions that Montessori spoke of in which love appears quite naturally. The fact that we still have so much racism, homophobia, religious violence, and militarism in the world is proof of that fact. This is why we need Montessori education in America just as much as it’s needed everywhere else in the world. Just as none of us are innocent victims, none of us stand on a moral high ground, either. The whole world find the humility to accept that we have all lost our way and that the trail of progress can only be blazed by the child, untainted by our prejudices and grievances. We must rally around the child as the teacher, the messiah, the messenger of peace, and follow Montessori’s wisdom by providing a rich environment in which his natural tendency to love can grow and blossom without the poison of violence and blame destroying it.
-
Noha,
Thank you for clarifying your position. I totally agree that I live in the lap of luxury, far removed from the unimaginable reality that you have witnessed and lived through yourself. While that may discredit my philosophy to some extent, I think it benefits me to the extent that I can view the situation with some perspective. Just as when someone wrongs me personally (even on a small scale), I may want to exact revenge, but someone who is not a party to the grievance, someone outside of the conflict who still has clear faculties of logic and reason, can evaluate the situation and give me advice that is not charged with the emotion/psychology of retaliation. I don’t discount the fact that I cannot begin to imagine the reality of experiencing such evil, and I’m sure part or all of me might want to seek revenge should a terrorist, say, kill my family. Indeed, I may be inclined to let hate infest my heart, and I may be tempted to join the growing masses of American citizens who – quite wrongly in my opinion – are developing anti-Muslim/anti-Islam worldviews.
I honestly don’t know how I would feel if my sister or brother had been one of the 49 innocent people murdered or one of the 53 other people wounded in the Orlando club this week by a lunatic gunman claiming allegiance to ISIS. Indeed, being that directly affected by murder in the name of Allah may cause me to sympathize with the call for a ban on all Muslims that is being proposed by our country’s republican nominee, Donald Trump (who, I might add, has a frighteningly large number of people supporting him). I hope, though, that my perspicacity would not fail me, even during such a confusing and heart-wrenching experience. I would hope that my logical understanding that violence and hate begets more violence and hate would allow me to see that we have to seek an avenue toward peace, not double down on discrimination, mistrust, fear, and war. I don’t know, of course, but I hope so.
As far as engaging poor children in your region, I don’t have any authority to offer advice there, either, but I will say that the poor children of Rome were the first children that Montessori worked with in her Casa de Bambini. I really, really hope and encourage you to look into her method. It will be of great inspiration and service to you, I’m sure. Of course, Montessori’s children weren’t mired in violence like yours are, so that certainly makes it double difficult, but they did exhibit many behavioral and learning disorders that were quickly corrected once placed in a prepared environment. Even though the task ahead of you is arguably more daunting than Montessori’s, I hope you remain passionate and determined to help the children in your area cultivate their Love, as they are the most important ones in this whole discussion. You and I can only change so much. The children of today will change the world as the children of the past are changing the world now. It’s just a question of which direction they will take us.
-
Noha,
Unfortunately, it seems that our conversation has taken a turn, and I regret that it seems we cannot have a productive dialogue. I am not angry with you, please know that, but calling me a murderer is deeply offensive and reveals an underlying lack of respect for me as a human being independent of the decisions my country has made and is making. Though I do cast a vote for my elected officials, they don’t always get elected, and not one of them so far has asked me personally whether I want my tax dollars spent on our military machine (which I don’t), nor have they consulted with me on air strikes or military campaigns, though if they do, you can be sure I will emphatically advise against them. To revile my character based on my nationality is the VERY sort of prejudice and misunderstanding that divides our world now and allows hatred to seethe and spread. Some Americans do the exact same thing in regards to Muslims, and no matter which direction such generalized condemnation gets directed, it disturbs and saddens me.
I would also like to rebut, though it probably makes no difference, that I never claimed to be unbiased, as all of us are products of our culture, for better or worse. I was only trying to say that I understood why people directly affected by violence would want to lash out in revenge. I understand why, given the horrendous things you’ve experienced, you might be inclined to justify or perhaps rationalize retaliatory violence. As I said, I may well have the same reaction, which is why we can’t rely on that retaliatory attitude to show us the most logical and advantageous course of action we ought to take because, in the words of Gandhi, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.”
Moreover, I think anyone who murders innocent people is a lunatic, whether that lunatic be American, French, Afghan, Egyptian, Martian, whatever. Such a human being (or alien in the case of the Martian) is not rational. And while the Orlando gunman’s dad was Afghani, he was actually American, born and raised, so my condemnation of him has nothing to do with where he comes from; nevertheless, the insinuation that because his family is from such a worn torn place his actions are somehow less egregious, perhaps even justified, is disturbing to me, and it’s a position that I cannot sympathize with.
Also, just for the record, I think Trump is not so much a lunatic as a whiny, narcissistic, ignorant, petulant man-child, and I desperately hope that my fellow countrymen have enough common sense not to vote him into office. If for some inexplicable reason they do, though, my next biggest hope is that the world does not condemn all of us for it, because there are legions of us who shudder at the thought of such a leader.
Finally, my eyes are not blind, nor is my heart stone, and if you knew me, if you could see past my American nationality (and perhaps my gender, since you “don’t care much about men”) and see me for the human being I am, then you would know that. Nor am I alone. Yes, some Americans hate Muslims and want to ban them from our country and wage war on them. Many other Americans, like myself, are disgusted by and even ashamed of this attitude, so it’s not as simple as saying that Americans do not sympathize with the plight of the Middle Eastern world, or that Americans support the military actions that have been taken in that region of the world.
Noha, what you’re dealing with on a day-to-day basis, I can’t imagine. I truly admire you for trying to make a difference in a positive way, and even though you say you failed, you haven’t because the very act of standing up for peace is a success, and I hope you continue to fight for the children and protect their “normal development” insofar as that is possible in such circumstances as you find yourself. I would apologize for the unconscionable atrocities committed by some of my country’s soldiers, but that would be a pathetic gesture, so I will just say that I categorically condemn their behavior, and it makes my stomach turn that such is the representative image of America in the Middle East. I can assure you, though, that those sick lunatic soldiers do not represent all American soldiers, and they certainly do not represent all Americans.
In closing, I will say that I have learned a lot from you in our ongoing dialogue, and I’m sure I could learn a lot more if we understood one another a little better, but it does seem to me, as I said at the start of this comment, that the tone has changed. I’m interested in having conversations based on mutual respect with people of different cultures, life experiences, and opinions, and while it seemed we had that at first, I don’t feel respected after your last post. Nevertheless, I sincerely hope that you have taken something positive away from our conversation, as I know I have.
Best Wishes,
Kyle -
Noha,
There’s more I want to say…my reaction to your last post was reflexive, and I’ve thought a lot about it since I commented this morning. The truth is, your perspective matters to me, and it deserves to be heard. It needs to be heard, especially those of us in America who denounce the heinous acts that some of our soldiers have committed. You are a living witness to what must be the most divided, complicated, war-torn region in the world, and as such, you have invaluable insights to offer anyone who really wants to know the truth, however hard it may be to hear, about our military’s behavior and impact there.
The way I see it, if you and I can’t have a productive conversation about this situation, then who can? You and I want the same thing. We come from different countries but share the same human values. We have to be capable of helping each other come to a more robust understanding of our political relationship so that we can better serve the cause that we both share.
You asked me to lay bare my biases, and that was a fair thing to ask, since you did the same. Mine are much more simple than yours, though:
1. I am white
2. I am a man
3. I am American
4. I am “middle class”Basically, I come from privilege, and I have never known discrimination, oppression, poverty, hunger, persecution, or any other of the hardest trials of existence. I contemplate the world’s problems with relative safety and comfort from afar (with the exception of the possible election of Donald Trump, who I forgot to describe as also a misogynist and a bigot), and I give some but little thought to how much my own country has done to generate the kind of extremism that now threatens us.
Please accept my apology for not hearing you more fully and honoring your perspective. I do admire your passion and strength of will in the face of such unimaginable brutality. That you would be willing to engage in such an honest conversation with me shows a great deal of courage and poise, more than I showed you, I’m sure. I have much to learn from you, and it was wrong to shut down the conversation because I took offense and thought no further.
You have taught me a lot already, Noha, more than I realized this morning.
Thank You,
Kyle -
Hi Kyle,
Many thanks for your reply. And thank you for the link – “To Educate the Human Potential.” I’ve given it a quick look and will need to find time to give a more in depth study but one quote really stands out for me : –
“If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more for him than just arouse his interest, for it will create in him admiration and wonder, a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying. ” In my experience this is one of the great things about the Universe Story in that it can do exactly that – create a deep sense of Awe and Wonder” in the child.
Very much looking forward to your webinar too!
Best Wishes,
Rod -
Rod,
I’m glad you’re finding that work helpful – it’s one of my favorite works of Montessori. The quote you chose is one I’ve gone back to many times. The universe story is more than a way of generating interest, though it certainly does that. Rather, it generates the kind of deep contemplation and fascination that leads to profound epiphanies about nature and our place in it (a concept that Montessori calls our cosmic gift/cosmic task). Hence the reason that origins stories have been central to cultural identities for millennia.
Please let me know what you think after you finish reading the whole thing. I’ve got a lot more recommendations if you want to hear them!
Best,
Kyle -
Dear Noha, Thanks to Jennifer Morgan, we have been reading your letters to Kyle, and we would like to write you a short note now. If you wish, then, we could correspond again, maybe at more length. First, just about ourselves. One of us, Juliana, is a teacher who founded and for years administered a school for young children. The other, Dick, is a retired pastor in the Episcopal Church, who has taught sociology for years and studies the way social systems work, or don’t work.
The story you told about the boy whom you reluctantly let go, as he rushed back to the front, very possibly to die, moves us because it is so compassionate. You fully understood his wish to die. You know what that is like.
We are also moved by the depression you have experienced, from reading the story about the girl raped by the American military, who later committed suicide, and in response to the stories and photos coming out of Abu Gharaib.
We can only imagine her shame and despair. We can only imagine your depression. But we know it is serious. Deeply serious.
We are very moved by your compassion for the boy, and for the girl, even if it plunges you into deep depression. We wish there were something we could say that would help you to avoid such suffering, but you understand the local, regional, and global reality far too well. Despair and depression make sense, seem unavoidable, because they absolutely reflect the reality that you are describing and that we know is there..
What saddens us even more is that you would suffer less if you were less compassionate, but if you lose your compassion, then we do not see what hope there is, either for those you love and serve, or for the rest of us.
Your moment with that boy, before he ran back to the front, is so critical. You two were so close in heart, soul, and spirit. Your memory of his struggle and of yours, of your spiritual connection with him, of your parting, and your wondering about what happened when he did go back to the front, all these will last, will continue to matter, will long move you, and will move all others to whom you tell that story.
We hope you will keep telling this story.
If there is heart and soul anywhere in this struggle, there it is.
Let us know if you would like to talk further.
Juliana McIntyre Fenn and Dick Fenn -
Dear Noha,
I’m deeply grateful to you Noha for baring your anger and hurt in this conversation, as difficult and disturbing as it is for us to hear about atrocities committed by our own country supported by tax dollars that we paid.
Your effort to reach for mutual understanding by expressing your prejudices is courageous and comes from a yearning to speak truth. I hear you and believe you. We don’t hear this side of the story in our news media but for little glimmers. The horror of so many thousands of innocent women and children being slaughtered by American forces doesn’t get through. I have never heard the story about the woman being raped and thrown from a helicopter. The images from Abu Ghraib I have seen. I cannot even imagine the horror it must be to see your people treated this way. Bernie Sanders has been the one voice in the campaign speaking the truth about the horrors of invading Irag. He voted against the US going into Iraq, which turned out to be so disastrously destablizing for the entire region.
Your hurt and anger are totally relevant and completely within bounds of the story of the Universe. When Thomas berry says, “We are a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects,” he’s talking about the importance of subjectivity . . . the importance of understanding that each thing/being/person has a within that’s valuable and contributing to the evolution of the whole. To objectify and deny the importance of the within is contrary to what we’re about. Your feeling count and a hugely important. Maria Montessori talked about all innovations in evolution being preceded by someone imagining them. Our interiority is of utmost importance. That’s why your feelings count in the bigger story. What are we yearning to create? What world do we want to live in? These desires are drivers of evolution.
It has been so troubling to me in all of the recent news coverage of terror attacks that no one asks the obvious question: Why are people so angry to be driven to kill people?
Your voice, your anger and hurt, and the anger and hurt of others subjected to these horrors do not make it onto the news. We don’t get the subjectivity, the within, of the people living in the ME. They are objectified in our media. It’s so easy to focus on the lives of the people lost in this country. Far easier message to “sell.”
I was deeply involved in the Philippines during the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos who received support from the United States. For 20 years people were tortured and killed by Marcos—including friends of mine—while the media said nothing in the United States. Marcos was hailed as the darling of America in Asia. It took years for the truth to get through about Marcos.
Your voice is so hugely important Noha. Thank you for sharing your picture of the world.
Please do also be patient with us since we need you to tell us what you see. We’re not getting the full story here.
With gratitude and admiration,
Jennifer
-
Hi Kyle, This resource is so valuable and enduring. It’s one of the most popular resources on the Network. Thanks so much for creating it. Jennifer
-
-
Kyle Herman wrote a new post, Community Montessori Teens' Program: Cosmic Education and Big History Guide 10 years, 5 months ago
This is a manual that I created to support the implementation of Big History within our high school program at Community Montessori.
-
Kyle Herman wrote a new post, A New Common Sense: Montessori's and Dr. King's Hope for Humanity 10 years, 5 months ago
This is a copy of the speech I will be giving for Community Montessori’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Tribute program on January 18, 2016.
-
Kyle Herman replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 9 months ago
Thanks, Andrea. I’m glad to now have a word (reflexivity) to describe the interdependent and mutually beneficial relationship of teacher-student. I can’t wait to hear more about it!
-
Kyle Herman replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 9 months ago
Rich, I would like to hear more about the “elements of transformation” that you have identified and followed in teaching Big History at the college level. I teach Big History in high school, and I’m very curious to see in what ways our students’ experiences line up. I’m also eager to see some elements of transformation that I haven’t thought o…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 9 months ago
Orla, I found your post very interesting, and I’m hoping you would do me the favor of elaborating on “cartesian culture,” as I think I have an idea of what you mean, but I’d like to understand it deeply since it seems to inform so much of the way we think, function, and learn. Thanks, Kyle
-
Kyle Herman replied to the topic Professional Development in Deep Time Education in the forum my forum new one 10 years, 9 months ago
<p>Jennifer, thank you for serving as the “connective tissue” that joins all of these Great Minds from across so many disciplines together for one Grand Cosmic Conversation. </p><p>It’s hard to say which of the principles is most important to me, firstly because they are all intertwined, and secondly because Deep Time Education affects me…[Read more]
-
Kyle Herman posted a new activity comment 10 years, 11 months ago
Thanks for taking the time to read the article, Imogene! I really appreciate your feedback, and I’m glad to hear that it’s not just me who feels so moved by my students’ responses. When I first tried to read them to my wife, I couldn’t make it through without getting choked up. So powerful. I also hope we can get Cosmic Education taught in…[Read more]
- Load More
Search Forum
Courses
Sponsors
- Materials for learning about the history and diversity of life
- Tree of Life chart – free download
- Nesting and Branching Diagrams for the Bony Vertebrates introduces “tree-thinking” and how to read phylogenies (evolutionary tree diagrams)
- From Chordates to Mammals: Exploring the Tree of Life
- The Story of Mammals: From the Dawn of Life to the Present Day
- Outline of Geologic Time and the History of Life booklet
Our Vision is to ignite our sense of connectedness with Earth and nurture a spirituality of Earth care through learning circles.
Gladwyne Montessori is an independent Montessori school on Philadelphia’s Main Line.
Gladwyne Montessori
Committed to guiding adults in their journey as they discover the truths about childhood and study Montessori pedagogy. Personal growth and deep understanding prepares us for success.
The result is transformative.
PCTEMONTESSORI.ORG
Want to Sponsor DTN? Click here.




