As emerging adults, it is crucial that adolescents learn and grow in an environment that matches their development as well as gives insight into the time in which we live; we must improve each individual to improve society.
Dr. Montessori calls the Erdkinder the “school of experience in the elements of social life” where work is an introduction to both nature and civilization and provides a limitless field of scientific and historical studies. Adolescents work through experiences on the land: growing crops and caring for animals. They also run a shop where they buy and sell produce and handmade items, promoting personal craftsmanship over mass production. This allows them to fully engage with the two main independences indicative of this developmental stage: social and economic. The shop becomes a general meeting place for their extended community where they take responsibility for the corresponding financial and moral obligations associated with running their own business.
Adolescents volunteer with Real Food Farm in Baltimore City, growing fresh produce for communities in need.
An Adolescent organized a service project to clean up the Jones Falls waterways.
Throughout their educational studies, they meet with experts from various fields as they study the earth and living things, human progress and the building up of civilization, and the history of humanity. They will build a library of atlases, primary documents, and other resources that highlight the connection between peoples and cultures throughout time. They explore scientific progress in biology and chemistry through individual or small group projects that are related to the land whenever possible. All curriculum areas are interrelated and these connections are consciously discussed. This also includes self-expression: music, language, and the arts and the development of the personality that entails ethics, mathematics, and modern languages.
Adolescents learn water conservation from indigenous farmers in Arizona for their Spring Odyssey.
Adolescents clear brush on an Arizona farm.
Adolescents are brought closer together by their work on the land throughout the year.
Within this framework, the moral and physical care of the students is also a priority as they face difficult physical and emotional transitions. They must be provided with work that is in the open air of nature, promoting plentiful and nourishing food that is their own produce whenever possible. A space that allows them to peacefully reflect and meditate when the psychological characteristic of decreased attention takes hold. They learn about nutrition and how to properly care for themselves as they discuss health and wellness topics with adult role models that guide them towards informed decision-making. There is a division of labor, which leads to a genuine cooperative community. They are diplomatic in their acceptance of other’s points of view through Socratic discussions.
Adolescents learn about the Chesapeake Bay watershed while fishing and living on a boat for their Fall Odyssey.
Work on the land provides natural consequences unmatched by any other environment. The plethora of studies inspired by the land also provides a true understanding for the range of careers available today; our wide and thorough education grows their professional interests so that they can take part in the science and technological applications being used to understand and solve the complex problems of our times. The land also provides the right type of freedom where they act on individual initiative within clear limits and rules that results in the self-discipline necessary for success. Our students will know how to put things right: how to adjust a machine, mend a broken window, build a shed, forge a path, and that most importantly, that they can be self-sufficient.
An Adolescent makes field notes on a Maryland native plant garden.
Schools today do not offer this essential balance of manual and intellectual work, leaving adolescents unprepared for taking an active role in society. Our environment acknowledges that these two kinds of work complete each other and are equally essential to a civilized existence and is designed to balance them so adolescents gain a clear understanding of the society for which they are about to join, one that demands a personality of character that adapts quickly and easily.
In order to emerge into the final plane of development, maturity, adolescents must be made to feel capable of succeeding in life by their own efforts and merits. Montessori reminds us that when adolescents’ needs are met within this framework, they can then provide humanity with the clues and hope for future progress.
