Atch
28 Oct 2015
Life / "Survivor's report" from a children's mass in Poland [62]
Yes that's a disgusting practice which I'm glad to say we never had in Ireland to my knowledge but which my husband tells me was the norm in Poland and may still be for all I know. He told me about a custom of sending round a statue of Our Lady I think it was, together with a list of all the households in the parish. The statue had to be kept in the house by each parishioner for a few days and then they had to make a donation and put the amount they were giving on the list. Imagine the shame some people felt at only having a small amount to give and the fact that they probably had to go without some item of food or something else essential.
There's a book you might enjoy Johnny called 'To School Through The Fields:An Irish Country Childhood' by Alice Taylor. Irish children in rural areas, like yourself walked many miles through the fields in all weathers to school in an unheated schoolhouse. Children were generally expected to bring a sod of turf for the fire and in some schools those who didn't do so were given the leather or the stick by a harsh schoolmaster.
The only downside is when teachers don't understand the philosophy behind it and start to mess with it. If you follow the method correctly it works for everyone. The reason for that is because Montessori wasn't a theorist, she didn't come up with ideas based on how she thought children should behave or how they should learn. She observed thousands of children over her lifetime and designed her philosophy and her learning materials based on the childrens' natural behaviours.
Yes it's a man-made system but divinely inspired. Dr Montessori was a deeply spiritual person. She was a devout Catholic but she respected all religions and spent six years in India. She had an experience similar to that of Froebel when he was returning from the Napoleonic wars when she encountered a mother and child begging in the streets of Rome and knew that her life must be dedicated to such children. She began her work with the deaf and mentally disabled. She then went on to bring her system to the street children of Rome in the first Montessori schools. She was nominated three times for the Nobel peace prize which not many people realise. Anyway she was a very special person.
parents donated the most in church on Sunday (all of which was recorded and published in the church bulletin for all to see)
Yes that's a disgusting practice which I'm glad to say we never had in Ireland to my knowledge but which my husband tells me was the norm in Poland and may still be for all I know. He told me about a custom of sending round a statue of Our Lady I think it was, together with a list of all the households in the parish. The statue had to be kept in the house by each parishioner for a few days and then they had to make a donation and put the amount they were giving on the list. Imagine the shame some people felt at only having a small amount to give and the fact that they probably had to go without some item of food or something else essential.
There's a book you might enjoy Johnny called 'To School Through The Fields:An Irish Country Childhood' by Alice Taylor. Irish children in rural areas, like yourself walked many miles through the fields in all weathers to school in an unheated schoolhouse. Children were generally expected to bring a sod of turf for the fire and in some schools those who didn't do so were given the leather or the stick by a harsh schoolmaster.
every man-made system is defective, let me ask you what is the down-side of Montessori education
The only downside is when teachers don't understand the philosophy behind it and start to mess with it. If you follow the method correctly it works for everyone. The reason for that is because Montessori wasn't a theorist, she didn't come up with ideas based on how she thought children should behave or how they should learn. She observed thousands of children over her lifetime and designed her philosophy and her learning materials based on the childrens' natural behaviours.
every man-made system is defective
Yes it's a man-made system but divinely inspired. Dr Montessori was a deeply spiritual person. She was a devout Catholic but she respected all religions and spent six years in India. She had an experience similar to that of Froebel when he was returning from the Napoleonic wars when she encountered a mother and child begging in the streets of Rome and knew that her life must be dedicated to such children. She began her work with the deaf and mentally disabled. She then went on to bring her system to the street children of Rome in the first Montessori schools. She was nominated three times for the Nobel peace prize which not many people realise. Anyway she was a very special person.