Re-engineering early childhood education for lifelong independence

The science of Behavioral Psychology is based on the noticeable performances, actions, deeds and conduct of man. Their changes are intense from infancy to adolescence – preschool elementary and high school. European and American psychologists from W. Wundt of Leipzig, E.B. Titchner of Cornell University, John B. Watson of Harvard, the Gestalt psychology and B.F. Skinner, analyzed the factors of the social environment, which influence behavioral changes. The “conditioning” and “reinforcements” of the environment can develop  “character” which is the capacity to overcome daily obstacles in life all by oneself. Character is best acquired during the “sensitive period” of 3 to 6 years old as the Montessori system has proven.

How the ‘Prepared Environment’ of work conditions the very young for independence.

What are the psychological conditionings in a preschool classroom that transform a shy, quarrelsome or dependent child into a self-confident mature person? Using the “10-minute” child observation practice of O.B. Montessori college teacher trainees let us observe the behavioral changes of the “fours” and “fives”.

Thea Balbutin, five years old, exhibits the natural “normalization through work” in a Prepared Environment. 8:00 Thea enters the classroom. Greets her teacher with a handshake. She places her bags in the open cabinet where all her classmates keep theirs.

8:10 Among five open shelves of materials, she chooses Folding Handkerchief. She brings the tray of hankies from the Practical Life shelf and works with it on her table. First, she unfolds each hanky into half, fourth and eight. She repeats this process with the other seven. She returns the tray.

8:20 Goes to get the tray of the Pouring Juice material but Vicky her classmate picked it first. Instead of insisting, she simply gets the “Patis Pouring Sauce” tray. Again she is very careful, avoiding spillage by holding the glass container with both hands. She repeats the exercise thrice before she returns the material back to its proper place.

8:30 Now, she sees that the Pouring Juice tray is available. She happily gets it. She concentrates on pouring the colored water into a pair of drinking glasses, watching the water line ascend to a red ring marked one-inch below the glass mouth. However, her classmate, Juan accidentally hits her elbow, causing spillage on the tray. Juan apologizes but Thea does not mind since she is readily wiping dry the tray with the sponge provided in the tray. She repeats the activity twice over before the material is returned.

8:40 Thea is offered by the teacher an advanced exercise for the Puzzle Map of Asia. She had already done the World puzzle with seven continents: North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Antarctica. Without being told, she gets the rubber mat to support the huge Asia puzzle on the floor. The advanced lesson consists of identifying the 23 Asian Flags and moving them from a special tray to a small chart with the 23 pictures of the Southeast Asian flags. Her eyes see something familiar. “Teacher, this is the puzzle piece of the Philippines. It’s brown. I see the Philippine flag.” After matching all the flags with each country of Asia, her teacher asked her to draw them in her Science notebook. She brings her chair close to the work mat to serve as her desk.

9:00 Teacher rings the bell and Thea start to pack-up. First she returns the map. Then she rolls the rubber mat. Finally, she returns her chair to her table.

Two systems of education and their contrasting results

The following Montessori work principles have been applied spontaneously even without teacher’s dictation. Order in following routine work. With 300 exercises available inside the Montessori classroom, Thea kept exercising freedom of choice. Analysis of Movement was evident in the folding and pouring exercises. Waiting for one’s turn, repetition for perfection and completion of the cycle of work are all practiced daily building up the child’s character.

It’s just unfortunate that a lot of preschools in the country have teachers who dictate every little thing the child must do. Silence and immobility is imposed:

“Ilagay n’yo and inyong bag sa tabi ng upuan. Kunin n’yo ang aklat sa Math at ibuka sa pahina 20. Kulayan n’yo ng pula ang bilog. Itaas ang lapis kung tapos na kayo… Ilabas n’yo ang inyong notebook sa Math at kopyahin ang nasa pisara…” (Put your bag beside your chair. Get your Math Book and open to page 20. Color the circle red and when you are finished, raise your pencil… Bring out your Math notebook and copy what’s written on the blackboard).

Even at home, the traditional Filipino way of parenting which usually usurps the growing child’s right to decide for himself and to express his own opinion. This type of adult-child relationship has never been corrected and became eventually the “fertile field” of a lengthy Marcos dictatorship.

 One’s culture and identity is respected so there is “being American,” the Danish way, the Indian or Filipino way.  The democratic spirit can be kept alive by an educational system, which empowers citizens. The American education system is based on Thomas Jefferson’s ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom from fear, hunger and ignorance – the “core values” of the US Declaration of Independence, Jefferson put together. 

Is there a definite Filipino education that empowers the citizens of the Philippines? Are we still searching for one?

True education prepares one for the adversities of life

The fight for democracy can only be won by a combination of both educated people and moral leaders. The barrier of dependency has been encouraged by the extended family system from Infancy to adolescence and further fostered by politicians with the dole-out system. True democracy is acquired first by a new type of parenting that gives children the liberty to help themselves. Prop this up with an educational system that includes an environment of occupational skills outside the classroom that will develop one’s professional self-reliance.