Gandhi confirmed the wisdom of the Montessori method. The “more I came in touch” with these schools, said Gandhi, “I began to understand that the foundation was good and splendid,” that “children could be taught through the laws of nature—nature, consistent with human dignity, not nature that governs the beast.” (4) Gandhi correctly put his finger on the faith at the heart of Montessori’s vision for peace and education. For Montessori, the wars that damage our world are not the result of education that failed to teach children obedience—to tame the beast—but rather because of an obsession with it.
Ghandi wrote to Montessori “You have very truly remarked that if we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children and if they will grow up in their natural innocence, we won’t have the struggle, we won’t have to pass fruitless idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is hungering.’
