Cosmic Education for All
by Jill D. Bittinger March 2017
Thesis: This article invites its reader to a unified point of view that integrates the dualities that challenge educators today.
Where are we Today?
Within the consensus of many, we see that we are alive at a time in which there is great tumult in the world. People feel disconnected, disillusioned, and caught upon a wheel of simple survival from day to day. Through traditional education, as we raise our young into this environment, we saddle them with a tremendous amount of “knowledge” to hold on long enough to feed back to the test, then can release and forget (unless they find they need to ask Siri and be reminded). This is to get a good “job” and keep the wheel continuing to move round. Yet, there is a felt sense that something is amiss—a sense of yearning, calling to us through the voice of the intuition. The growth of ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development), it’s natural growth into Whole Child Education, and leading role in Educational Leadership speaks to the fact that educators throughout the world are hearing this call —and seeking to answer it.
Through the forum of organized and intentional change, we are empowered to believe that our voices and work can indeed make the difference that our broken system is calling for. The higher the degree of unification we present in representing a dynamic
system of change, the higher our efficacy. Finding a shared language towards common goals, an essential step.
So, what words can we use to unify around broad, transformative concepts that can unite, not divide. Such a question is an evocative one that calls to our spirituality for answers. However, the lines have been drawn and the educational climate denies even terminology of unitive principles and terms that honor the mystery: Great Spirit, Divine Director, or Sacred Power. Yet, the question remains. How DO we reach into the inner most realms, the realm of Spirit within, that we may abide in an education that is deeply personal and meaningful? It is a question we no longer can afford to ignore. What language do we use? Fundamentally, for we are called to a Planetary Consciousness. Such a global consciousness is one in which we recognize the inherent precious connectedness we unique mammals share with one another, with our planet, and with the Universe. As educators, I invite each one of us to put this question at the forefront of the discussion on effective education: How do we best facilitate a Planetary Consciousness?
Gratefully, Maria Montessori has helped show us the way through her introduction of Cosmic Education. Rather than re-invent the wheel, we can benefit from the roots already deep and strong within the work of this pioneering educator. We need not be life-long Montessorians, nor have to convert to her entire system of schooling in order to benefit from this tree of knowledge, a legacy proven over a hundred years, in continents all over the world.
Principles of Cosmic Education
Maria Montessori invites us to give children a vision of the whole universe: The universe is an imposing reality, and an answer to all questions…. All things are part of the universe, and are connected with each other to form one whole unity. The idea helps the mind of the child to become focused, to stop wandering in an aimless quest for knowledge. He is satisfied having found the universal centre of himself with all things.
– Maria Montessori, To Educate the Human Potential.
Seeing through the lens of our relationship to the “Universe” gives us the language to embrace the spiritual perspective inherent in the breadth and depth of that perspective. It is within the unifying principles—where Science, Nature, Art, Math and Culture meet and greet. Rather than be forever cast upon the parallel railroad tracks of consciousness drifting ever outward, these concepts find union within the center of a circle—the hub of the wheel of all Creation—within the unifying principles inherent in Cosmic Education.
The Power of Story
STORY offers us a fundamental road to engagement.
Through the power of story to invite the Imagination, we are given permission to step from the bounds of monotonous habit, and experience, explore and express concepts of possibility. We are invited to consider our own personal story that we are writing upon the pages of time.
Dr. Maria Montessori understood the power of story to captivate and educate. It is through story that she developed The Great Lessons—five impressionistic, dramatic
stories given by the teacher to inspire students to self-selected work. The students are then free to explore through prepared works on the shelves as well as research guided by their inner prompting. The teacher, or Guide as she is called, discusses with the student the constructs and assessment rubrics for this work.
As an institution passionate to educate teachers with this mindset, the North American Montessori Certification (NAMC) program helps us to understand that Cosmic implies that it is comprehensive, holistic, and purposefully oriented towards the development of the whole person. The aim is to prepare individuals to be independent, confident, decision-makers that are able to benefit the whole of society.
Rather than teaching the curriculum as separate parts, abstractly and disconnected, the Great Lessons provide an all-encompassing, holistic vision of various disciplines combined. This work supports the view of the world and universe as a highly organized and purposeful place. Children are able to draw connections as the narrative unfolds naturally from the whole to the part and back to the whole again. The Great Lessons tell of how each particle, substance, species, and/or event has a purpose and a contribution to make in development of all others, inviting each person to explore and develop his or her unique purpose. This attitude is carried forth by a deep sense of gratitude that the Montessori classroom purposefully generates.
Cosmic education is intended to help each of us search for our cosmic task as a species and as individuals. To do this, we must understand ourselves in context. It is only against the background of our place in the universe, our relationships with other living organisms, and our understanding of human unity within cultural diversity, that we can attempt to answer the question, “Who am I?” (J. S. Beydler)
Cosmic Education also includes the intentional aspects of Montessori’s ideas for Peace Education. The curriculum for the entire Peace Flower includes: Self- Awareness, Cultural Awareness, Environmental Awareness, and Community Awareness. The elements of this can be seen in any true Montessori classroom— evident within the felt sense of peace, alongside the sustained, deeply-focused concentration of a classroom that has reached its goal of “normalcy”—an indicator of a working Montessori classroom.Two things necessary for raising peaceful human beings, Maria Montessori believed, were an awareness of interdependence and the sense of gratitude that comes from that awareness.
Certainly, we can give deep gratitude to Maria Montessori for helping us find the words to embody these noble ideas. Now, however, is an unrivaled time that calls us to the action as never before. Must we be practicing Montessorians to benefit from this elevated perspective on education? If not, how do we understand, and then embody these mighty concepts that they may truly reach a global scale? We do so through finding workable strategies. Strategies that need now be free to reach beyond the bounds of the Montessori name. Strategies that move the learner beyond concrete and abstract knowledge of content area and into a plane of appreciation for the beauty of knowledge itself. With awareness and appreciation for the knowledge gained through the past, we give permission for the learner to develop upon their own path for knowledge, academically, personally and spiritually. Such a perspective inherently
leads us to understanding ourselves as a planetary people, the unifying mindset that can lift us all upwards.
As this conversation broadens to consider voices beyond the Montessori realm, we see that other significant Educational leaders have strategies that coalesce with our principles thus made. One of these leaders calls for no less than a revolution in education, Sir Ken Robinson.
Sir Robinson , similar to Montessori, calls for us to step beyond the mechanistic view of education—a machine that we need to get all the parts lined up on— and instead into a humanistic view. What must be recognized is that education is not a mechanical system, but a HUMAN system—full of people that either want to learn, or do not. Each brings their personal story to it. Education is a uniquely human experience and is therefore an inherently organic system. Because of this quality, when given the right climate, schools that may be bereft can spring forth with new life. He argues that for this to take place, we must value and cultivate the following conditions: a sense of possibility, a broader range of opportunity, a cherished relationship between teachers and learners, possibility for creativity for both, and administration that does not command and control but facilitates this climate of possibility.
What We Can Do—Where we can Start
Educate the Heart as well as the Mind:
Sir Robinson invites us to recognize that the present systems in place in schools are based upon rating according to a standardization based in conformity. Instead, he
makes a call for diversity: thinking outside of the box. Robinson points out that we are poised upon a stage of coming revolution in order to have life sustained upon our planet. Yet, because of the conformity, most people have no idea of what they are capable of. Because of it’s European foundations, our present educational system has continued to be based upon a model of the division of thinking and feeling. Because of this division, the Arts occupy the bottom rung of the ladder of achievement and further, we have made little time to acknowledge the mind/body relationship. Intuition is driven out, and rationalization is emulated. We end up spending all our educational time with focus on the external world, getting a great deal of data on it, without giving time to the sense of its purpose, or, to call to the inner world. This inner world of the learner is unique in its individuality, and in its privacy of consciousness. What is called upon now is to give learners time to look within. For only by doing so, can we truly find the things that make unique sense to us as individuals.
Invite in the Arts:
Regular classroom teachers need not be professional artists to understand the value in this realm and to have the motivation to share that value with their students. No matter its form: written, visual, kinesthetic, musical/percussive, theatrical, the Arts offer tremendous value in the voyage of first accessing the inner realms, and then expressing them outwardly. By utilizing the Arts in education, we honor and express these realms.
Social/Emotional Intelligence:
Recognize that what it truly means to be a person includes both feeling and knowing. Activities that connect ourselves with ourselves invites in a spiritual connection with the Great Mystery that is the essence for this expression of life in the first place. Daily time for meditation is one tool; questions and reflection, another. Further, through cultivating empathy, we invite in the feeling expression of others, helping us to recognize our commonality and the truth of our interconnectedness.
The Peace Table:
The Peace Table is a foundational part of any successful Montessori classroom but it is a concept that can also fit into public or private educational classrooms. When implemented to its fullest capability, children are empowered to know how to direct themselves to resolve issues that arise between them by choosing to go to the Peace Table. Through modeling, students learn demonstration of the “talking rose” — passed back and forth to express, listen and reflect, then make a new point; then the other listens and repeats back what s/he hears. This goes on as long as it needs to to resolve the upset. As a teacher, I can tell you it was of great relief not to feel I had to resolve every single social issue that arose between my students! We can see that emotional/social education is actually a natural part of the playground education time. When we give tools to negotiate through it, everybody wins.
Reading Together:
There is a magical energy that can take place in the story telling process. That energy is best cultivated through setting aside a special Time and Place, on a regular schedule, to enjoy unique and artful stories in a relaxed, expressive manner. There are so many wonderful, uplifting, heart-warming stories, with dynamic, detailed, artistic- examples in the illustrations that can help pave the way towards an inspired, unified expressive consciousness. (A resource list to follow.) Such stories can be based within the themes of the Peace Flower: Self, Nature, Community, World.
Theme Examples:
—No matter the color of our skin, we all have the same qualities as human beings.
How do we choose to share this one world? —How do we differ from animals? —What do you think it is that makes us different? Are we Special? If so, in what way? No matter the particular theme of choice by the educator, start with questions, allow time for reflection, partner students up to have more opportunity to develop their own voices through the process of discussion.
Know when to be quiet:
As the Montessori teacher is called to be a guide, so may the educators in traditional education understand the value in knowing when to hold silence. At times, this may be a time of making peace—where the whole classroom finds silence as each student quietly reflects within. At other times, it simply may be through asking a question, and allowing it to sink in. May we recognize that to illicit curiosity and reflection calls for learner’s authentic engagement. Do this by not dominating the environment, not over-talking. Instead, choose to illicit, reflect and guide.
Personalized Curriculum
A realm of expanded thinking that Maria Montessori pioneered was the notion that each being brings into this world unique talent and gifts. When given a path towards finding and expressing these gifts, all the society benefits. Thus, the call is not that everyone learn everything, an impossible task. No, the call is that the student be invited to cultivate and express his or her unique gifts from an open heart and open mind. Sir Robinson echoes such a call for personalized curriculum in which there is close communication between teacher and student to negotiate the path and assessment strategies upon it.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we may realize that Education, in its truest sense, is not about what we put in, but about what we draw out. What have we drawn out of the individual, child or adult, in the educational process to truly prepare them for the realm of tomorrow? A realm that we cannot yet know.
As the teacher invites the students into inspiration, so too s/he is given license to follow such inspiration. For all ages, this article invites you to explore the questions: What IS the unique gift within you?! How can you develop and express it? How can you benefit from the gifts of others?
COSMIC EDUCATION for all:
YOU are a dynamic part of an AMAZING, organized, creative UNIVERSE! A Living Miracle of Life, and nothing less. As boundaries between nations and states vanish from our view in space, so too do all abstract boundaries when we look through the unifying lens of what unique, amazing creatures we are in this incredible planet in space!
Feel and inspire that sense of Awe.
Bibliography
Beydler, J.A., Cosmic Education: The Heart of the Montessori Classroom.
http://www.forsmallhands.com/ideas-insights/cosmic-education.
Grazzini, Camillo. The Purpose of Montessori Education. http:// montessoritraining.blogspot.mx/2013/02/purpose-of-montessori-cosmic-education.html
NAMC Teacher Training. What is Montessori Cosmic Education? The Keystone of Montessori Philosophy Explained. http://montessoritraining.blogspot.mx/2009/02/ montessori-and-cosmic-education.html
Robinson, Sir Kenneth. Educating the Heart and Mind. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=I1A4OGiVK30
Robinson, Sir Kenneth. How to Escape Education’s Death Valley. https:// http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX78iKhInsc —Sir Ken Robinson