Adolescent (12-15/18) „ERDKINDER“

"My vision of the future is no longer of people taking exams and proceeding on that certification from the secondary school to the university, but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher, by means of their own activity, through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual."

From Childhood to Adolescence, Maria Montessori

For the 12 to 18-year-olds Maria Montessori had a special environment in mind. Because adolescents are in a special stage of life, on the threshold of adulthood, the environment should reflect all aspects of adult life and provide opportunities, not only to pursue academic interests but also participate in real adult practical work in a social setting as close to a real society as possible. Through experiences of everyday life and its responsibilities, the adolescents will practice what it takes to become a contributing member of a wider society.

This experience includes an initiation into economics and an understanding of its importance for everyday life. Another important aspect of the environment is that it should put the adolescents in close contact with nature in order to instill an appreciation and understanding of the responsibility of the planet on which we live and are a part of.

The school for adolescents is for young people ages 12 through 18. Sometimes the young people are divided into two groups of 12 to 15 and 15 to 18 and sometimes all six years interact in one environment, depending upon the size of the school.

Our school started to establish the Adolescent program on September 2022 with our first 2 students.

WORK AND STUDY

Maria Montessori observed human development to follow four different planes, ages birth to six, six to twelve, twelve to eighteen, and eighteen to twenty-four years. She designed a plan of education for each plane of development.

For the third plane, ages twelve to eighteen, she identified the need for students to work in a practical capacity on the land as well as in academic studies. She proposed a Centre for Study and Work, where adolescents and selected adults live in a self-contained rural community, self-governing and, to a considerable extent, self-supporting.

Education should therefore include the two forms of work, manual and intellectual, for the same person, and thus make it understood by practical experience that these two kinds complete each other and are equally essential to a civilized existence." - From Childhood to Adolescence, Maria Montessori

The first Work & Study Practical Experience at “Bali Baby Care” Foundation in Sukawati:

"The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded."

Maria Montessori

GARDEN LESSONS & COMMUNITY SERVICE AT ERDKINDER BALI

"Therefore work on the land is an introduction both to nature and to civilization and gives a limitless field for scientific and historic studies.
If the produce can be used commercially this brings in the fundamental mechanism of society, that of production and exchange, on which economic life is based.
This means that there is an opportunity to learn both academically and through actual experience what are the elements of social life. We have called these children the “Erdkinder” because they are learning about civilization through its origin in agriculture. They are the ‘earth-children.’ "

Maria Montessori

CONSTRUCTION OF OUR STUDY CENTER

Our weekly schedule:
Monday & Tuesday    9 am – 5 pm
Wednesday                9 am – 2 pm

Thursday & Friday    9 am – 1 pm
(OUR COMMUNITY & BOARDING DAY)

“… see you soon at Erdkinder-Bali, wuff wuff…”