Maria monasi gave a speech in the aftermath of the atrocities of World War II and in it she said quote the monster does not come to life all of a sudden it is not created in one moment in one hour in one week even in one year end of
Quote today I’ll be sharing her complete talk at least my narration of it now I’m doing this because given the recent horrific attack on Israel and and I would say on all civilized human beings I think monori has great insight into the roots of such violence and War um
But more importantly she highlights what our attention really needs to be focused on if we ever want to truly achieve peace and really ward off these monsters for good the educator Dr Maria Monas once said the child developing harmoniously and the adult improving himself at his side make a very exciting and attractive
Picture welcome to Monas education with me Jesse Mccarthy where we talk raising children and educating students while bettering ourselves right alongside them so thanks for being here again what you’re about to hear are some words by Maria monori spoken shortly after the horror and end of World War II um
Specifically this talk was given in London 1946 and is entitled education as a help to life released in book form by the wonderful Monas Pearson Publishing Company keep in mind Maria Monas said these words over 70 plus years ago okay here she goes we are all United by the
Sad times that have just passed the events of the last years have brought us together in these times more than ever before our hope is that education will offer an aid to better the condition of the world people everywhere now talk of Education as the hope for the future of
The world up until now education was just one of many things perhaps of little importance in and of itself education was regarded as something outside Society because it dealt only with small children young students people who were not yet citizens not yet a part of society today education is
Seen as something else something essential some great power that must be used the world is to be reconstructed yes it seems as though people are at last persuaded the idea is in the air that it will be necessary to look to children for help if the world
Is to be made better this is the first time in history that such an idea has become widespread among men and women all over the world we have always known that adults might be of help to the child that adults were necessary for his existence and development but could the
Child be of help to us could he be of help to civilization this idea never entered the mind of man in the past and especially during the last generation people even societies have worked to improve the circumstances of childhood and to create ever better conditions to Aid the development of children but no
One ever had the idea that the child could be a help to us the thought that the child could be the hope of our future the hope of a better future that had ever been in the past that would have been an absurdity perhaps this has come about
Because Peace Love men men endowed with the best intentions have earnestly tried to create a world where peace could Reign and they have not succeeded think how hard Humanity has worked toward this ideal of Peace how many moral guidelines they have laid down love one another has been preached for centuries and yet
Peace has not come it is though something more profound were necessary and so the idea came about that if this desire for peace fraternity and Humanity had not yet succeeded something must be lacking something we have not known something we must seek to discover There is almost an anxiety to find what is
Lacking is it some lack in ourselves is it some lack in our enemies is it something which the whole of humanity lacks so all minds are unsatisfied and seek answers thus the attention of this age has come to focus on one point and that one point is the child you can see
How differently child it is considered compared to what it was we who focus on this point of Light have from its mystery it’s light it’s help learnt what has been lacking in humanity in the past when we were trying to help the child our attitude has always been to treat
Him as one who needs our pity our charity and our help in relegating him to that position we have ignored the help which he might have brought for our Salvation in the past everything was done for the adult all The Works of civilization were done for and by the
Adult therefore the child remained outside Society he was not considered to be a citizen the laws of social justice did not consider the child democracy the Democracy for which we have fought yet another War the Democracy which governs most of the world does not exist for the
Child have you ever heard anyone say in any part of the world that the child must benefit from this democracy from this Justice Civilization is made for the adult when social groups fight when Wars are won people speak of Rights the rights of men better conditions a better
Life but it is a better life for the adult they speak of not a better life for the child no thought was ever given to the child I think the mistake is that we limit our definition of man only to adults in the eyes of society it is only
The adult who’s considered a man and a citizen but is it only the adult who is a man and a citizen this reminds me of the Greek legend of pigmalion a sculptor made a statue and fell in love with it so great was his love that it gave the
Statue life this is how we now consider Humanity unconsciously we consider social groups as statues that have suddenly become human beings but it is not so they do not suddenly emerge as adult human beings or social groups all at once Tales of statues com into life have been depicted in films man creates
A machine the machine becomes animated but without a soul it becomes a monster this is another obscure point in our minds humanity is a monster when adult bloodthirsty indulging in continuous Slaughter but the monster does not come to life all of a sudden it is not
Created in one moment in one hour in one week even in one year adulthood is the result of years of toil and struggle he who constructs this adult person the adult that may become cruler than the monsters in the films is the child who by virt of his own life and through
Years of constructing his own personality becomes a man or a woman in confronting the problem of War we must consider man During the period when he was excluded from society when he had no rights but when he may perhaps have been constructing the monster we so much
Dread perhaps the man we dreamt of the man of whom the idealist preached in the past may be found in childhood it is clear that the foundations of man are laid down during this period when a baby is born it is not a man that is born yet
It is the origins of man if this is clear in our minds we cannot consider leaving Society unchanged we must begin to consider the child in society this work of the construction of man a work which has different stages is brought about by the experiences of every
Individual it is this work that we must consider today a science must be created to study this work in all its phases the study of the construction of the human human being through the child who constructs the man to be through experience this new science will be real
And it will incorporate many disciplines of which child psychology is already being developed but it must not be carried out in cold-blooded fashion as we study botany zoology or minology it must not be a cool scientific study it requires The Reawakening of man’s conscience the redirecting of our ideals
The realization that here and lays our hope it is bound to attract the consciousness of all unlike botany which interests only a limited number of people or zoology which interests but a few or the study of stones in which even fewer are interested for if we study the
Child we appeal to the whole of humanity because children enter the lives of all men and women wherever man exists children are born and if we direct the love and attention of men and women to the child we must remember that it is not the child to whom we Direct their
Attention but to all those men and women who will one day be adults to the adults who are just starting on their way along the ascending path to the crowds of adults who have and will have produced through multiple centuries all the marvelous things that have ever been
Created to form civilization if we touch children we touch Humanity we must educate adults to realize that we can only better Humanity through the child we must realize that the child is the Builder of man the child has always been an enigma an unknown quantity the result
Of this incomprehension is the adult man with all his defects and virtues weaknesses and strengths it was no accident from which the men and women of today were constructed it was that unknown child whom we must know in the future today we cannot understand and much less reconcile humanity and the
Diversity of its ideas and tastes but if we knew how human beings had been built we would understand them better now the whole world agrees that people do not understand each other and everyone everywhere is trying to Foster Brotherhood they Advocate a Common Language Esperanto and suggest that if
Countries exchange students people will understand each other better nevertheless Another War follows evidently this is not the right path if we wish to understand man we must first understand how man has been built if there is one time in life when all men have the same ideas when they speak
The same language it is the time of birth no matter to what race they belong in which part of the world they are born newborns are all alike if we wish to achieve peace and mutual understanding we must start at the moment of birth the moment when all men are alike there is
Another period when we are all alike and this is the period period of childhood all human beings follow the same laws when it comes to development it is curious but no matter whether they are Chinese Indian African or european children all start talking at the same time there could not be more Universal
Agreement among men just think about the moment when we start to talk it is a miracle shared by all by children of all Races how can the child acquire a language if he is not taught how can he gather ideas to express if he has never
Had a teacher from where do those who were so unconscious when they were born get their marvelous intelligence if we really want to see the relationship between the conscious and unconscious mind ideas which interest psychologist so much today we must consider the child because it is from a state of utter
Unconsciousness that the child becomes a man with all his ideas and all his abilities and because this is is the origin of everything it is here that we must seek understanding seek inspiration and hope we start at the point from which everything is constructed we must
Think of the child from the point of view of the Miracles it accomplishes no construction is greater than that which makes Humanity surprise and admiration and the desire to know more must be incorporated in man a new interest must be born man’s interest must Center on
The achiev ments of the child on his miracles what are the interests of Education centered on today on the child’s mistakes these small errors hide the true greatness of man these small errors hide the giant we need to change our attitude and see the greatness of the child’s achievements rather than the
Small and drive leaves of his errors errors we have caused the defects of the adult come from infancy from the period of childhood when we consider the tremendous mistakes of the adult we wonder why all the marvelous achievements that we witnessed during childhood did not continue in the
Grown-up yet man is great we only have to look at civilization to realize the greatness of which man is capable but we are focused on his errors and mistakes not on his greatness the fault lies with us think how many things man has created the wireless to mention but one look
Around at all we have small greater beautiful whatever it is it has been created by man but while asking for more and more of these marvelous inventions we never think of the man that created them we do not consider him at all although we try to do everything we can
To enhance our comfort we do not consider the greatness of man and we only consider his defects we do not consider man the Creator therefore I say we must refocus our hearts we must put the creations of man at the center and not his defects we must adopt the same
Attitude towards the child when we see the miracle of a child walking we take no notice because it is a daily occurrence and yet we correct all his small padillos how much Fuller and richer life would be if we saw the child in all his greatness all his Beauty instead of
Focusing on all his little mistakes these are so great in our eyes that they lead us to despondency because we see baseness all the time our aim is to study the child from this new point of view with this change in our hearts we will want to study him in all his
Different phases to study all his miracles to realize how man reaches the stage of man through the child that constructs him we must give this development this miraculous Force the help it needs it needs the warmth of the heart and it needs understanding let us call this help
Education education is the help we must give to life so that it may develop in the greatness of its powers to help those great forces which bring the child inert at Birth unintelligent and unsympathetic to the greatness of the adult being this should be the plan of
Education to see what help we can give before we can give help we must understand we must follow the path from childhood to adulthood if we can understand we can help and this help must be the plan of our education to help man to develop not his defects but his
Greatness all right everyone once again that was Maria monasi in her lecture education as a help to life which you can find in the book The 1946 London lectures published by monor Pearson publishing company I’m Jesse Mccarthy with Monas education.com if you appreciate this uh podcast episode I
Would appreciate you sharing it with others uh emailing it reviewing it uh doing whatever you can to get it out there I I sincerely think her words are really really needed today um it’s wild to think that she said these over 70 years ago um and we’re still facing
Monsters and we still haven’t learned um all my best to everyone out there take care
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