Book review: the secret of childhood by Maria Montessori

In her book “The Secret of Childhood”, Maria Montessori (1870-1952) highlighted many of the problems faced by children in Italy during her time. Montessori, who started as the first female medical doctor in Italy, later ventured herself into psychology and ended her career as a well-known educationist. At the time the book was written, she realised that children of her time have been deprived of their social rights in education. In her observation, she found out that children have been subjected to do many insurmountable hard tasks. They were shown little affection and respect as growing individuals. During her time, the plight of children in Italy was a very disheartening thing for her to witness. The state paid much attention to the needs and rights of the adults compared to that of the children. Children’s social well-being and education were not given serious consideration by the state