失敗する自由が育てる自己制御力

昨日4月25日の夜は、月例のモンテッソーリ読書会だった。モンテッソーリが書いたイタリア語版の英語訳と日本語訳を対比しながら読んだ。

昨日読み進んだところには次のような趣旨のことが書かれていた。

重い椅子が床に固定された旧来の教室では、子どもがどう動いても椅子が倒れることがない。しかし、自分で好きなところに移動させることができるほど軽い椅子がある教室では、自由勝手に動けば椅子が倒れて騒がしい音がする。
その違いは大きい。注意して動かないと椅子が倒れる教室、つまり、失敗する自由がある教室でこそ、子どもは、自らの行動を制御する能力を高めるだけでなく、制御する理由も理解する。そして、自らを制御することができた経験が自らの有能感と自己肯定感を高める。その効果は、在学中だけでなく、社会に出てからも、生涯にわたって役立つ効果である。
以上が昨夜、仲間と読み合った部分の趣旨である。
大いに共感しながら読み合った。
そして、現在の、子どもが失敗する前に先回りして失敗しないようにする教室や保育室の問題点などについても話し合った。

ちなみに、該当する部分の英語は次のとおりである。

Our little tables and our various types of chairs are all light and easily transported, and we permit the child to select the position which he finds most comfortable. He can make himself comfortable as well as seat himself in his own place. And this freedom is not only an external sign of liberty, but a means of education. If by an awkward movement a child upsets a chair, which falls noisily to the floor, he will have an evident proof of his own incapacity; the same movement had it taken place amid stationary benches would have passed unnoticed by him. Thus the child has some means by which he can correct himself, and having done so he will have before him the actual proof of the power he has gained: the little tables and chairs remain firm and silent each in its own place. It is plainly seen that the child has learned to command his movements.
In the old method, the proof of discipline attained lay in a fact entirely contrary to this ; that is, in the immobility and silence of the child himself. Immobility and silence which hindered the child from learning to move with grace and with discernment, and left him so untrained, that, when he found himself in an environment where the benches and chairs were not nailed to the floor, he was not able to move about without overturning the lighter pieces of furniture. In the" Children's Houses" the child will not only learn to move gracefully and properly, but will come to understand the reason for such deportment. The ability to move which he acquires here will be of use to him all his life. While he is still a child, he becomes capable of conducting himself correctly, and yet, with perfect freedom.

マリア・モンテッソーリ本人による原著イタリア語版は次のとおりである。

I tavoli, le sedie, le poltroncine leggere e trasportabili, permetteranno al bambino di scegliere la posizione più gradita: egli potrà accomodarsi anziché sedersi al posto: e ciò sarà insieme un segno esterno di libertà e un mezzo di educazione. Se una mossa sgraziata del bambino farà cadere rumorosamente una sedia, egli avrà una evidente prova della propria incapacità: la mossa medesima, tra i banchi, sarebbe passata inavvertita. Così il fanciullo avrà modo di correggersi, e quando si sarà corretto ne avrà le prove palesi, evidenti: le sedie e i tavoli resteranno fermi e silenziosi al loro posto; allora vorrà dire che il bambino avrà imparato a muoversi. Invece col metodo antico la prova della disciplina raggiunta era nel fatto contrario; cioè nella immobilità e nel silenzio del bambino stesso. Immobilità e silenzio che impedivano al fanciullo di imparare a muoversi con grazia e con discernimento, in modo che quando egli si trovava in ambienti ove non esistono i banchi, gli accadeva di rovesciare facilmente oggetti leggeri. Qui invece il fanciullo impara un contegno e un'abilità di movimento che gli sarà utile anche fuori di scuola: egli, pur essendo bambino, diventerà una persona dalle maniere libere, ma corrette.