Wheaton Montessori School
The Epoch of the Child Article Recommendation
Rebecca Lingo • July 17, 2023

Today I’m sharing an article written by one of our very own community members, Catherine Penney. Catherine is a long time parent from Mrs. Berdick's, Mrs. Fortun's, and Ms. Searcy’s classrooms. She also served as an amazing and talented lower elementary assistant before her own children were old enough to be in our elementary classrooms. Catherine researched and wrote “The Epoch of the Child” for The Long Now Foundation under the name Catherine Hervey.


I’m recommending everyone read this article as a lovely introduction to Montessori’s perspective on respecting youth. Catherine “translates” Montessori education and thoughtfully urges us to care for children and their education with patience and trust. Reading this piece renewed my pride for my profession, my colleagues, and your families for choosing Wheaton Montessori. And if you know me at all, you know I love my work. Join me in celebrating Catherine’s work by reading a few highlights and following the link for the entire article:


Below are a few of my favorite quotes by Catherine Hervey @cfhervey


  • The teaching methods of Maria Montessori offer a unique approach to educating young minds about the vastness of geologic time, fostering an understanding of interconnectedness and a sense of responsibility for our shared world…


  • What strikes me most is the faith these teachers seem to have in their students. To wait on children in this way requires immense trust, especially in the high-stakes years of a child’s education. It’s an attitude that stands in sharp contrast to the anxious system I remember growing up, a system constantly requiring evidence that children are indeed learning everything they must know. The question, I suppose, is what we consider most essential in preparing children for the world we are going to hand them…


  • One of the reasons Montessori education is worth our advocacy, according to Suchman, is that it is the model that best takes into account both the present and the future. “Kids are human beings right now, in this moment, and they need a positive experience right now…but they also need to be prepared. A lot of other methodologies will do one or the other, but Montessori does them together…


  • Maria Montessori believed that she was working at the end of the Adult Epoch, and that what was coming was the Epoch of the Child. It’s unclear precisely what she had in mind with that terminology, but it seems to speak of a time when children who are treated with sufficient respect and given sufficient time and resources become adults and alter, on a large scale, the way we carry out our lives. Crucially, however, nothing new like this can be ushered in without decisions made now, by those of us who are not yet citizens of any of these new possibilities. A cosmic task for us, perhaps.


Please enjoy the full article here: https://longnow.org/ideas/montessori-deep-time-education/. Schedule your visit to come and be inspired by who children are and the confidence that the Wheaton Montessori community places in them. 


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