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Like the lengthening days, there is, I believe, some light at the
end of the pandemic tunnel. It is still a faint glow, many months away, but
it is there, brightened by the actions we are all taking to deal with the pandemic’s
effects; behaving in ways which were previously foreign to us, but now
adopted widely as we seek to protect our children, ourselves and
others.
Perhaps these parallel lights will converge so that by mid-year 2021 we
will live whatever will be our new normal, freed from the constant threat
of COVID 19. Lights that will shine giving back to our children the
childhoods that have been put on hold, and creating the opportunities again
for each of them to grow to their full potential. That hope alone should be
an inspiration for us to do all we can to make it a reality for them.
And while the dark cloud of the pandemic continues to cause suffering for
so many families, like every dark cloud, it too has a silver lining.
Perhaps just a sliver of a lining but a lining nonetheless. We always knew
we were an interconnected world, and that awareness has been deepened this
past year; interconnected not just between humans, but to our natural
world. COVID forced us to more avidly recognize the need to care for and
protect our environment.
The silver lining contains an enormous number of acts of kindness and
self-sacrifice by thousands. Caring for each other gained new currency
during 2020. And for so many of you AMI teachers, trainers, administrators,
students and parents that silver lining is the myriad of ways in which you
rose to the challenges of the pandemic, the manner in which you adapted
your practices to provide training and education opportunities for adult
and child alike, in-person and remotely. We can celebrate that success, and
know that these experiences will guide our future efforts to reach the most
disadvantaged, the hundreds of thousands who missed out on education,
indeed on part of their childhood, over the past year.
Not one of you has been sitting still, none have been paralyzed by the
challenges, but spurned on by them, and I feel privileged to be part of
your movement.
And that dedication is even more important now. The economic impact of the
pandemic will make it difficult for many children to get back to full time
education. Children from poor households and communities have been made
even poorer by loss of family work and wages. They will need our most
creative approaches to ensure they have the best possible opportunity for education.
For those, and indeed for all children, a vital element of the "new
normal" will be engaging them creatively in learning. And that is
something all Montessorians know how to do.
It will not be "business as usual" in our coming months and
years, but the essential attributes of the Montessori pedagogy, and the
commitment to ensure every child can enjoy their right to education, will
remain unchanged and as crucial in the future as it has been in the
past.
I hope each one of you has had a safe and peaceful holiday season, with as
much time as is possible with your family and close ones, and I wish you
well for 2021.
Philip D. O’Brien
President
Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)
©2021, AMI
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