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10:06 PM
Today in Mighty Girl history, Maria Montessori, the Italian educator and physician who created the Montessori Method, was born in 1870. Montessori's educational philosophy of encouraging children's learning through discovery is now used in an estimated 30,000 schools worldwide.
Montessori grew up in Italy and enrolled in the University of Rome's school of medicine in 1893. As a woman, she faced hostility from both fellow students and professors, even being forced to perform dissections alone after hours as it was deemed inappropriate for her to attend classes with men in the presence of a naked cadaver. Despite the obstacles, she graduated in 1896 and set up a private practice.
Montessori rapidly became an advocate for both women's rights and the rights of children with disabilities. She regularly worked with children facing these challenges, and she was a major supporter of their right to access education. In 1901, she left her practice to engage in further study in psychology and educational philosophy, and began considering how to adapt the methods she used for general classroom use.
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