27/05/2022
THE PLANES OF DEVELOPMENT
The period from birth to eighteen years of age is usually divided, by modern psychologists, into three periods – three very definite periods – that can be distinguished clearly from one another. These periods are equal in length. The first goes from birth to six, the second spans the years from six to twelve, and the third is from twelve to eighteen years. We know that man goes on developing until he is twenty-four and then his development is complete…..(p23)
The newborn child shows a sudden, energetic, marvellous development in the first period; after that, his development is less impressive. The greatest development occurs from birth to three years; then from three to six years of age his development is more peaceful. The first period is like a preparation for the second, or conversely, the second period completes the first.
The second period, six to twelve, is a peaceful period of a singular regularity. This age is a time of rest. The child of six is different from the child of twelve. The twelve-year-old has grown during the preceding six years, but there have been no great transformations; it has been a time of peaceful growing. For this reason, the second plane is a period of power and mental strength. It is a time for work and mental application. The child is serious, like a mature person.
Adolescence brings changes to the body. There is intense development, a crisis, reaching a critical moment when growth becomes very sudden and violent. We even speak of the ‘crisis of puberty’. Between fifteen to eighteen years of age, transformation is more peaceful; there is a period of perfecting what was done in the first half of this period, a reaching of equilibrium. The second part is a continuance of the first. The first prepares for the second. Thus, a combination leads to perfection. From age fifteen to age eighteen growth is more limited, rather like the period from age six to age twelve. There are some changes, but they are peaceful. They are at a point of constancy, untroubled. (P 24-25).
From The 1946 London Lectures: https://montessori-pierson.com/vol-17-the-1946-london-lectures.html.
Diagram is from Citizen of the World.