“The education of even a small child, therefore, does not aim at preparing him for school, but for life.”
— Maria Montessori

Maggie, MSS alumni of the inaugural class
Third-year Architecture major at Glasgow School of Art

I. “I want to try everything that interests me.”

Today we are introducing you Maggie, a 20-year-old girl currently studying Architecture in Glasgow, Scotland. Maggie is one of the first group of children to join the MSS family. During her enlightening three years at MSS, Maggie had the opportunity to explore freely from an early age: “I remember there were all kinds of interesting activities in school, and you could choose whichever attracted you. It was fantastic.”

Thanks to her early explorations at MSS, Maggie had a clear idea of what she liked from a young age. Maggie’s father enjoyed Chinese painting and studied under a master painter, while her mother had a keen interest in jewelry design. Influenced by them, Maggie naturally developed an inclination towards beauty and design and even aspired to become a jewelry designer.

Meanwhile, due to the influence of Montessori philosophies, Maggie’s family provided her with ample patience and opportunities to explore new things. This further helped her become a girl with strong opinions, curiosity, and willingness for trying new things. Besides study, Maggie poured her interests in a variety of areas, such as ballet, street dance, flute, and Go, while other children might have been resistant to so many extracurricular activities. She always had an open and accepting attitude towards new things, discovering her true interests through exploration. Currently, her favorite hobbies are knitting and playing the guitar. Maggie believes in her strong self-learning ability and frequently searches for knitting tutorials on social media platforms such as Xiaohongshu. She learned how to play guitar in China and has the “ambition” to improve her skills. But according to her own words, “my teacher is too ‘buddha-like’ and doesn’t supervise me practicing. I can only find tutorials to practice on Bilibili.”

Maggie has never set too many limits on her study “Sometimes in life, we will encounter things beyond our plans, so we should try them all. Who knows? Maybe there will be surprises? Just like at MSS, there were so many interesting activities, if you didn’t try them, how would you discover your interests?” This is the open-minded life philosophy that Maggie already possesses at the young age of 20.

II. Unconventional Path vs Joy of Challenge

In high school, Maggie studied pre-college courses at Cambridge University in England, where she took turns studying fine arts, art history, architecture, and other courses before finally taking architecture-related classes in the last two weeks. Prior to that, Maggie knew little about the subject, but ultimately found it surprisingly interesting after studying it. The experience of attending classes and participating in group discussions opened up a “new world” for her and has since been increasingly captivated by the allure of architecture.

Throughout her study, Maggie often had creative ideas and challenged herself to think deeply, setting herself challenging goals. “Once I start learning about something, I become very invested and start thinking: Is there another perspective to consider?”

Maggie shared two stories with us:

The first was about a month ago when she had to write an art history paper but hadn’t yet decided on a topic, so she was struggling. During class, the teacher and classmates mentioned some Chinese architecture, such as the Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum and the Epang Palace, but Maggie didn’t want to write about something she already knew. She started to think: Are there any lesser-known buildings that she could write about?

The school had an independent study week this semester, during which Maggie chose to travel to Spain with friends to find inspiration beyond books. While in Spain, she came across a beautiful palace and researched it on her way home. She discovered that the building had a rich history and decided to make it the focus of her paper.

The second story was about a paper Maggie wrote last year on the relationship between population growth, the environment and society in developing countries. “When it comes to developing countries, many people think of China, but I didn’t want to write about a topic that everyone thinks of, so I chose Nigeria.” Sure enough, almost no one else wrote about this topic, and Maggie spent a lot of time crafting a sophisticated paper that ultimately earned her praise from her mentor.

“When you complete something that you’re interested in, you will obtain a sense of joy and accomplishment, but the premise is that you have confidence and belief that you can do it. And when you do achieve it, that positive feedback will give you more confidence,” said Maggie.

Maggie’s interpreting of confidence aligns with the original aspiration of Montessori education. In the Montessori environment, children enjoy the pleasure of success in tasks that are challenging but achievable, which undoubtedly protects their confidence and allows them to better understand and master their abilities. Even if there are errors, Montessori materials have error controls that guide children to discover and solve problems independently. Independence and confidence are the foundation of a person’s development.

III. Nicknamed the “Cambridge Pancake Queen” with Strong Hands-on skills.

Besides her academic pursuits, Maggie is confident in her hands-on abilities. In her architecture course, her favorite part is creating building models. She has always been a hands-on child, starting with building with LEGO, origami, woodworking, and now knitting, playing guitar, and more – almost all of her interests are related to hands-on work.

“I think my strong hands-on abilities should attribute to my experience at MSS.”

Maggie particularly enjoyed working in the living area of the Montessori environment because there are were not only various materials such as rice and beans, but also opportunities to wash things and take care of plants. Her most memorable experience is cooking: “I remember when we were in kindergarten, we often made food, and the teacher would teach us how to roll small dumpling balls and make pumpkin pie… So now, in addition to various handicrafts and instruments, my favorite thing is actually cooking.”

In Maggie’s opinion, British cuisine is notoriously controversial, so as someone who pursues high standards in food, she often chooses to cook for herself. While others may choose to buy semi-finished food for cooking, the “high-standards” Maggie prefers to buy raw materials and make everything from scratch. For example, if she wants to eat noodles, she buys flour and rolls them herself; if she wants to eat mochi, she buys glutinous rice flour and bakes them herself.

“At first, I didn’t know how to cook or make desserts, but I found it interesting, so I searched for various tutorials and recipes online.”

Driven by her immense interest in food, Maggie began cooking for herself since her high school pre-college study in Cambridge. At that time, her favorite food to make was “pancakes,” trying different types of flour and adding different ingredients… She became insurmountable in her “fancy pancake” making skills and even became well-known among her friends, earning herself the title of “Cambridge pancake queen.”

Maggie still vividly remembers the joy of making small dumpling balls with her MSS teachers and classmates. In fact, throughout her school life after MSS, she has never experienced the same happiness and exploration as she did before. “In MSS, the teachers always encouraged you to try more things because only through trying can you understand it. It doesn’t matter if you make mistakes, just start again. I think it is this relaxed and free environment that made me realize the meaning of gaining insights from experience. Just like making food, the process of researching and cooking is an exploratory process, and you might even develop completely new tastes.” For Maggie, this is also a way to relax outside of her studies: “After eating the food I made, I feel refueled to battle with my coursework again!”

IV. To be a unique “creator.”

Maggie has clear plans for her future. Before her senior year, her school has an “internship year”. Her father wanted her to skip the internship and return to Shanghai after her senior year, but she hoped to gain more experience by interning.

“I want to improve myself right now, so I’ll consider interning before my senior year to create some works, and then I’ll consider continuing my education or taking the postgraduate entrance examination.”

Maggie values her family’s opinions, but most of the time, she takes a comprehensive approach and concludes with her own ideas. “Maybe my independent personality was established early on at MSS.”

Maggie hopes to leverage her strengths in the field of architecture and become an entrepreneur in the long run, which however, Maggie knows, does not necessarily mean starting a company; she could also be an “innovator.” “Because I have my own opinions and don’t like to be restricted, I have many ideas that I want to realize. Therefore, I don’t want to just be a ‘drawing tool’ in the architecture industry. I hope to have more agency in the future to bring my ideas to life.” Of course, Maggie understands the importance of laying a solid foundation: “During the internship, I will still act as a ‘drafting tool,’ and then I will continue to broaden my knowledge and insights in the field of architecture. Once I have a comprehensive understanding and improved overall abilities, I can focus on specific areas, which will be even better.”

At the same time, Maggie believes that in the professional world, one needs to possess not just a single skill but a combination of various abilities. “From managing oneself and teams to managing projects and companies… You need to communicate, collaborate with others, develop strategies, work processes, and goals. You need to have clear thinking, as well as strong initiative and execution.”

Indeed, just like the five Montessori areas and the environment that respect the individual development and patterns of children, the focus is on cultivating a collection of skills rather than just a single ability: concentration, independence, self-learning, responsibility, resilience, perseverance, self-care, hands-on ability, teamwork, independent problem-solving, and more. Due to the mixed-age classes at MSS, younger and older children can stay together without disturbing each other, allowing them the opportunity for independent exploration while also promoting mutual understanding and cooperation. MSS provides a platform for children of different ages to learn from and help each other, effectively fostering their collaborative abilities and other comprehensive skills. The school is a microcosm of the real society, and in the future, when these children go to the broader world, they can showcase these comprehensive abilities in their work and lives.

“Cross the bridge when you come to it.” This is Maggie’s attitude towards the future. Maggie already has a clear plan for her future, which gives her confidence in this saying. “That’s how it was at MSS. I remember the teachers always being calm and never pressuring you to complete something. It allowed me to follow my instincts, and even if I failed, it was okay. The most important thing was to find the right approach the next time and grow from failure.” For Maggie, this Montessori philosophy also helped her establish a solid foundation in adaptability, independence, and an open mindset. “The future is full of changes and challenges, but finding opportunities within those challenges is interesting. I feel fortunate to have understood this from a young age.”