“The children of today will create all the discoveries of tomorrow.” –Maria Montessori

 

Joseph, MSS Founding Alumni

University of London Geography and Environmental Science Sophomore

 

Manage and take control of your life and keep your own pace

Joseph, the protagonist of today’s story, is a sophomore studying Geography and Environmental Science at the University of London, UK. As a “founding alumni”, Joseph was one of the first to enter and graduate from MSS, and he still feels the same about MSS. As a child, he remembers the teachers always smiling, greeting, and communicating with him in English.

The bilingual Montessori environment at MSS, helped Joseph absorb a great deal of language in an atmosphere of English conversation. After graduating, he went to Shanghai Singapore International School and Shanghai High School International Division for Primary and Junior High, and then to the UK in his second year. After almost ten years of studying in the UK, he says his English is much better than other international students, and there is no communication barrier.

After ten years of studying and living alone in the UK, Joseph didn’t let his parents worry too much. He realized early on that he needed to “manage” his life. This year, as a sophomore, he has eight courses during the year. He planned his academic progress reasonably: he will take five courses in the first half of the academic year, and the pace of the courses will be relatively tight. He is on track for his future career.

“Here, no one is watching you every day and pushing you. Everything depends on your planning, and the test is self-management skills, time management skills, and the logic of organizing things.”

This ability to organize his life is most likely due to the early influence of MSS on him. Joseph remembers everything in the MSS Montessori classroom as organized, logical, and possessing integrity. “I remember the teacher would guide me on what to do first, and then what to do next. The teachers would demonstrate and were very patient.” Perhaps the seeds were planted in his young mind, and he rarely seemed to give up halfway through his time at MSS. If he had to “give up,” there was probably only one possibility: he wasn’t interested.

Nowadays, Joseph has some things he insists on doing outside of school, such as making new friends and falling in love with cycling over the past year. On weekends, he and his friends spend half a day riding and enjoying his favorite London scenery. Although riding can be physically exhausting, it is mentally relaxing. In addition, he also has a long history of fitness. He accurately calculates his workout time and intensity, he strictly controls his carbohydrate, and protein intake. Perhaps in the view of the onlookers, this is self-discipline, but he thinks he is now doing this, effortlessly. “Fitness has become a habit, a way of life for me, so I don’t find it hard to stick to it. Fitness helps stabilize my life and gives me more rhythm so I can be more focused and engaged in my studies.”

Treat setbacks as learning and let positive feedback become motivation

Life can’t always be smooth sailing. During his studies in England, Joseph also encountered setbacks. At one point, he was confident in writing his dissertation, but his result did not meet his ideal expectations. Of course, he was disappointed, but he quickly picked himself up from that loss, by adjusting himself mentally and by trying to understand college writing better.

Often, Joseph sees setbacks as a new opportunity: “Having a setback is a good thing, on the one hand, it means that you are currently at a low point and have to start moving up; on the other hand, it also means that you have a chance to make yourself not too ‘settled’. “

At MSS, we teach our children from a very young age how to identify problems, ask questions, analyze them, and ultimately find solutions to them on their own. These skills helped Joseph to develop the mindset that, as the saying goes, there are two sides to everything. We should see the negative side of things but focus on the positive side of them. Joseph always treats setbacks and problems as an opportunity to learn and thus gains a new level of progress and growth.

Joseph has his philosophy not only when facing setbacks but also when facing life’s choices. He believes that his confidence in making choices and facing challenges is influenced by the “positive feedback” that comes from the situation itself. He believes this stems from Montessori’s “encouraging environment and education”.

As a child, Joseph had the opportunity to discover and experience what he is interested in in the MSS environment, so he has a clear idea of what he likes and what he is good at. Even when he encountered confusion, he would stop and give himself time to think. So, once he finds his “real” interest, he will be very focused and devoted to it. The positive feedback he experiences from working out is greater than the negative feedback from fatigue; this mindset is the same when it comes to academics. When he can bring value to his area of expertise, the positive feedback he gains is enough to keep him confident and ready for the next challenge.

Joseph shared with us the following example.

He once participated in a group project with 6 or 7 people working together to complete a task. Joseph knew he might not be the most capable one, but he thought he was a good communicator, so he took the role of “coordinator” and tried to communicate with everyone, motivate them, and decide the division of tasks with them while ensuring fairness.

“I needed to convince people to get involved and work together on this project, it required not only the use of communication skills, but also persuasion skills, leadership, and a basic sense of responsibility with a sense of purpose …… Some people may find it stressful to communicate with people, but in my opinion, communicating with different people is fun.” Joseph is proud of himself. He defines himself as a sunny and cheerful person, and the seeds of this cheerfulness were planted early in his academic life at MSS.

Always start from interest and never give up independent thinking

Joseph has always been an independent thinker and a “deep thinker”. Now he tries to analyze the deeper reasons and logic behind the events from his major studies. He studied geography and environmental science, so he will think about questions such as “What is the importance of environmental management after the war between Russia and Ukraine?

Such deep thinking will undoubtedly help Joseph understand himself better, let him gradually clarify what kind of person he wants to be, and expand his perspective on issues.

Frankly speaking, Joseph, who is currently a sophomore and about to enter his junior year, has already started to think seriously about his future.

There’s a clear path around him: several students choose to intern at an investment bank the summer before they graduate, hoping to get an offer through a good internship performance. “If you can get an offer, then you’re employable as soon as you graduate, and you just roll the roll all the way through. But I didn’t think I had the interest to be able to roll it all the way through, so it made me jump out and rethink my future.”

During the brief period of confusion, Joseph never gave up independent thinking. “Some people may choose to join a big company or seek a good income, but I pay more attention to my interests and expertise. I hope that my future development is not only a JOB but also a CAREER. Only when your interests are in line with your employment direction, you will have the real motivation to do well in it.”

Now Joseph intends to spend more time planning his future. He has made some preliminary arrangements: academics are still his priority. He has a lot of classes this semester, so he plans to focus all his energy on academics first. When time and energy allow next semester, he plans to think seriously about graduate school and plans to take the GRE next summer. For employment, he plans to work in environmental-related consulting after graduation.

This year, Joseph has two classes that he likes: Geomorphology and Geocomputation, which can quantify some of the more ambitious environmental problems and do specific analyses. “Humans cannot be separated from their environment and figuring out the relationship between humans and the natural environment will help us recognize how far humans can go. I think that’s something that makes a lot of sense.” Joseph believes that these courses involve a combination of observation, data analysis and generalization, which is a very complex process. But is an area of interest to him and, at the same time very joyful to have value for the future of humanity.

Freedom and self-awareness were established in the early years of MSS: I remember that in the MSS classrooms, children, including Joseph, worked independently, and explored freely. The Montessori teachers always encouraged the children to maintain a spirit of independent thought. They stimulated their enthusiasm for independent learning and motivation to explore in a prepared environment. The students were driven by their curiosity, to eventually embark on the path of creativity in life and continuous self-achievement.

Joseph says, “The focus on exploring and creating a mindset is a valuable quality that I think MSS gave me from a very early age. In the years that followed, I learned not to be easily deterred but to understand the world in my way.”

To explore, discover, create, and experience fun! Whenever you can look at the world from a different perspective, perhaps, joy will also come to you!