This is surely one of Dr. Montessori's more memorable quotes because it is so short. I remember hearing this for the first time during my training. It, among other words of wisdom, went into the beaker full of the rest of the Kool-aid that I was unable to immediately consume as I did not fullly understand it, nor believe it. I began my work with the children trusting that this as well other bon mots of Maria's would eventually resonate. I soon recognized it's truth in the microcosm of our Prepared Environment. I radically embraced the notion that floor scrubbing is as valuable as multiplication in the sense that one child would find their way to Normalization through Practical Life and another child would find it in Mathematics at any given time in their individual development. But there are jobs and there are careers, right?
Initially I found myself at odds with the idea of all work being equally valuable because that was counter to my upbringing and what I thought I knew about the world. Surely it's better to be a doctor than a ditch-digger. Surely an advertising executive for Pall Mall cigarettes is the lowest form of life.
As I pondered this over the years, I decided that there were probably fewer ridiculous occupations in Dr Montessori's day. See, there I go judging again, which is diametrically in opposition to the point of my article today. In fact, though, manual labor was more highly respected in the past than in modern times. An honest day's work for an honest day's pay and all that. I have seen photographs of the workers of the Works Progress Administration during FDR's New Deal. Their exuberance and pride as they held high their picks and shovels leaps off the image. And today, there is a resurgence of interest in the trades. There is a realization that not every young person needs a university education and the world's needs are very diverse, requiring a diverse work force.
As I joyfully greet the delivery person bringing me my precious goods that I was too scared (and wise) to purchase in a store, I realize how desperately I need the service this guy is providing. As I pick up some take-out food, so looking forward to eating something not prepared at home, I cannot help but thank the server for working during this crisis. I am so grateful! I am humbly indebted to the grocery store cashiers, the train conductors, the now-unemployed army of hospitality workers, the farmers, servers and manufacturers that I have taken for granted until now. I truly never appreciated the legions of people who support my life and my lifestyle until so many of them vanished from my life. Maybe the movement for a higher minimum wage signifies that many other folks had been valuing these workers all along.
These jobs are not glamorous nor prestigious, but I think people can see now, more than ever, that they are absolutely vital, "essential", as they say and that many more high-status positions are, in fact, not. But embracing the theme, these non-essential occupations are also, equally important. Perhaps they create beauty, entertain us, bring us comfort, create more jobs, add to the collective understanding or otherwise enrich our world. In any case, this crisis has brought me one step closer to understanding Dr. Montessori's wisdom, expressed in that simple quote, "All work is equally valuable." I am committing now to sustaining this feeling of gratitude towards the workers of the world - paid and unpaid- in good times and bad. I'm sorry it took a pandemic to awaken me.
