The foundational concept of Montessori‎'‎s overall theory is that the young child has an absorbent mind‎.‎ Thus‎,‎ the child has a type of mind that absorbs knowledge‎,‎ and therefore instructs himself‎.‎ The child‎'‎s mind is‎,‎ from birth‎,‎ forming itself and its organs ‎(‎drawing an analogy to embryology‎)‎ by its own natural impetus and direction‎.‎ Environment is the key‎.‎ The child who is making use of all that he finds around him‎,‎ shapes himself for the future‎.‎ Up until age 3‎,‎ the child‎'‎s mind is unapproachable by the adult‎,‎ who can exercise no influence on it‎.‎ From 3 to 6‎,‎ the child is able to tirelessly concentrate upon an environment carefully crafted with his or her psyche in mind‎,‎ absorbing its lessons‎.‎

Another fundamental concept in the theory is that of the ‎"‎normal‎"‎ child‎,‎ the ‎"‎true‎"‎ child is revealed only when the environment is right‎.‎ Defects of character which may have been present before age 3 are resolved during the ages of 3 to 6‎,‎ if the provided environment plays to the power and nature of the absorbent mind‎.‎

The title of the book reflects the author‎'‎s belief that the world which ‎"‎has been torn to pieces‎"‎ ‎(‎presumably these words were written during or soon after WW2‎)‎ can only be fundamentally reconstructed through education‎.‎ Children create themselves‎,‎ they create adults‎,‎ and thereby they are the creators of culture and civilization and the whole world ‎-‎- they are all‎-powerful in this sense‎,‎ and therein lies the fundament of education as a cause of history‎.‎

Montessori also presents a notion of cosmic harmony‎,‎ such that every organism is performing the role it was perfectly designed‎,‎ through evolution‎,‎ to perform‎.‎ There is both a sense of a normally pleasant universe here‎,‎ as well as a questionable assumption of some important extra‎-personal purpose for each of us‎.‎ Not much in Montessori‎'‎s program for 3‎- to 6‎-year‎-olds relies on this latter point‎,‎ that I can find‎.‎

The book is recommended to be the first book by Maria Montessori for the parent of a teacher to read‎.‎