What Parents Like About Montessori
Thursday September 18, 2008
There are several schools of thought about teaching young children. Some parents want their children to have lots of structure and discipline to the learning process with the teacher firmly in control. Maria Montessori chose another route. She believed that children should learn at their own pace through a process of discovery driven by their own innate curiosity. The teacher becomes a guide or director who facilitates the process of discovery. There's a lot more to Dr. Montessori's educational methods and philosophy. Well worth a read.
Interestingly enough, Montessori schools in North America tend to cater to children who come from rather affluent families. Dr. Montessori's first students were from the very poorest part of Rome.
Comments
I love the concept of the Montessori schools. As with all privately operated schools parents should always be concerned with the curriculum.
Just a few days ago there was the story in Canada of a Montessori school in Toronto introducing a new learning method called applied scholastics. It is a study technique based on L. Ron Hubbard’s Church of Scientology.
“parents [are] expecting Montessori, then they should be provided a Montessori education.”
The Real Montessori Nitty-Gritty
Well, our four-and-a half-year-old is an only child and we are of the “jellyfish” (as in “spineless”) persuasion when it comes to discipline, so E. has been bringing himself up since age two. He loves going to bed late (like 2 AM), making sure his diet is at a minimum 80% sugar (as in “candy”), and that toys (as in “one new toy a day keeps me happy”) are plentiful.
He entered a Montessori school in September in Toronto and hates it! HATES IT!!!
Hates It!!
It took him just two days to grasp the ultimate essence of K-12 schooling as I also experienced it: “It’s boring!”
The basic problem seems to be that shockingly, adults for the first time are telling him what to do, rather than the other way around. Then there is the lèse majesté issue that the teacher does not put dealing with the other children on the back burner and spend her time constantly talking to and amusing him, and finally, that compared to playing with toy trucks (he has dozens, perhaps hundreds) the graduated Montessori tasks are, well, B-O-R-I-I-I-N-G-G !!
His response is to just totally ignore what the teachers are saying , and do whatever he wants to in class. He’s fairly bright, and does this rather well; it turns out to be a fairly effective counter-educational protest tactic (though from our viewpoint, not in his own or the other pupils’ best interests); it has naturally made him the talk of the teachers’ lounge. Apparently he is said to be possibly winning the contest of wills, and there is a minor crise de classroom management going on, with him instigating the other children to stop working play. This is only a month into his first kindergarten year.
When we explained to him that historically, at least according to the Montessori literature, when Maria Montessori first opened her classes, the children unexpectedly loved all these tasks and took to them like fish to water, he was totally sceptical. He speculates this is probably some sort of [professional] lie and says it never really could have happened.
Anyone else have similar experiences with Montessori? Do the kids eventually adjust? The other kids seem to be more cooperative, though they do not look all that enthusiastic. Ummmmm…..do kids ever get expelled?
My comments are simply that your child has not experienced the kind of discipline most parents gently instill from infancy. Allowing a child to stay up until 2 a.m. and eat a diet of 80% sugar is just not good parenting in my opinion. I raised two sons and two daughters. We stretched their minds and experiences like crazy. They all had wonderful educations. But they always operated on a fairly normal schedule, ate well and had chores to do. I guess I am old-fashioned.
I think M.N. needs classes herself…they are called “parenting classes.” To blame a school for what is lacking in the home is ridiculous!