
Maria Montessori - krigath
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori
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sillysaurus
I went to a Montessori school for four years (K through 3rd grade).

It was horrible. I wasn't expected to do anything. Most days were spent bored
to tears.

There was no oversight of the teachers; in fact the principal herself _was_
the "teacher" for grades 1-3.

We were expected to keep a journal of our activities and show it to a teacher
at the end of each day, who would sign it and let us go home. (The point was
to encourage us to do things, rather than nothing.) There were two teachers on
duty each day (the principal and her assistant) so I would simply lie; I wrote
"did X at 9:34AM" "did Y at 10:53AM" etc then forged the assistant teacher's
signature and showed it to the principal, who dutifully approved it (or vice-
versa). Since there were about 60 kids and 2 teachers, there was no chance of
them noticing.

A classmate intentionally smacked me in the head with the edge of a metal
shovel and got off with a light warning, even after my parents came to explain
the severity of the situation.

The activities that you could do in 1st grade were exactly the same as those
you could do in 3rd grade. The next "transition" (room with different
activities) was grade 4.

In my experience, the purpose of this particular Montessori school was to be a
daycare, not to educate.

It was just awful. I'm not saying all Montessori schools are awful; I'm saying
the one I was forced to endure was awful.

~~~
brlewis
There is no trademark protection for the word "Montessori" so any school can
call itself that. Do you know if this school was accredited?

I can't think of a more anti-Montessori environment than one where it's
possible for a student to lie about daily activities. The central focus of a
Montessori teacher is observing and directing students.

~~~
thejteam
In Maryland in order for a school to call itself "Montessori" it has to be
approved by some national Montessori association. The sole purpose of this
seems to be to make money for national Montessori associations.

My daughter went to a Montessori school for pre-K. Based on my observations of
the school it was great for pre-K and K, but awful above that. There were a
lot of the same problems you describe. Half the kids seemed to have ADD and
parents opposed to medication. Groups of kids tormenting others so that the
class will consist only of their group. And teachers that just stand by and
let this happen. And in my case, the owners of the school were complete
idiots.

Still, for that year in pre-K my daughter got a great education.

~~~
chogg
Standards vary widely, in part because of the lack of trademark protection
mentioned above. It's critically important to observe in person before sending
your kids to any "Montessori" school.

We've sent our daughter to Montessori for a year and a bit, and it's been a
joy to watch her blossom. We're moving soon, and keeping an eye out for a
Montessori school that goes up to 6th grade.

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krigath
Google reminds us today that it is Maria Montessori's 142nd birthday. Having
gone to a Montessori school for seven years of my life, I believe her
philosophy should be more adapted. It encourages creativity rather than
emphasizing only on attainment of knowledge, both of which I believe are
essential in the world we live in.

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ClayM
Some friends of our's had a kid who transferred into a Montessori school after
a couple years in regular school.

This extremely well behaved child (I wish my kid was as calm and well behaved)
came home every day stressed out about how he was rated behaviorally - kids
either get put in red (bad), green (normal), blue (very good) and the teacher
never put him in blue. He never said anything about learning.

So they moved him to a Montessori school and when he came home, he excited
about what he learned or did that day at school.

This anecdote led my wife and I to enroll our child in the same school, her
first day was yesterday. I really hope my kid comes home excited about what
she accomplished and learned as well.

~~~
morty16
I was a very mediocre and uninspired student in primary school, often getting
Cs and Ds. My parents enrolled me in a small Montessori school for grade 6 and
my whole attitude changed. I was back in public school for junior high, but I
was getting A/A+ across the board. Looking back (nearly 30 years), it was the
most significant year of my education.

It's not that it enabled me to do well in conventional school (I suppose I
would have qualified as gifted if I wasn't so extremely lazy), it's that it
gave me an enthusiasm for learning and a realization of the broad horizons
that were open to me.

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krigath
I also find the school system of ancient Greece[1] quite interesting. They had
a very high focus on physical fitness, which I believe is very important for
mental clarity.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_ancient_Greece>

~~~
jk4930
The reasons are clearly stated. Mental clarity is not one of them. Not even as
a by-product.

Athenian: "Physical training was seen as necessary for improving one’s
appearance, preparation for war, and good health at an old age."

Spartan: "The pursuit of intellectual knowledge was seen as trivial, and thus
academic learning, such as reading and writing, was kept to a minimum. A
Spartan boy’s life was devoted almost entirely to his school, and that school
had but one purpose: to produce an almost indestructible Spartan phalanx."

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001sky
_In this first classroom, Montessori observed behaviors in these young
children which formed the foundation of her educational method. She noted
episodes of deep attention and concentration, multiple repetitions of
activity, and a sensitivity to order in the environment. Given free choice of
activity, the children showed more interest in practical activities and
Montessori's materials than in toys provided for them, and were surprisingly
unmotivated by sweets and other rewards. Over time, she saw a spontaneous
self-discipline emerge._

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jonstjohn
My 2 1/2 year old is in a Montessori toddler program in Salt Lake City and the
school is fantastic. At that age, kids are encouraged to work independently
and learn at their own pace. Their 'toys' are what they call 'works' and are
designed for learning. He's happy to go to 'school' every day, and I feel
great having him there. We were fortunate to find a very high quality
Montessori school for him.

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jdietrich
Like nearly everything in education, this is woo. We have almost no evidence
for any intervention, even in mainstream approaches to schooling. We still
largely hold to the absurd idea that if a school environment is intuitively
appealing, it will be effective in providing a lasting benefit to the pupil.
This is of course a baseless irrational belief.

Education does not need more opinionated "humanitarians". It needs randomised
controlled trials, and lots of them.

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criveros
is this supposed to be a TIL post ?

~~~
krigath
No.

