Maria Montessori is one of the few people that seemed to understand intuitively how science works. For me she is in there with likes of Ludvig Von Mises and Richard Feynman. For her there is no question how to develop things and every moment is a possibility to observe and try to understand.
Montessori's main contribution is applying scientific methods for education. She is first and foremost and empiricist that led over 50 years of field study on education. The Montessori method is just an outcome of that study.
So one thing that we should take away from her is that it is our responsibility to see and observe the kids and adjust our behavior and environment so that the kids can fulfill their potential.
"The first Right of Man, the Fundamental Right, should recognise the right of the child to be helped to overcome those obstacles which may hinder, repress or deflect his constructive energies thereby denying him the certainty of becoming an efficient, well-balanced adult." - Maria Montessori
Let me add some additional context here (source: twins in a private Montessori in a central EU country)
a) Montessori Schools vary usually - not only from country to country, also not only from state to state, but also within Cities
b) There are networks per each conutry, but you may join as school if you do offer different things than other schools in the same network
c) Within Montessori, there are a lot of "custom" approaches which are, at least in this country, usually discussed with the local government/educational gov
d) the comments with selection according to higher socio economical levels is a hard fact, at least in this country, since Montessori schools always demand some type of payment, depending on the income of the parents (on top of that they get usually partial funding from the local municipal/gov per school-people). At my kids school, 98% of parents are in a "good six digit range" (while the average salary in this country is mid. five figures, like ~49000)
e) my kids school is great, so i can only speak for this locatoin with their specific Montessori implementation: It is a school i wished i could have attended when i was young. Its great: Their building is quite fresh (note: there are some "parental hours" per year where YOU have to take care of the building for YOUR kids on YOUR OWN with the OTHER parents, this is 40h per parent-person in this location), they have a "everything-is-working-facility", not only rest rooms but also working IT equipment etc. (for which i have a special eye as HN user ;-) ), last years the built an additonal level on top of the building to install a free-range-roof-top and tennis area
I feel that the Montessori method is a lot like the Ten Commandments. You really don’t need a label or specific books or memberships to cathedrals of education to practice those principles.
I have kids in grade 1 and 2 so I’m getting to experience public school by proxy 30 years later and see what’s changed. I’m delighted to see that they employ a lot of the Montessori philosophy without once feeling the need to label it as such. Not that the label is bad. It’s just unnecessary.
justushamalaine ·9 days ago
Montessori's main contribution is applying scientific methods for education. She is first and foremost and empiricist that led over 50 years of field study on education. The Montessori method is just an outcome of that study.
So one thing that we should take away from her is that it is our responsibility to see and observe the kids and adjust our behavior and environment so that the kids can fulfill their potential.
"The first Right of Man, the Fundamental Right, should recognise the right of the child to be helped to overcome those obstacles which may hinder, repress or deflect his constructive energies thereby denying him the certainty of becoming an efficient, well-balanced adult." - Maria Montessori
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ta12653421 ·9 days ago
a) Montessori Schools vary usually - not only from country to country, also not only from state to state, but also within Cities
b) There are networks per each conutry, but you may join as school if you do offer different things than other schools in the same network
c) Within Montessori, there are a lot of "custom" approaches which are, at least in this country, usually discussed with the local government/educational gov
d) the comments with selection according to higher socio economical levels is a hard fact, at least in this country, since Montessori schools always demand some type of payment, depending on the income of the parents (on top of that they get usually partial funding from the local municipal/gov per school-people). At my kids school, 98% of parents are in a "good six digit range" (while the average salary in this country is mid. five figures, like ~49000)
e) my kids school is great, so i can only speak for this locatoin with their specific Montessori implementation: It is a school i wished i could have attended when i was young. Its great: Their building is quite fresh (note: there are some "parental hours" per year where YOU have to take care of the building for YOUR kids on YOUR OWN with the OTHER parents, this is 40h per parent-person in this location), they have a "everything-is-working-facility", not only rest rooms but also working IT equipment etc. (for which i have a special eye as HN user ;-) ), last years the built an additonal level on top of the building to install a free-range-roof-top and tennis area
Maybe this helps (-:
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·10 days ago
Waterluvian ·10 days ago
I have kids in grade 1 and 2 so I’m getting to experience public school by proxy 30 years later and see what’s changed. I’m delighted to see that they employ a lot of the Montessori philosophy without once feeling the need to label it as such. Not that the label is bad. It’s just unnecessary.
Show replies
mediumsmart ·9 days ago
some suck less