Does Montessori Prepare Students for the Real World?
montessori.org
What makes Montessori different?
The Montessori approach is often described as an "education for life." When we try to define what children take away from their years in Montessori, we need to expand our vision to include more than just the basic academic skills.
Normally, Americans think of a school as a place where one generation passes down basic skills and culture to the next. From this perspective, a school only exists to cover a curriculum, not to develop character and self-esteem. But in all too many traditional and highly competitive schools, students memorize facts and concepts with little understanding, only to quickly forget them when exams are over.
Recent studies show that many bright students are passive learners. They coast through school, earning high grades, but rarely pushing themselves to read material that hasn't been assigned, ask probing questions, challenge their teacher's cherished opinions, or think for themselves. They typically want teachers to hand them the "right answer." The problem isn't with today's children, but with today's schools. Children are as gifted, curious, and creative as they ever were, when they're working on something that captures their interest and which they have voluntarily chosen to explore.
Montessori schools work to develop culturally literate children and nurture their fragile sparks of curiosity, creativity, and intelligence. They have a very different set of priorities from traditional schools, and a very low regard for mindless memorization and superficial learning. Montessori students may not memorize as many facts, but they do tend to become self-confident, independent thinkers who learn because they are interested in the world and enthusiastic about life, not simply to get a good grade.
Montessori believed that there was more to life than simply the pursuit of wealth and power. To her, finding one's place in the world, work that is meaningful and fulfilling, and developing the inner peace and depth of soul that allows us to love are the most important goals in life.
Helen Keller, inspired by Dr. Montessori, wrote:
"I believe that every child has hidden away
somewhere in his being
noble capacities which may be quickened and developed
if we go about it in the right way,
but we shall never properly develop
the higher nature of our little ones
while we continue to fill their minds with the so-called basics.
Mathematics will never make them loving,
nor will accurate knowledge of the size and shape of
the world help them to appreciate its beauties.
Let us lead them during the first years to find their greatest pleasure in nature.
Let them run in the fields, learn about animals,
and observe real things.
Children will educate themselves under the right conditions.
They require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction."
montessori.org
more on Montessori:
montessori.org
disclosure:
no i am not a teacher. no i am not a Montessori school owner or associated to one (or more), in any way shape of form. |
