Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of opinions about Montessori schools. I am a teacher with 12 years of experience in traditional education. My husband and I moved to a new area late in the summer, and the only job available was as an assistant teacher in a primary room at a Montessori school.
Here are my main findings.
Pros:
Children are allowed to work at their own pace.
Children are taught grace and courtesy.
The math materials are great.
Cons:
- Children are allowed to work at their own pace. Notice this gets in the pros and in the cons section? I put it in both because some children thrive working at their own pace and some do not. There was one child in my classroom who did 0 work in the classroom from October to April, and the teacher embraced it as him recognizing his own needs, and taking in what others were doing, and insisted he was learning. In reality, he was singing to himself and tapping on a table all day, with bursts of running around the classroom chasing his friends. And his parents were paying a load of money for him to do only that at school. That was extreme. But in a very standard reality, most of the children chose works they enjoyed and that didn't frustrate them. That's great to a a point, but when you have a 6-year-old whose traditional school peers are learning to read, write, do math, etc. and the Montessori student is peeling eggs and buttering bread all day, you're opening the door to your child getting very behind in school. I will never understand the strict adherence to letting the child choose their work all the time. Traditional schools at young ages, allow center time where students can choose, or offer other periods of choice time, but all students need to be challenged and kept on track so they don't fall behind.
-Montessori teachers are VERY often NOT trained teachers. Let me explain. As a fully certified teacher, I went through a Bachelor's program where I had over 80 university credits of education classes, and an additional 20 related hours in the form of psychology, child development, etc. I had over 300 hours over a span of 4 years of observations in various classrooms, in ADDITION to my student teaching semester. I learned the research and findings of several noted educators throughout the centuries, and had to compare and contrast their various theories in multiple research papers. I have a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, and have completed several hours of professional development. I maintain memberships to 4 professional organizations, and have passed rigorous criteria and testing to become a fully certified teacher.
What are Montessori teachers' qualifications? It depends. Most of them have a Bachelor's degree in an unrelated field. The teacher I worked with had her Bachelor's in communication and a certificate from a 9-month program from a Montessori training center. Montessori training facilities teach one method only. Montessori. The teachers do not learn the research and philosophies of anyone else, so of course they are very one-sided in their approach and what it really comes down to - beliefs. Montessori is not just a method of education. These people believe in it much like people believe in religion. They defend it to the death, and look at people who don't believe in it as people who -don't understand it- or who are not wise enough to -believe in it.- It's no wonder that many people feel like Montessori is a cult. After working in a M school, I can tell you, that's how it felt.
Ultimately, it comes down to this. Montessori is closed-minded and outdated. Loads of research has proven other forms of education to be superior. Traditional schools take new research, new methods, new technologies, and apply them to their classrooms, embracing the future and new ways to reach children. Montessorians will never change their methods and will always consider the methods of ONE early 19th century Italian woman as the only way to teach children. It's just wrong.
All of that being said, I think if it's right for your child, go for it for preschool, but I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER recommend it beyond pre-K. They will most definitely try to talk you into staying at least through the Kindergarten year, but I would strongly recommend against it. It being right for your child is HUGE, because if it's not right, they won't budge on anything to meet your child's needs. They advertise that they allow children to learn according to their needs, but that's only within the strict walls of the method, which in my opinion, are more confining than any classroom I've ever seen.
Mostly, I think Montessori schools are bait and switch operations. They bring you in and make you feel like a bad parent if you don't choose Montessori because you won't be doing what's best in their eyes for your child. Keep in mind, their eyes are blinded by the fact that they have been indoctrinated with only ONE method of education. YOU know what's best for your child better than any under-qualified "teacher."
PP, thanks for posting this. I’ve had children in a Montessori school and I learned this the hard way. You were spot on. I lost respect for the teachers/administrators because they didn’t want to and weren't interested in updating their teaching methodologies. Regardless of a person’s field, they have to continue their education in order to keep up with the current advancements. Montessori teachers don’t.
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}