Parents who choose Montessori education for their children have essentially demonstrated that they consciously (or subconsciously) want something different for their children. The desire for their children to be in this very exceptional educational environment is so strong, in fact, that many parents willingly spend money for a service for which they have already paid through their contribution as taxpayers.
Parents choose Montessori schools for many reasons. Most value the sense of independence that Montessori develops in children. They trust that this independence will serve their children well for the rest of their lives as they grow and venture out into the world beyond the reach and protection of their parents’ grasps.
Others choose Montessori because of the intellectual opportunities that are provided through Montessori’s rich curriculum, individualized attention, and meaningful hands-on learning. Some parents may even choose to enroll their children not because they like or even understand Montessori, but rather they find it to be the least bad of all of the programs out there, essentially the best of the options.
Regardless of the reason(s), the number of parents choosing Montessori is growing. It is also important to note that it’s not just parents who make this choice. Montessori administrators and teachers also choose this unconventional path, often sacrificing substantial financial benefits they would receive in more traditional educational settings.
One of the reasons that many of us have chosen Montessori for our children or for our careers (many times even both) is because we value an educational model that puts the children’s healthy social, physical, and emotional development ahead of the statistics that tells us how our children compare to other children.
One of the trademarks of Montessori education (and often one of the most criticized components) is that we do not test our students. While that is not exactly true, we as Montessorians certainly view testing very differently than our colleagues in traditional education. Essentially, by forgoing many of the battery of tests that most children endure throughout their academic careers, we are demonstrating our trust in our powers of observation and other more reliable methods of measurement, knowing that children and their intelligence cannot be adequately measured by direct comparison to other children.
While our actions demonstrate our conscious desire for what we believe is best for our children and our careers, a question that is not usually addressed is whether or not we are actually troubled by the desire for conflicting outcomes. For example, if parents choose to send their children to a Montessori school with the hope of protecting them from the pressures commonly associated with education, especially at the upper levels, can they really resist the need to also worry that their children will not be prepared for their lives in the ‘real’ world?
As a parent, can you not worry about whether or not your child will be able to get into college, make it through college, and then survive on their own? More specifically, if school-age children are not being held to the same standards through direct comparison to other students their age, will they be equally prepared for college, or might they even have a competitive disadvantage both in admissions and throughout their course of studies?
And even if you acknowledge this internal conflict, can your unconscious worries align and coexist with what you intuitively know is best for your child? If it is proven that parents cannot avoid such worries, is it naïve to believe that these worries do not impact behaviors and decisions directly related to their children and towards the Montessori schools their children attend?
Do we want our children to have educational experiences that develop the skills they will need to be happy, successful, contributing members of society without the pressure of comparing them to a model that they may or may not fit? Or does that all sound great, but really, if we want our children and students to do well in life and have all of those things that society defines as ‘sucess,’ would it not be better if they were on a fast track for admittance to an Ivy League school? If these dual ‘wants’ exist, how are we addressing them? How is this paradox preventing Montessori from taking the next step to have a greater impact on educational reform?
Noble Prize recipient and economist Daniel Kahneman describes in his most recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, the way in which we are not in touch with what we really think and how our decisions are based on biases that we are not aware that we have. Relating to Montessori schools, can we really want for our children what Montessori education offers, without paradoxically wanting what Montessori does not promote?
Can we bypass the demands of traditional education in our current society while still wanting happy, successful graduates who will become contributing members of our world community? If we can admit that we do, in fact, want it all, can we figure out how to embrace and support both the opportunities inherent in a Montessori environment and the challenges that are natural by-products of the social pressures that we experience everyday.
As a product of a Montessori education, a Montessori educator, and now an uncle of two very young Montessori students, I recognize my own invested interest in making sure that my students, as well as my family, experience educational environments where their independence and happiness are valued as much as their academic development.
Throughout the course of this year I will explore this paradox in a series of articles, with a particular emphasis on how Montessori schools can continue to change the way we think about these dual ‘wants,’ which may or may not be mutually exclusive.
By acknowledging the elephant in the room, perhaps we can find a better way to feed it, care for it, and harness its power.
Tomorrow’s Child / September 2014 / p 28
