May 16, 2008 1:18 PM
Student/teacher ratio and how to choose a Montessori school
From my Inbox:
My daughter's public school will probably have to increase class size next year due to state budget cuts. I'm looking at enrolling her into a montessori school in my city. I've visited the school a few times and observed. I'm very intrigued. I like the idea of my daughter getting excited about learning. So far I'm impressed with the teachers.I do have some questions though. The teacher does not have an American flag in the classroom. There is one in front of the school but the kids do not say the plege of allegiance. The teacher said that they study flags from all countries but they don't recite the pledge. Is this standard montessori practice? Should I read anything more into this?
Also, after seeing a lot of chatter on-line about montessori, it appears as though it's not thought of as well by conservative people as it is by liberal people. I don't mind my daughter attending school with different political views but I also want to make sure that one agenda isn't being pushed. I'd love to have a conservative persons view on the subject. Thank you so much for your response!
I'm posting this question because there are a couple ideas I'm grateful to have the chance to address.
The first is class size and the teacher/student ratio. Frankly, I think these are completely bogus issues that government schools have focused our attention on to explain a the failures of public education. Please note, I am not saying that all public education is a failure. I am saying that the success of a school system or a classroom is not tied to teacher/student ratio.
Think of it: decades ago - before people started using this as a criterion for evaluating schools - our graduation rates and actual knowledge of high school graduates were both better.
Also, traditionally, Catholic schools - which as far as I know don't have to abide by federal/local regulations concerning teacher/student ratio - outperform their public counterparts.
Would it surprise you to know that in a traditional Montessori class - as Maria Montessori envisioned it and as I experienced teaching myself - one teacher is in charge of 20-25 children 2 1/2-6 - with or without an assistant? That's because the teaching philosophy and the way the class activity is structured - around freedom of choice and independent work - creates a child-centered environment rather than a teacher-centered environment.
That said, I would guess that most Montessori schools today are not faithful to that model. Montessori is not a trademarked name, and anyone can open a school and call it Montessori regardless of their training or their practice.
But in a true Montessori class with a teacher and 25 students, you have 25 teachers because every child who has learned something becomes a teacher of others. Only the newest child has nothing to teach.
The problem is that since government schools have a very teacher-centered approach and are hiring teachers and serving parents who've bought into the theory that the fewer students per teacher, the better - that when performance isn't good, they just blame it on not enough staff, rather than looking for true longlasting solutions to creating better self-discipline and concentration and independence in students - which together are the cornerstone of a true Montessori education.
As far as a lack of patriotism in the Montessori class - that is bound to vary from classroom to classroom based on the teacher. A teacher does bring her personal convictions and put her stamp on the environment in all kinds of ways - from the art, music, read-alouds, field trips she chooses to little extras she brings. At one point when I was teaching Montessori (circa 1980), I was a New Age seeker and I taught my children to do yoga and meditate (I used to feel guilty about this until one of my now-grownup students contacted me to express her happiness that we had BOTH since become Christians. God is bigger than me :)
I was also a radical leftist at that time and so would not have put a flag in my classroom.
I think a Christian parent is wise to be wary of this as Montessori - because it is an alternative - does tend to attract teaching students who have a streak of nonconformity. When I took the training, one member of my class came dressed in flowing robes and a turban and smelling of curry - a thoroughly American girl who'd joined the 3HO and lived in a commune.
Maria Montessori herself was a Catholic. And you will find a Montessori approach for teaching children about the events of Christ's life from birth in The Good Shepherd and the Child: A Joyful Journey. Some Montessori schools are offering this Catechesis of the Good Shepherd as part of their program.
There are also specifically Evangelical/Protestant Montessori schools - just google Christian Montessori to find lots of examples.
So while Montessori itself is neutral and based on the God-given needs of a child, a parent does need to be careful when interviewing potential schools and teachers. No matter what anyone says about their neutrality in the classroom, I would never send my child to a class if the teacher's worldview was different than mine. Teachers have a tendency to think that they have a right to influence children in the direction they think best, so if they think Christianity is inferior or backwards, they would definitely not hesitate to impose their own "higher understanding" on the child - and I'm speaking as an ex-New Ager.
One thing that is foundational to Montessori is an understanding that the world is much bigger than our culture, so children begin to learn about other cultures at an early age. This does not have to be a devaluation of our own culture, but I see it as part of the education any Christian parent should want to give their children - that the world is a bigger place and that the fact that we live in a highly-privileged culture means we have the responsibility to learn not to be self-indulgent, but to use our resources to be generous with others.
I hope some of these ideas are helpful - and I'm sure any from readers would be welcome as well.
Posted in Montessori, Preschoolers, Public schools | Permalink
Comments
My daughter's Montessori preschool/kindergarten says the Pledge every day. And made valentines for the troops coming through the nearby air base on Valentine's Day. Of course, all of the teachers and students are drawn from the American military community here in Germany, so I suppose it's not exactly a typical demographic compared to Montessoris in the States.
Posted by: Jennifer | May 17, 2008 8:02 AM
