This guest writer Nicola Hill talks to Daisy and Zelda about Montessori philosophy.
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MY CHILD’S FIRST SCHOOL
Or: the most important decision I may ever make for her.
Montessori image - shhhmommysblogging.wordpress.com
Everything I have learned in life has been through the alchemy of experiences and people empowering me. School, in retrospect, was something that had to be done to get to the places that I was expected to get. A long and often tedious game of elastics where the band got higher and higher. I was a good jumper. I have jumped all the places you are supposed to get.
Then we started a family and suddenly, impossibly, I went from agonizing about when to introduce nuts into my baby’s diet to realizing that I had to make a decision about her education – at the most critical time in her development as a human being. I knew I wanted more for her than my experience of the education system. I have no use for elastics these days.
montessori.school.nz
My daughter started at Capital Montessori school in Kingston just over a year ago. The school has a programme for 3-6 year olds, with the main method being “learning through doing”. (tick, learning from experience). The starting point for learning is that children do this instinctively and individually, with teaching being a delicate art of observation and support: a Montessori quote is that the
greatest sign of success is for a teacher to be able to say that the children are now working as if [I] do not exist. (tick, learning from empowerment).
On first observation of a Montessori class, we discovered a multicultural Lilliputian universe. Children running their own affairs – calm, happy and industrious. In a class of 25, the four teachers were unobtrusive. Intricate activities lined the walls. A boy of 5 or 6 politely asked me to step off the activity mat of a younger classmate. We were then shown little seats to sit down on, to avoid getting in the children’s way. We immediately enrolled – this exactly matched our daughter’s sensitive, ordered and somewhat imperious sensibility*.
“Learn though Play” (LTP)
Much of Montessori philosophy also matches our approach as parents – our enthusiasm for self-determination. A Montessori principle is that “no one can be free unless he is independent” – and to “never help a child at a task at which he feels he can succeed”. With confidence and skills gained at school and home, my 3.5 / 4 year old could dress herself, make her breakfast and lunch, pack her bag and clean up after herself – and make scones. She struggled with timeliness and the execution was her standard, not mine (cold pasta and almonds, anyone?), but this has been a great triumph for her (and a huge help to me, with a newborn baby).
Montessori also challenges cultural assumptions – free play is not part of the curriculum at school:
to give a child liberty is not to abandon him to himself.
Instead, the focus is on free choice from a range of prepared activities that develop skills for life, with rules around respecting others and promoting concentration. There is an emphasis on “Learn though Play” (LTP) at other preschools. In an artificial and permissive environment with too many children, however, LTP can look more like LTF (Lord of the Flies). At one reputable kindergarten, I saw this translate as boys running around outside out of control and hitting one another, with girls sheltering with tea sets inside. What is freedom, without rights?
Image c/- babble.com
At Montessori, learning is not from teachers talking but something that a child does naturally by engaging with a stimulating environment, free from manipulation or coercion (praise can even be problematic in this context). In other educational methods, a teacher is required to define and implement activities – to make their best attempt at meeting the needs of a range of children, a system which is inherently limited in its ability to follow each child and which requires behaviourial coaching. If clumsily applied, this approach can also instill the idea that the teacher is the font of learning, rather than the child.
There are other reasons that have since reinforced our commitment to Montessori, reasons that may appeal to adults. Like the evidence-based research on higher levels of academic achievement, the trend toward inquiry-based learning in mainstream schools in New Zealand, and the convenient hours (8.45am – 1pm weekdays including lunch). But, as a Montessori parent, I realized that the critical insight would be from my daughter. I ask her: ‘Why should other children come to your school?’. She replies: ‘Because it is their school’**. Exactly.
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Note: The views expressed above are personal observations and do not represent Capital Montessori School – Montessori is a rich philosophy and I have only highlighted a couple of aspects. Montessori is also not subject to copyright. This means that you should carefully assess any school to determine its quality of education and commitment to Montessori. If you are interested in Capital Montessori School, there is a free playgroup that runs every Monday from 9.30am during term time.
See http://www.montessori.school.nz/ regarding Capital Montessori School and http://www.montessori.org.nz/ for more information about Montessori in New Zealand.
*genetic inheritance from her father.
**Montessori’s first school had the Italian name La Casa dei Bambini (the Children’s House).
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Nicola Hill is a sometime literary theorist, diplomat, human rights activist, theatre improviser and global hobo. She recently returned to New Zealand from New York City. Today she spends her time following two inspiring little people around Island Bay.
This is great but the problem is – school doesn’t work that way. More importantly, the real world doesn’t work that way. Being able to sit at a desc and absorb material is painful and tedious but is an essential skill for school/uni/job. Montessori doesn’t teach that.
Learning how to sit at a desk and absorb pages and pages of tedious outdated information isn’t necessarily going to help you in the real world. Some people, like myself, need to move to learn. We learn through doing, not through sitting and reading. We’re copy writers, artists, musicians, leaders, film-makers, scientists, inventors and innovators. We’re everything except accountants, that’s for sitting and absorbing. I, for one, think it is fantastic that there are now schools that cater for different styles of learning. That way, parents can do what is best for their child not what is considered (wrongly) the norm.
I think you misunderstand my point. Learning to sit at the desk and listen is not fun. In fact it’s rather boring and tedious. The problem is, it’s an essential skill in life. No one suggests learning to write or memorising the multiplication table is enjoyable either, but we all do it. As a writer and educator myself I can tell you that most people without this essential skills end up in menial, un-fulfilling roles unable to capitalise on the wellspring of creativity you so fondly describe. Do your kids a favour and give them the skills they so desperately need to advance in life.
Thanks for the reply. I’m confident I did understand your point but thanks for repeating it anyway. I find what you said interesting. You say that sitting at a desk and listening is not fun, I agree, I didn’t enjoy that aspect of school much either. I also believe we are in agreement that being left in silence to memorize a multiplication chart or the periodic table is both dull and tedious. So then surely you would agree that if a less boring way of teaching children these skills and facts existed then it would be a good thing. If children could learn while also picking up such strengths as teamwork and cooperation, then you must agree that would be a good thing. Right? You say you are an educator. I can only hope then that you will agree with me when I say that the best thing a child can take from school is a passion to learn, a hunger for knowledge and the desire to seek it. If children learn that learning is tedious and boring then why should we expect them to be interested in it? You go on to say that people without this essential skill end up in menial unfulfilling roles. First of all, prove it. Secondly, it warms my heart to hear an educator, like yourself, say that anyone who can’t learn the way you tell them they should learn will be doomed to a life of lost dreams and empty hopes. Wow, that’s definitely the environment I want my daughter to learn her ABC’s in. What a thrill it must be, to stand in front of all those pupils watching the last flicker of hope extinguish from behind their eyes.
You ended with some parenting advice and for that I thank you. I will do what is best for my children. I will ensure they have the necessary skills for life. It’s so nice to have your permission.
I don’t know any 3-to-6 year olds who can sit at a desk and absorb material. Just sayin’.
A really great article, Nicola! I love your outlook on child development/parenting.
I don’t think Montessori necessarily has all the answers… and I don’t think we can underestimate ‘regular’ kindies/school – our two country kindies and the little local school here are all excellent, dynamic, and in line with all the great thinking…. and more often than not away from the desks!