Montessori- elitist, cultish, or insightful teaching strategy?

[emma'smom]

We send out dd to a Montessori Prek/K. This morning, I was talking with a friend who said that she overheard someone comment that Montessori was elitist? I asked her more...and she said also commented that she has heard others say it was sort of cultish. We love our school...but I am curious what others think about Montessori who are not part of a Montessori school community?

 

[Tiger926]

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[bumbershoot]

It's also hard to figure out, because there's that split between Montessoris...if what my mom told me (went on and on about but I didn't listen enough) has stuck in my brain, after Maria died some went with her strict philosophies (no one under 4 or 5, no pre or after school care, etc) and some went with...hmm, her son? who loosened it up.

I, personally, being a product of (a whopping two years) Montessori, would only use a place that is strict. And that could be seen as elitist. Also hypocritical b/c my own brother started when he was 2, because my mom and the owner of the school knew each other and the owner could see that my brother was a little genius who wouldn't just be using the place as daycare, but would actually learn.

But to the outsider, because there are materials, items, heck, even furniture, that is specific to Montessori, which means the children and parents might be talking about very specific things, they might feel left out. And, in the way of all humans, if they feel left out b/c of a different frame of reference, they might turn it around on the others talking.

 

[Mommymcgee]

We looked into Montessori for our DD for preschool but felt it was not the place for her. Our DD is artistically inclined. We prefer a school that is more encouraging of this. Our DD attends a play-based preschool and that is the philosophy we agree with for young children. I have friends with children in Montessori though who love it and it works for their family. That is great for them. I don't think of it as a cult.

 

[Epcot Mom]

Our daughter did Mont starting at age 3. When we first started looking at schools/preschools, I thought Mont was the strangest thing I had ever seen and felt it was definately not for us. I kept school shopping and found that many of the schools with the best reputations/test scores/subsequent schools were Mont. As I kept seeing it in different schools, I started to understand it better. I live in St. Louis and this town is down right unusual with all the private schools available in every price range. It's not only for wealthy people here. Mont was perfect for our daughter and it's easy to see a difference in her school because all the kids went through Mont perschool at the school before going to the lower (elementary) school. Having said that, my son did not go to Mont preschool. He would not have done as well with such a student driven philosophy but we found his more traditional preschool had some Mont qualities to it (mixed ages, etc). Our kids were in different preschools because they were different personalities and needed different things. Each worked very well for them. I would say follow your child and your instincts and don't worry about what anyone else thinks. It seems typical that when someone thinks badly about a school, it's through lack of understanding or intimidation. Do what's right for your child and the rest will sort itself out.

Good luck!

 

[Tiger926]

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[mom2aredhead]

We are part of a Montessori school, but I would like to comment. Most people I find know nothing about Montessori, and are jealous or envious that we can afford to send our children (cost about $8,000-$9,000 per child/per year here in my Canadian city).

It is exactly that attitude that perpetuates the "elitest" stereotype of Montessori parents. I am not jealous or envious in any way that you and others choose Montessori. I did not send my son there because we plan to send him to the public schools here (it's why we moved to this neighborhood to begin with) and I felt like he would have a tough time transitioning from the self paced, cooperative learning environment to a more traditional classroom.

I also think that a lot of parents sign their kids up for Montessori knowing NOTHING about the history of the program or the philosophy beforehand, but because it is "name brand" pre-school and it costs a lot, they assume it must be "the best".

 

[Tiger926]

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[ado121]

i would never have thought that it was any of those. we put dd4 in montessori preschool at age 2.5 and she excelled. she is reading, writing, speaking french. i think montessori rocks!

we put her in it for her not for us! and she is doing very well.

btw, who cares what people think. do it for your kid...if thats the type of learning she/he excells at, then go for it. if not, try something else.

my 2 cents

 

[perdidochas]

We send out dd to a Montessori Prek/K. This morning, I was talking with a friend who said that she overheard someone comment that Montessori was elitist? I asked her more...and she said also commented that she has heard others say it was sort of cultish. We love our school...but I am curious what others think about Montessori who are not part of a Montessori school community?

Montessori is great for some kids, not so great for others. I think the younger the kids are, the better it works.

 

[Mommymcgee]

I just want to make a quick clarification should someone read this and assume that Montessori schools don't allow kids to play. In Montessori school, playtime is different than what you may find at home or in public school as Dr. Montessori knew that children were doing this type of play at home. You won't find Barbie dolls, racing cars, etc., but you will find: beads & stickers for craft play (this are manipulative and help students with fine motor dexterity), wooden toys such as doll houses or farms, coloring or painting, as well as outside playtime.

As a Special Education teacher, I know more than anyone that each child learns differently, but if more people took the time to actually understand the Montessori philosophy, they would see that child based learning is the absolute best way to learn. It may not be the best philosophy or style that suits your child's personality, but in terms of the style, from a psychoeducational standpoint (I'm all about that!), it is absolutely ideal.

Great discussion, Tiger

Since we are clarifying, my DD's play based preschool also has beads and stickers, wooden toys, coloring, crafts etc. and not Barbie dolls and race cars. But it also has dress up areas, workbenches with real tools, a play store with cash register and money. They grow gardens and raise butterflies and baby chicks. They take nature walks and visit horse farms. It is child based and child led learning. The difference I found was that at a play based school, the children are not taught the "proper" way to play ("work") with those toys. It is not a sequence. If my daughter wants to take the pieces of a puzzle and build a robot with them instead that is encouraged. If a group of children want to get together and lead a parade of instruments, great, the more the merrier! When we toured the Montessori school, we were told that no more than 2 children could do an activity at any given time and only on the designated mat. It was quiet as a library in that school. At the Montessori school the children were taught to self serve snack whever they wanted and clean up after themselves, not distubing others. At my DD's preschool, snack is social time. I feel that she can learn to be self sufficient at home, but I am not able to teach her to socialize with peers, she has to learn that through experience.

Our decision not to choose Montessori was not financial (our DD's school is also private) or out of ignorance of child development. It just wasn't what we wanted for our child. As some other pps have said, it is great for some kids, not others.

 

[tmarquez]

Before I had a child, my impressions of Montessori schools came from parents who sent their kids there. It ranged from the type that bragged about how much it cost to send them there (turn-off) to those who said they let the kids do what they want and focus on the things they were interested (turn-off) to my boss who said when she went to transfer her son to a public school he was way behind (turn-off).

So DD comes along and I need to find a good preschool for her. We looked at various places and finally found one that we were relatively happy with. We ended up taking DD out of there after 2 weeks...it was NOT a good place, but I don't mean to get into that here. So I broke down and visited a local Montessori school.

Long story short, DD will graduating preschool there this year. It has been an awesome school. DD is academically ahead of her friends that are in public preschool, and just as important, she seems to be emotionally ahead. They really teach them to be good citizens as well as the reading and writing.

I also found out that the school participates in a program with the state that helps lower income families that can't afford the tution.

I'm torn, but DD will be going to kindergarten at a public school next year. We cannot afford to keep her in private schools all her academic life so I figure the transition will be easier at a young age. Not sure if this is the right thing to do or not...but as I've found out...that's pretty much what having a kid is all about anyway.

 

[Tiger926]

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[LadyShea]

Since we are clarifying, my DD's play based preschool also has beads and stickers, wooden toys, coloring, crafts etc. and not Barbie dolls and race cars. But it also has dress up areas, workbenches with real tools, a play store with cash register and money. They grow gardens and raise butterflies and baby chicks. They take nature walks and visit horse farms. It is child based and child led learning.

This sounds like it may be based on Waldorf/Steiner philosophy, also an interesting method for preschoolers, in my opinion. We do not have any Mont or Waldorf schools in our area, so I am reading various ideas an incorporating them at home. I would have a hard time choosing between the two if we had both available, as a matter of fact. My niece excelled at Montessori, but I think DS would do better in a Waldorf environment.

Bottom line to me, is that it depends on the kid.

 

[lilyv]

Don't know if this will help, but my 2 cents. These exact discussions went on 20 years ago when my kids were in pre-school. Some friends and neighbors are going to understand that you have selected the school that is the best fit for your child/family.

Unfortunately, there are always a few people that seem to have a difficult time understanding that what has worked well for their child may not be the best situation for another child.

In most communities, there is some choice-and that's a good thing!

 

[smacky1]

Thanks for all the informative postings. I had no idea what a montessori school was/is but my dd will be heading to preschool next year and this was a great reminder to myself to check out those schools as well. A lot of posting said this type of school works for a certain type of child....anyone willing to go into more detail on this? My dd and ds are totally different and I can see that their learning styles will be very different. Anyway, I find this discussion very interesting and would love to hear more on what type of child would learn best in a montessori environment.

 

[Aristomommy]

In our town, the Montessori school is definitely a snobbish and elitist type of school, mainly because of the parents. It goes up to 8th grade and the children we know, have a hard time in our public school after 8th grade. It is such a different environment and learning arrangement. We visited the Montessori school and found it to be a great school, but not a good fit for DD. We opted for a more traditional private school where she was accelerated academically. Now she is a public school student and it works better for her.

 

[Davidsmommy]

My son went to a Montessori pre-school for 2 years - he loved it and truly learned a lot. He really enjoyed it as well. We were happy with it.

We are far from snobby, and honestly, we chose it because it was close to my husband's work at the time (yet 45 minutes away from our home with traffic), so he drove to and I picked up. And, when I was pregnant with our daughter (and very sick!), my MIL worked closeby and actually did the picking up sometimes for me.

Now that it is pre-school time for my daughter, I debated putting her in the same school. However, the price is high (seems higher with 2 kids to take care of! lol) and my husband has taken a job in the other direction. So, I can't drive her to and from pre-school and spend a few hours in the car, while also making sure I am around for her older brother and his activities (he is 7 and in second grade.) So, she goes to the Y pre-school (and I get to workout while she is there! Bonus!). And, ya know what? She loves it and is doing well.

For most families, there are LOTS of things that are taken into account when choosing a pre-school. We have had great success with both schools.

 

[Tiger926]

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[tinker&belle]

Since we are clarifying, my DD's play based preschool also has beads and stickers, wooden toys, coloring, crafts etc. and not Barbie dolls and race cars. But it also has dress up areas, workbenches with real tools, a play store with cash register and money. They grow gardens and raise butterflies and baby chicks. They take nature walks and visit horse farms. It is child based and child led learning. The difference I found was that at a play based school, the children are not taught the "proper" way to play ("work") with those toys. It is not a sequence. If my daughter wants to take the pieces of a puzzle and build a robot with them instead that is encouraged. If a group of children want to get together and lead a parade of instruments, great, the more the merrier! When we toured the Montessori school, we were told that no more than 2 children could do an activity at any given time and only on the designated mat. It was quiet as a library in that school. At the Montessori school the children were taught to self serve snack whever they wanted and clean up after themselves, not distubing others. At my DD's preschool, snack is social time. I feel that she can learn to be self sufficient at home, but I am not able to teach her to socialize with peers, she has to learn that through experience.

Our decision not to choose Montessori was not financial (our DD's school is also private) or out of ignorance of child development. It just wasn't what we wanted for our child. As some other pps have said, it is great for some kids, not others.

I'm a teacher in Early childhood education so I can add a little bit...In early childhood education there are several philosophies. Montessori was a educator/theorist who developed a very specific style. Many child care centers are influenced by Montessori, but they also may be influence by Reggio Emilia (sp?)- another Italian philosophy that is based from schools from a city in Italy. Other major theorists that have influence ECE are Piaget, Vygotsky and many others (Erikson,Rousseau) There are different theories about teacher lead, child-centered, constructivism and the list goes on and on....

I guess I wrote all that to say, most good play-based centers do have elements of Montessori, but they are more free to use new/other theories and have more open-ended materials (as opposed to the 'gifts' and materials in the Montessori room that are supposed to teach specific skills.)

Sorry for the technical jargon.