Talk:Montessori method

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Contents

[edit] Wikilinking

This page needs to be wikilinked. I've done a bit, if anyone wants to have a go at doing the remaining few paragraphs go ahead ... I'll remove this once I'm done (maybe by tonight in the UK) Nippoo 17:51, 19 December 2005 (UTC)


Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

There's no mention in the article of any structured lessons or student assessments. Without reading the New Zealand link, one could easily conclude that Montessori is just a glorified day-care. Could someone with Montessori experience please clarify? Gazpacho 21:10, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

That's because there *aren't* any structured lessons or student assesments :-). Each child has an individual program, and works at their own pace. The only structure is in the prepared environment and the equipment, the activities the children can choose have a large amount of inherent structure. I can describe some more of the philosophy about the equipment. Many modern developmental daycares have picked up elements of the Montessori Method. Thunderbolt16 03:35, Jul 4, 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Rounding Out the Article

This article needs to be balanced with some text and links that include criticism of the Montessori method. I don't mean to suggest that Montessori is inherently flawed. However, as someone who came to this article to learn about Montessori and determine whether it would be appropriate for my child, I'd like to hear some of the criticism. I'd also like a detailed comparison of the teaching philosophy with that of mainstream education (in my case, for North America). --Westendgirl 22:29, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I've been in a Montessori school myself, so I understand some of the problems first-hand, but I also would feel uncomfortable writing anything in detail, becasue my teacher was poor for a third of the years I went, and I have no experience with the pre-school aspect. That said, one of the biggest problems is that there is no plan written for anything above 6th grade. If a school does this it is not following the plan of Dr. Montessori. This causes many people to not go to begin with, or kids will be pulled out in 5th grade if the middle schools in the area start at 6th grade. --Alasseo 23:05, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
Generally, its hard to write a compare and contrast paper about a 'standard' montessori school because, well there isn't any. Each school is different. Some montessori schools do labs for older children, some incorporate music and fantasy play, some don't. Some are extremely rigid, some aren't. There are also great philosephical differences among the different 'schools' of montessori. AMI is different than AMS, which is different from...etc.
FYI, Montessori does have a plan for 'middle' aged children, that is, don't concentrate on academics and primarily encourage physical activity, then do academics again, once they hit 14~15. Thunderbolt16 06:22, Feb 5, 2005 (UTC)
Well, to be more precise, Dr. Montessori's middle-school plan is a farm school and only one exists in the United States (Hershey Montessori Farm School). The children are boarded there, and learn how to run a farm. Their studies are derived from this.


Re. "A survey conducted in 1981 collected data from 25 of the approximately 50 school districts nationwide" - in which country was this survey conducted? The incomplete references to (Chattin-McNichols, 1981) and (Michlesen and Cummings, 1991) are useless if there is no complete reference to the title/journal, or an external weblink.

I agree that this article could be expanded and better organized. Chattin-McNichols refers to a book called The Montessori Controversy. This book is out of print at this point. It's kind of controversial in it's own right, although I'm not sure the exact reasons. These references are so old it's appalling tho. There is a printed newspaper called the Public Montessorian (http://www.jola-montessori.com/psm/72/index.html) which might be helpul in getting up to date info on the current # of Montessori charters/magnets. There's got to be a LOT more than in 1991. Also, could check school affiliations on American Montessori Society site, lots of public schools affiliate with them (http://www.amshq.org/). I hope that's helpful! -- Northeast Montessori teacher


I am not convinced that the link provided to the Montessori Foundation should be included. It has no special status over any of the other organisations who sell services and products and is a commercial organisation. From my own research on the subject I believe the most authoritative source of information is the Montessori Index, http://www.montessori.edu, which is non-commercial.

[edit] Neutrality

I will be totally honest here: I strongly question the neutrality of this article. In fact, I'll put it more bluntly: this article reads like a Montessori brochure, and is functionally devoid of useful information.

  • What are the practical upsides of Montessori schooling?
  • What are the downsides?
  • What praise & criticism (from legitimate press or educators) have Montessori schools received?
  • When/how would a child benefit from Montessori schooling vs. "standard" schooling?
  • Are there cases when a child would not benefit from the Montessori method?
  • What are some concrete, real examples of Montessori-style teaching?

I don't know anything about the Montessori concept - that's why I looked it up here. After reading this article, I still feel like I haven't learned anything. I do, however, feel like I just finished reading a sales-pitch brochure written by the Montessori Foundation for distribution to parents of potential students.

I have marked this article as needing to be reviewed for Neutrality. Before I start researching, are there any Wikipedians with an intimate understanding of Montessori schooling that could address some of these questions?
--205.156.188.254 19:38, 17 October 2005 (UTC)


This is an encyclopedia site, not a place to get criticisms on theories. There are other sites for that sort of thing.


I don't think the article is biased so much as badly written. Most of the sentences are unnecessary, and the organization of the article is quite poor. Admittedly, I am reading this at 12:05 a.m. because I can't sleep, but I got nothing out of this article.
I would propose to rewrite this article to first systematically explain Montessori's original methods, and then separately discuss the variations practiced today. Most of what's currently here merely highlights the weaknesses of the wiki- format.
Anyway, I partially disagree with the response above. Since this should be a good encyclopedia entry about a theory, it should summarize the theory, place it in context, and then give some analysis or critical views on that theory. An entry on Marxism isn't complete without some description of its criticisms. That said, perhaps there should be a separate article on Montessori schools, which would be better suited to the apparent concerns of the parents of young children reading this to research preschools. Msr657 05:32, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

There is no neutrality problem with this article. The POV check will be removed. 17 December 2005 2:21pm EST.

I've removed multiple commercial links and will continue to do so. M:The Montessori Magazine is a AMS booster magazine, intended for advertising, and thus shouldn't be included. --AM

[edit] In Search of Criticisms

Most of the comments on this page are from people who would like to see objective criticism of the Montessori method. As a parent of a pre-schooler, I was looking for that too. Generally, I am the most skeptical person I know, but I have to say that I have found very few things not to like about Montessori.

Before choosing a preschool for our kid, I observed the "best" traditional school in our fairly affluent area as well as the "best" Montessori school in our area. The differences were amazing. In the traditional school, the teacher was leader, activity organizer, and disciplinarian. And the kids were unruly and often unfocused. In the Montessori preschool, the kids were in charge. They were all engaged, and the teachers "merely" assisted them. A kid, approximately 4 years old, came up to me to show me his drawing. "See my Tyrannosaurus Rex!" All of the kids I met at the Montessori were incredibly articulate and self-confident.

We enrolled our kid in that Montessori as soon as we could. I found myself nodding like crazy whenever they explained their teaching philosophy to me. There really is very little to criticize about the method. It is incredibly well thought-out. Traditional schools are rigid, inelegant, and brute-force in comparison. It's my belief that the only reason *all* preschools and elementary schools aren't Montessori schools is that it requires extensive training of thoughtful and motivated teachers -- people in very short supply.

The only downside is that Montessori kids have to make the transition to traditional schools at some point, and some of them may find public schools to be a rather rude shock.

I am completely open to objective criticism. In fact, I found this page trying to find critical reviews and longitudinal studies. There really is no serious criticism from anybody familiar with the approach. It doesn't turn kids into geniuses, but it does apparently make them love to learn. I found one study at eric.ed.gov (run by the US Dept of Education) that follows Montessori kids for 18 years starting in 1986. The kids all planned to go to college. They all love to learn. They all seem self-confident. I wish our public schools could do that.

  • so, Google [1] turned up a bunch of criticism. Also using google, I found a book criticising Montessori:

Professor William Heard Kilpatrick The Montessori System Examined, published in 1914

and a dissertation too:

FAUST, Ruth and Ann GOTTSTEIN. "Defining and Examining Areas of Criticism concerning Pedagogical Ideas of Maria Montessori with Emphasis on the Critics and their Criticism from 1910-1925." Doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan, 1984.

so if anyone wants to follow up on those sources (i'm way too lazy :) ), we might give this article some better neutrality. --147.154.235.52 19:26, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

  • Here's another interesting paper that indicates that the Montessori Method is considered 1 of 4 viable childhood education methods:

http://etd.lib.fsu.edu/theses/available/etd-07092004-220809/unrestricted/02jensendissertation.pdf

The four methods are:

(1) the Sensory Cognitive approach, or the Montessori Method; (2) the Behavioral approach implemented as Direct Instruction; (3) the Developmental Interaction approach implemented as Developmental Interaction (formerly known as Bank Street); and (4) the Cognitive Developmental approach implemented as HighScope.

[edit] Second that

"I will be totally honest here: I strongly question the neutrality of this article."

I would like to second that note. When one reads a adversting/marketing brochure, one feels as if one has acquired a certain kind of information about something: the kind that the thing provides about itself.

That's not the same kind of information one expects from an encyclopedia. Encyclopedic information is not by any means negative, but is informative without being judgmental. I don't find this to be remarkably informative, but it is quite troublingly glowing.

I need more facts, less glow.


...Would just less glow do? There are lots of facts here... I just went and mellowed the glow out a bit and let the facts speak a bit more for themselves, Cor 1:33AM, 2/12/06

[edit] Reinstating NPOV

I have problems with the tone of this article. It reads like some of the brocures I've read for Montessori schools, full of information without being informative. There needs to be more mention of criticisms and perhaps concrete example of what Montessori education involves. I checked the discussion page and saw that many others had the same problems with the article that I do and that it had been flagged before. Unfortunately someone removed the flag with a flat statement that there is no neutrality problem and nothing to back that statement up. Because the issue has not been addressed through changes in the article, I've reinstated the NPOV flag.Anthopos 05:18, 15 January 2006 (UTC)



I have removed much of the repetetive fluff. Looking a bit more neutral now? Cor, 2/12/06, 1:31AM

[edit] Removing NPOV

Anthopos: it is not NPOV that you are looking for, it's expansion to the article. Use _expansion_ tag if you may, but you are wrong that the article does not meet NPOV.

NPOV is for something in dispute. The article made no claims that Montessori is the best way or the only way to educate a child (that would be NPOV). The points mentioned about Montessori are *facts*. The Montessori method is described as a way of thinking about who children are - a *fact*. Montessori method's central focus is on the needs, talents, gifts, and special individuality of each child - again, a *fact*. Montessori classroom uses child-sized furniture and child-sized environment - again, another *fact*. So are the other points stated in the article.

If you can find sources stating that Montessori is not a way of thinking about who children are, does not focus on needs, talents, gifts, and individuality, does not use child-sized furniture, or disputing the *facts* themselves, by all means, quote the sources and use NPOV. If it's simply "I don't think Montessori would work", or "I think some other methods out there are better", that does not constitute NPOV.

NPOV tag will be removed.

Agreed. Just because you believe that George W. Bush is wrong or another president's policies are better, it does not mean statements of facts about George W. Bush or his policies are NPOV.
It should noted that article on Reggio Emilia approach[2] is similarly written, yet I don't see the same people complaining here go over and flag the Reggio Emilia article as NPOV. Why this apparent double standard is beyond me.

I have just tried to clean the article up some more. I agree it has serious problems, both with NPOV and with style generally. A good example is "The ability measurements of traditional educational systems are discouraged in Montessori practice; it is expected that different children will master different skills at different rates.". The weasel implication of this sentence is that purveyors of traditional education do not admit that different children will master different skills at different rates. This is an extreme POV about traditional education systems. There are very many such examples. I am restoring POV flag and cleanup flag, and I respectfully suggest that the anon who keeps removing it should register for a Wikipedia ID and sign his or her edits. Zargulon 17:03, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Once again I will remove the NPOV flag from this article. Statements on facts about Montessori is not POV. I respectfully suggest that people who flag the article NPOV to take a careful read about the Wikipedia standard before doing so.

Reverted above anon. Suspect trolling. Zargulon 08:59, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
Reverted above Zargulon's NPOV flag, for identifing facts as NPOV. Differences in opinion is not trolling. I suggest that the article to move into Mediation to settle the issue. 142.240.200.10 18:17, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
Reverted anon. If they were serious they would not have removed the cleanup tag as well as the npov tag. They are welcome to request mediation.
It is a hard fact the Montessori system does not apply grades against students - there is nothing NPOV about that. (If you have a problem with that then you don't have a problem with the article, but rather with the entire Montessori system itself.) However, it is not so much about different child mastering skills differently, but rather avoid using grades to foster negative competition among children or between children and their parents. (As adults we do that all the time - ie. my car is better than yours, my house is better than yours, I have more money than you, etc., exactly what Dr. Montessori wants to avoid for children.) I have changed the statement to reflect that point. With the change, NPOV flag will also get removed.Rgl168 03:33, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Cleanup

Maybe you can help clean up or explain the following in the 1st paragraph:

Voluntary assistant in what field.. what was she doing at Rome University?
What does responsive to doing work mean?
"In 1901 she returned to the University of Rome with a desire to study the mind instead of the body." where does it say she had previously wanted to study the body?
"to work with sixty young children of working families." were they feebleminded children?
What does "develop their activities" mean?
What does it mean to "absorb knowledge .. from their surroundings"? Zargulon 06:29, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't have all the answers to everything, but I can answer "where does it say she had previously wanted to study the body?" - she started out as a medical doctor, figuratively speaking that would be "study of the body". Rgl168 01:49, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Philosophy

Having just read Montessori's _The Absorbent Mind_ (and only that), I do not see that the basic principles expressed in that book can be found in this article. I don't see that the Philosophy section actually describes the philosophy of the method, it is confusing and goes on the defensive way too quickly about the lack of grading, as if that is the pillar of the Montessori method.

I also see no mention of Cosmic Education, and hardly a mention of how the method in practice changes/evolves as the child moves from the "absorbent mind" period (3-6) to 6+. I specifically came to get an idea of what Cosmic Education is, what it's curriculum looks like, and where it is defined (which Montessori books). None to be found here.

Unfortuntely that there are others in this discussion view such comments as NPOV towards traditional education and quickly flag the entire article as NPOV, thus there is no choice but to defend it quickly.

Thank you for your suggestion regarding Montessori's philosophy! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. Please sign your edits with four tildes. Zargulon 18:55, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Poor links in references

The references section has become a catch-all for individual schools to post links to their websites, and lots of webpages which just couldn't qualify as a legitimate source for a high school term paper. People can go to a web search engine and find random links no better nor worse than many of these sources posted here--and that's really not how the external link section should be used. I'll wait a bit for discussion, but the list needs to be culled. Ibyrnison 14:50, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Is it really a Montessori school?

Does this paragraph really need to exist? It seems to be more involved with Montessori education provides such as AMI, Waldorf, etc. and the education industry. I personally think that these issues are seperate from the Montessori methodology and philosephy and that it can be removed without any negative repercussions to the article as a whole. Thunderbolt16

It's not encyclopedic, and it's probably POV. There is an educational dispute over the issue, but the paragraph takes a position in this dispute. It needs to come out, or it should be rewritten to reflect the dispute itself rather than take a "consumer guide" type advisory role in the dispute. Ibyrnison 14:38, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to remove it, unless someone feels that they can rewrite to be at least NPOV, and give a good starting point of explaining the controversy over naming. Thunderbolt16 00:14, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Do it. There's not enough here to work with as is anyway.Ibyrnison 01:16, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abject Plagiarism

For all the debate above about whether the content has sufficient NPOV, most of it is actually directly copied from Montessori's own materials. For example, http://www.thechildrenshouse.org.uk/curricview.php?contentid=materials. Apart from any copyright violations, it removes any chance that this can be considered neutral. I've added the flag again until someone can actually write some independent, objective content for this. Tjsneath 18:17, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Could someone please investigate this apparent plagiarism? If it was actually written by Montessori, there is a chance that it's in the public domain and needs to be sited, otherwise we should remove it ASAP. Thunderbolt16 05:06, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
I don't have any particular expertise on the subject, but I cleaned up some of the more blatant sales pitches In a couple sections. If it isn't starting from scratch because of plagiarism, the entire article needs pruning before adding useful information. YoMamma568 13:58, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
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