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Many have written or spoken of what a school should look like
from a developmental perspective, but nobody, nobody
created the complete and developmental package Montessori that
Well the underlying assumption in traditional education
is that every child in a class can get through the same amount of stuff
within that nine-month academic year. and of course is absurd
everyone knows who's been in a classroom that not every child will proceed at the same pace
the task education must change
What school really ought to be for
is fostering the growth and development of children.
From the earliest years and must be in developmental
in the deepest sense developmental, brain developmental.
And to the elementary years it must be about problem solving and social development
how to work with other people.
And I think in the later years, it really has got to be about
you know motivation, mission, and purpose.
What are your unique capabilities? What are your unique interests?
What are you gonna bring to the world, that makes you something special?
Traditional education can't do that.
The global work of Montessori is
much more extensive than people know.
For example, there's Montessori in a 110 countries.
And there are over 22,000 Montessori schools worldwide.
It is actually the largest pedagogi in the world. People don't know that.
Dr. Maria Montessori was actually a medical doctor.
So the method actually evolved based on her observations.
As she watched children very carefully and scientifically.
Each moment in a child's life is a very critical part of their development.
And we create intentional environments that meet the needs of those different age groups.
Everything you see in the environment is meticulously designed to meet how the child learns.
It's that sort of balance of expectations of a child
and also giving a child their own space, and to learn at their own pace.
That I think is super important.
The Pink Tower, the Moveable Alphabet, the Beads
That you talked to Montessori alumni, and they all have these, these same
these same shared tangible experiences with the materials
that stay with you your entire life.
The materials are so adaptable and they fit so many different learning styles
and there based on the fundamental ways humans learn.
I think that's one reason Montessori works so well within diverse communities,
is because we accept each child for who they are
and I think that's also something that parents respect.
They are very busy and they don't have to sit in one place all day.
When they come in to the environment, we try to empower them.
Everything is designed in a way they can function independently.
We try to guide the children, rather than teach them.
They are given the opportunity to concentrate, to fall in love with the materials.
We're not just fostering cognitive development by interaction with these developmentally sequences materials.
There's also amazing social and emotional development that goes on in there as well.
At every stage in Montessori is an experience of community.
And that means things like, missed age environments and having children who are older,
helping, assisting, teaching, fostering things in children who are younger.
You sort of see yourself as part of community
when you have that same classroom for three years.
Within the environment, we give the children the opportunities to learn social graces.
Now they learn how to share, how to wait.
So community is really, very important to us.
You know you can take the principles of Montessori and use those principles
in any place, it could you know, it could be in orphanages, it could be in hospitals.
My own data on children from corner stone,
a substantial number of them, children who are living in poverty or at risk,
and some of them immigrants.
They wouldn't be showing that development in other settings.
We want Montessori for all children.
I think the Montessori environment gives the children the opportunity to be able to be your best self.
I dream like all mothers dream for their daughters
they are happy, they are comfortable with everything.
What I see everyday is that peaceful
respectful, engaged community, supporting each other.
that's what humanity should be
It's the best of humanity.
It doesn't just have to be in a Montessori environment
it can be the social revolution that Maria Montessori talked about.
It's just, we need to get Montessori to more children.