If there are desks, blackboards and textbooks, it's not Montessori
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Schools mentioned in the article have 12 to 15 children per class. This is ideal for a Chinese kindergarten where children are taught "English, Chinese, addition and subtraction." But Montessori ideal classes are of 30-35 children to the same teacher for three years, what "helps to create much independent work, and peers teaching, and eliminates the possibility of too much teacher-centered, teacher-directed work."
After a deep reflection, I sincerely think that Montessori's education is not possible in China. Education doesn't belong to school only. It starts at home, and what is done at school must be corresponded by the family at home. Will Chinese parents, who are used to intervene directly and constantly in their children's wills, decisions, and actions, suddenly change their behavior because their children attend a Montessori school? Can their focus on academic performance change for the valorization of the personality? China is also a country where quietness is unknown. People use their cell phones in public, speak loud in restaurants, on the street and at work, listen to music in their cars and TV at home at high volume; peace – a requirement of Montessori's theory – is nowhere.
Source: © Susan Mayclin Stephenson, 2010 (www.susanart.net)
Permission to reprint or link to a website is granted if these words are include:
"Shared with permission of The Joyful Child Montessori Company: www.thejoyfulchild.us"
Other sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montessori_method
http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html : AN INTRODUCTION TO MONTESSORI
PHILOSOPHY & PRACTICE
http://www.montessoriland.com/site/1270021/page/530582
Lisa Carducci is a freelance writer based in Beijing.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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