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Montessori is fundamentally based on one simple principle I wish people adhered to more often: first, observe the child. Taiichi Ohno called it genchi genbutsu
by kqr 5y ago
Montessori is fundamentally based on one simple principle I wish people adhered to more often: first, observe the child.
Taiichi Ohno called it genchi genbutsu in the context of manufacturing. First, go to the floor and look at the work that is being done.
Edwards Deming said "Don't just do somthing; stand there!" in the context of data analysis. Allow the data to tell you something. If you meddle with it you destroy the signal.
In other words. First, observe. Try to understand the problem before you rush in with a solution.
This is like step 0 of the scientific method and yet we forget about it so often, in a hurry to just do something.
- blodkorv 5y agoMontessori only works if you are a gifted or diciplined child from the start. For those that lack that in their personality its a really bad match.
- oo0shiny 5y agoThis is not true. My wife has taught in a Montessori classroom for over a decade, and the children who get the most out of it are the ones who would be labeled as "problematic" in other environments.
- blodkorv 5y agoI went to a Montessori school in Sweden for 10years and while i never was a problem child. I have always had problems with learning things, taking long time and lack dicipline and organization. I never got the most from it, instead the school got the most of my will to do everything but learning school subjects.
- nouveaux 5y agoThere are bad Montessori schools and it sounds like the school you attended wasn't very good. It sucks that you never got the most from it.
- marcosdumay 5y agoOn one hand, I've plenty of gifted children that thrived on a Montessori school just stop being gifted when they changed schools. On the other hand, it's really visible that the method doesn't work for everybody. So, I think that "it's for gifted children" is the wrong conclusion here, but there is something to discover on that line.
- blodkorv 5y agoI went to a montessori school for 10 years and i fail to see how a system where you except a "slow" child to want to learn subject that it find difficult and put in the time, dicipline and efforts into it. The method is all about children wanting to learn subjects that are difficult and challenging for them by them self with very little structure and minimal interferance.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoThis is not true, and this mindset is sometimes referred to as ‘the bigotry of low expectations’ I have observed children one might believe as ‘stuck’ in an unruly category transition into one that seems ‘gifted-from-the-start’.
- blodkorv 5y agoIt is very much true, I am one of the children that got left behind in a montissori school. There where others like me at the school also but none as severe as me. It really only benefitted the ones who where smart from the beginning.
- mensetmanusman 5y agoUnfortunately, it could lead to a tautological argument that is unprovable: only those that made it through were gifted from the start:)
- nouveaux 5y agoMontessori originally designed her education for mentally disabled children[0]. One key aspect of her philosophy is to "let the child lead" and work with them at their own pace. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori#1896%E2%80%931901:_Early_career_and_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori#1896%E2%80%93...
- a-priori 5y agoI have a cousin with Down’s syndrome, and he thrived in a Montessori school. So there’s my anecdote.
- gloryjulio 5y agoThanks for the insight. I felt like this principle can be applied broadly.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- em500 5y agoI'm sure nobody would argue against that in principle, but the reality in most countries is that society is willing to pay for 1 to 1.5 FTE per 30 children. And even with such numbers, education is typically already one of the top public expenditures. How much child observation and taylored (vs mass manufactured) education can be done within these constraints?
- kqr 5y agoThe Montessori schools went to had about 1.2 FTEs per 30 children and that worked. I think it's generally a question of putting the effort where it matters the most. As far as I understand it, in non-Montessori schools, a lot of teacher effort is spent on the wrong things, like grading, anti-cheating measures, very strict lesson orders, and so on.
- Ar-Curunir 5y agoYup, most public schools are a means of instilling a fear of authority, a means for providing cheap day care, and finally a means of education, in that order of priority.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- spacemanmatt 5y agoIMO/IME it should be closer to 1 FTE per 15 students. If we actually cared about the quality of our future.
- antasvara 5y agoWe struggle finding teachers for the current staffing needs. It seems almost impossible to find 1.5-2x as many qualified teachers.
- hajile 5y agoMost US states pay more than $1200 per child per month. Somehow, these private schools offer better education for less money than that. We need to stop funding schools and start funding children. Let them take that money to the place where they learn the best. I’d bet teachers would be paid better and bad teachers would be removed much more quickly. I’d also conjecture that teachers would enjoy their jobs much more