You may see her schools in your neighborhood, especially around Austin. There’s even one near my house. However, what the hell is it exactly? A Montessori school is an alternative learning institution (or plan) which takes a more radical approach on letting the children take the lead, going at their own pace. Since the surname can be used by anybody and accreditation tends to be controlled by states, you need to do your homework to make sure the methods are employed. Contrary to perception, there are public schools which also take her approach but after a century it’s still seen as very radical because the West, namely America, continues to follow the failing 19th century factory technique.
Let me go about the person.
Maria was born to an affluent Chiaravallean family in 1870 (the community is on Italy’s east side) and at 13 she attended a technical school hoping to be an engineer, not a teacher, the only career path women were corralled into if they didn’t get married first. Instead of engineering, she went on to medical school and became the first doctor in the (relatively) young nation. After graduation Maria worked in the psychiatric ward around Rome, namely with “special needs” children. Due to her success in bringing “special needs” kids up to speed on reading and writing, she was given the opportunity to apply her strategy on “normal” poor kids from the Roman slums. The approach on having the students figure things out for themselves brought her international fame. Invitations to America from Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison followed. Schools using her technique continued to appear throughout the West as these continued to get results.
Mussolini exiled her for her pacifistic views, she was no fan of Fascism neither. Maria’s first new home was Spain but the Spanish Civil War ended this residency. She set down new roots in the Netherlands until 1939. Luck was with her the next time. Dr. Montessori avoided the horrors of WWII through an invitation to demonstrate her school in India. What was originally a business trip morphed into a temporary home for a decade. Thus began her long relationship with the Asian nation. She chose to live out the final three years of her life in the Netherlands.
Does her approach work? This is still being argued in education circles. A huge criticism is cost. Montessori schools aren’t cheap which is one thing she’d be upset about. A teacher I met from such an institution said the doctor believed education was for everyone, money shouldn’t be a barrier. However, I think it probably does succeed. Prince Charles’ sons were brought up by these means and I know the English Royal Family, let alone the average Brit isn’t too fond of Italian ideas, especially after WWII. Other famous graduates? The founders of Google, Dakota Fanning and Washington Post owner Katherine Graham.
In the long run, we’ll see how much Maria’s strategies get incorporated. I know I agree with many tenets she proposed as I’ve grown older, namely that we need to abolish social promotion, overcome the stigma over some being held back. Not everybody learns at the same pace causing numerous late bloomers to get classified as hopeless cases. Then advanced students (I was at math and reading until St. Agnes) are stifled so they lose their edges or misbehave out of boredom. It’s going to be a rough couple decades though. Currently Americans prefer to blame teachers instead of realizing what a bunch of short-sighted tightwads they are.