The purpose of this opinion piece is to suggest that Montessori education is not only developmentally appropriate and effective for most children aged 3-14, but elements of its theory and practice can and SHOULD be extended to any and all classrooms in MPS, including high schools, most of which operate under the outdated and developmentally inappropriate style of Command and Control.
In our system, we have a different concept of discipline; discipline, too, must be active. It is not necessarily the case that someone is disciplined only if they have artificially been made as quiet as a mute and as immobile as a paralytic. That person has been annihilated, not disciplined. We can discipline an individual who is their own master and, therefore, can decide for themself when and where it is necessary to follow a rule of life.
When our child was three years old, we toured several Milwaukee-area schools with K3 programs. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I knew what I didn’t want to see: I did not want to see children in a straight line. I did not want to see children seated in rows. I was not looking for a teacher wielding her powers at the front of the room, like a sorceress Ms. Frizzle, commanding her troops through letters and numbers, the months and seasons.
The only school that struck me as a fit for our son was the one that didn’t appear to operate at all like a school. Children were strewn throughout the hallway, extending long chains of beads on narrow strips of felt. A staff member was having a one-on-one conversation with a child about his feelings…a conversation! In the K3-K5 classroom, children crisscrossed their shared space, carrying trays, grabbing items from shelves, some seated, some walking, half a dozen seated close to the teacher, receiving a lesson. It was a little chaotic, but the children moved with purpose and the din wasn’t ear-splitting, though it wasn’t quiet. It wasn’t supposed to be quiet. It was supposed to be purposeful. Active. It was Montessori and I was in love.
Each of our children attended this Montessori school (Highland Community School) from age 3 through age 14. They’re older now but they will never forget the years when they had choice: choice of follow-up work, choice of with whom to work (group or individual), choice of where to work (seated at table, on floor, standing) and the ability to simply walk across the room with a purpose and not be questioned…oh yes, they could go to the restroom when they had to go, they just grabbed the pass if it was there. Raising your hand? Give me a break.
Here’s the gist of daily life in a Montessori classroom:
• Lessons are taught by the Lead Teacher in small groups, the content tailored specifically to the group’s readiness for the specific lesson.
• Children who are not in the small group lesson have freedom to move about the classroom and choose materials related to lessons they’ve received and do follow-up work and practice these lessons to demonstrate their understanding.
• All the children have the responsibility to be practicing lessons they have been previously given and they have the freedom to work in small groups or individually.
• Any children not engaged in proper practice, follow-up work, etc. will be directed by the Assistant Teacher to choose work or join a group working on an appropriate activity.
As our children reached high school, in the most counterintuitive joke of all time, their ability to make choices ended. What I hope to share in the remainder of this piece is how young people’s autonomy and ability to choose should grow as they get older, not shrink.
It is amazing to me that high school vision statements claim that they want to “develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help create a better, more peaceful world,” yet high school educators operate almost exclusively from a standpoint of Command and Control:
Command and Control is the exercise of authority and direction by a designated commander over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission.
In these critical four years of adolescence, our children are forced to sit still, raise their hand to request permission to use the restroom, be silent, and keep their eyes on the teacher. How does the leadership style of Command and Control prepare our teens for living their future lives? I want to propose that we sprinkle some Montessori throughout all of MPS, high schools included. My hope is that more K-6th grade MPS schools adopt Montessori as their curriculum and do it soon. Command and Control serves no child, only the adults who command.
Adopting Montessori theory to high school could begin with this finding from Maria Montessori herself, earned after years of observation and educating children of various abilities:
Our teaching must only answer the mental needs of the child, never dictate them. How can the mind of a growing individual continue to be interested if all our teaching is around one particular subject of limited scope, and is confined to the transmission of such small details of knowledge as they are able to memorize? How can we force the child to be interested when interest can only arise from within? It is only duty and fatigue which can be induced from without, never interest! That point must be very clear.
– Maria Montessori
Finally, I am not suggesting that the Montessori curriculum be implemented in all MPS schools, nor do I suggest it be adapted to fit high schools. I am suggesting, however, that components of Maria Montessori’s theory, practice and philosophy be presented, revealed, and shared immediately to all educators, administrators, and parents in the Milwaukee Public Schools system.
To begin rerouting a faulty direction, one must first acknowledge a better way forward. I believe Maria Montessori’s theory of Freedom and Responsibility to be a better way forward for MPS. If you agree, please contact your school administrator and express your concern about the prevalence of Command and Control in your child’s classroom and suggest that they read up on their Montessori (see below).
The laws governing the universe can be made interesting and wonderful to the child, more interesting even than things in themselves, and they begin to ask: What am I? What is the task of humans in this wonderful universe? Do we merely live here for ourselves, or is there something more for us to do? Why do we struggle and fight? What is good and evil? Where will it all end?
– Maria Montessori from To Educate The Human Potential
Get to Know Montessori
Video: Montessori Vs. Conventional School
To Educate The Human Potential
by Maria Montessori
The Child Is The Teacher: A Life Of Maria Montessori
by Cristina DeStefano
Want more Milwaukee Record? Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter and/or support us on Patreon.