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Preschool Prep Series: The Montessori Method
The Montessori Method
Part Two
By Tara Swords
Goldstein says Montessori schools also socialize children, but they go beyond the social context to teach academics to the children who want to learn them. "They learn their sounds in preparation for reading, they do counting exercises from one to 10," he says. "This is frowned upon by many nursery schools, but the point of the matter is they're in an environment where they want to do this."
Goldstein emphasizes that children are not pushed to do anything they're not ready to do. Montessori philosophy doesn't pit children against one another in competition. "The benefit is that each child develops his own healthy self-concept," he says. "We always emphasize the positive. So even if he's slow, the child comes to see himself as terrific. And if a child thinks he's terrific, he'll try anything."
Witmer has seen this effect in his daughter, Kendall, now 6 years old. "Kendall was pretty shy when it came to doing new things," he says. "But in the third year [the children] seem to explode with confidence and a love of learning. She's showing the other kids how to read and do stuff, and when I drop her off the other kids ask her to show them how to do stuff."
Many experts argue that preschool-aged children are not cognitively able to process such concepts as reading and mathematics, and that pushing academics gives children the wrong idea. "I have heard the concern that kids are given so much leeway that they don't then know how to deal with structure," says Judy Myers-Walls, associate professor of child development and family studies at Purdue University. "Montessori people would argue against that, and there are probably some very good reasons to argue against that."