Historically, educational thinking has flowed out of what we need to know; what structure that knowledge requires; and what facts and ideas that knowledge depends on. The result is a logical, organized, incremental schemata for instructing a student in a given culture’s idea of what you need to know – i.e., a curriculum.
The genius of Montessori – ‘the difference that makes all the difference’ – is starting education from the child, not from questions about knowledge. The premise being: “What sort of being is this who learns?; How does this person naturally exercise her or his capacities of learning?; How may we best attend his or her work?”
In this regard, Montessori is not aimed at fast-tracked learning, superior rankings, or prodigies but rather, the development of the whole child, the whole human being. This approach opts away from segregating cognitive capabilities as the basis of an educational system. In this learning environment, the construct of knowledge is concrete and experiential, children are led by lessons and materials; skills develop genuinely and profoundly, according to the child’s specific potential and in recognition of the cognitive and psychological characteristics of children in their developmental phases. The outcome of such unencumbered learning is a whole person with the skills, knowledge, self-awareness and self-possession requisite to fulfilling their potential as they grow.
As a result, some children progress farther faster in Montessori than in a school with a fixed curriculum, and some do not. However, regardless of the inherent differences in children, they all emerge with well nurtured psyches, spirits, and values. They also possess a positive attitude about learning and a sense of ownership over their own learning that only evolves from being empowered to self-educate. Such learners do not expect to be extrinsically rewarded by a teacher for academic gain that they accomplish on their own for themselves; potential learning is the reward.
If we can trust in a process of beginning with the child and not with an external base of knowledge; if we can worry less about benchmarking the Montessori approach to traditional education; if we can begin by asking if the child has all that s/he requires to develop to his or her full potential in school and beyond, then we can alter the face of education for the 21st century. As we stimulate the child’s natural drive to learn, that drive will lead the child well beyond the rigors of any classroom and into his or her rightful place in and exploration of the world. And we will see firsthand how far beyond our “expert” expectations our children’s intrinsic rigor will take them.
