My daughter got accepted into the preschool we wanted! Anyway, I told a friend of mine about about it, and his reply:
"So Anya is going to a Montessori, so that means either you still have some belief or you want anya to have some.
Either way that is cool. "
Now, as an atheist, I don’t believe in the existence of any gods. He knows this, so I figure he’s just trying to bait me.
Our impression of the Montessori school wasn’t that it was particularly religious, but they put a great emphasis on creativity and learning. We wanted something more than a daycare center.
If the religion she is exposed to is done in a reasonable fashion, I don’t have any problems with it. If she sings “Jesus loves me, this I know”, I don’t really mind. If she makes a painting of Noah’s Ark or a cross made of popsicle sticks, it won’t cause me to accept theists’ claims. If she comes home saying that Christianity has its roots in Hebrew religion centered around the diety Yahweh, that’s fine with me, too.
However, if her science teacher tells her we could not possibly have shared a common ancestor with primates because we were created by a supernatural deity, then I may take some askance at the education I’m paying for.
What are your experiences with a Montessori school?
Our kiddo has been in Montessori for about two years now, and this is the first I’ve heard about any of this. Maybe in the more advanced years? Our daughter is only 3, so I guess they wouldn’t start religious education at that age anyhow.
Montessori is by no means religious - it is a teaching method. I am a board chairman for a completely secular Montessori school, and both of my kids attend. My elder child has been in Montessori for almost 8 years now.
In other words, as a teaching method, it can be used at religious or secular institutions, just like traditional teaching methods.
I went to a Montessori school when I was a young 'un. I don’t recall any sort of religious instruction at all. My parents were both atheists at the time they enrolled me.
Whaaaaaat? I was in a montessori school from preschool to sixth grade, and it was in no way religious. It was just like any other public school in terms of what they wanted us to learn; just the approach of how to teach/learn was different.
Your friend sounds confused about what montessori actually is. Ask him to go read the wiki article
WTF? I also went to a Montessori school from preschool to 6th, and religion was never mentioned at all. FWIW, it was a great school that really seemed to allow freedom in the learning environment, and if I ever planned to have kids I would seek out a Montessori school to send them to.
The term “Montessori” is not copyrighted or protected in any way, so anyone can use it. Thus, you will get schools advertising themselves as “Montessori” that have no affiliation with AMI, and frankly, Maria Montessori wouldn’t recognize them if they came up and bitch-slapped her. As noted above, many church-affiliated and religious schools claim to utilize the teaching method (and I’m sure lots actually do!).
You have to do your homework- make sure the school is affiliated with AMI, be sure that the teacher have actual Montessori training & certification (0-3 or 3-6).
But yeah, no religious stuff in true Montessori.
Edited to add- both my kids are in Montessori (kinder & 2nd grade) and have been there since preschool. I can’t say enough great things about it. Academically, socially, artistically- they are way, way ahead of their public-schooled peers.
This probably isn’t the thread to debate the different Montessori certification organizations, but in addition to AMI, there are AMS and MEI, and maybe others.
Agreed. Montessori kids start out really learning the concepts behind reading and math, which ends up helping everything else later.
I’m a montessori kid as well. I always found it was more secular than not. I think they want you to learn through experience and figure things out on your own rather than be overly instructed. That was my experience. I just remember being really little and there was a puzzle with blocks and they didn’t even really tell you what the goal of the puzzle was they just let you sit there and fuck it up without helping you until you finally get it. All of us I know that went to montessori school turned out really weird though.
Yea, another anecdote from someone who went to Montessori and never saw anything religious in them (other than things like Christmas and Three Kings Day, too commonplace to ignore). I like it, what I remember from it (preschool). If I could, and if I ever have kids, I’d send them to one, at least for the first years of schooling.
Your friend either knows a great deal about Montessori education, or nothing at all. Maria Montessori was herself a devout Catholic of the mystical type and this is evident from her writings. Her fundamental notion is that a child is created by God for a reason, and merely loaned to parents and teachers whose job it is to respect the possibilities of each child. She further believed that humanity is responsible for finding out and carrying out its role in the cosmic plan. These notions form a large part of the basis of the Method as she developed it. The teacher’s role is to refrain from hindering the child in discovering the strengths and abilities which he or she was given, and in guiding the child to use those abilities as a valued member of the larger society (if you like).
But there won’t be any of the kind of sectarian teaching you mention, unless it’s a religious school using the method.
My son attends a Montessori and they say a prayer at assembly. The teacher reads bible stories and tells the children they should say grace before eating. They also teach them that there is a ‘creator’ but, in my son’s class at least, they juxtapose it rather clumsily with big-bang theory.
It depends on the school. Here in the Dominican Republic religion is pretty difficult to get away from, in any school.
Huh. Doesn’t sound like our school at all. In fact, children must have a lesson on the appropriate use of the materials before they work with them for the first time. They aren’t allowed to just fuck around with stuff- each thing has a specific purpose. YMMV, I suppose.
And yes, I knew there were other Montessori organizations, I just couldn’t think of any and was too lazy to look! Sorry about that.
I wonder if your friend was confusing it with Waldorf Education, based on the teaching methods and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. While Waldorf schools are not religious in the sense a parochial school is, there is a lot of teaching through myth and seasonal cycles. It feels nearly pagan at times, and most of the neopagans I know who don’t homeschool have their kids at Waldorf. And, much like **Marienee **says of Montessori as a philosopher, Steiner certainly had a strong religious opinions and it did influence, and to some degree permeate his ideas and methods, which have been passed down. But they aren’t preaching over applesauce during snack time.
(My comments are based on my observation as a friend of many families from The Chicago Waldorf School in particular, and may not be representative of other Waldorf schools.)
