Montessori schooling

[DanS]

Originally posted by Donegeal
I don't remember what the cost is, but I know it's basically a mortgage payment for two kids. However, when considering the cost of daycare, it was the second cheapest of the 4 we look at closely (including being cheaper than the Community Action daycare).

The deciding factors for sending them there were price, location (it was three block from our house) and the development of the students that we saw. I didn't know much about the Montessori teaching process until we started sending our girls there. I am VERY happy with the school.

Thanks for the info. Is it private or Catholic?

[Kuciwalker]

Re: Montessori schooling

Originally posted by DanS
Has anybody here atteneded a Montessori school? Have sons/daughters in Montessori? Nieces/nephews/friends? What are your impressions?

I did for kindergarten... but I don't remember much of it. I do think it was probably better for me.

[Kuciwalker]

On a related note, I read an interesting thing the other day. Apparently, the quality of undergraduate education at Ivy League schools is no better than that at regular universities. The success of Ivy League grads has more to do with the selection process than the education they receive. So it is in a way irrational to go to an Ivy League school. Hilarious, huh?

1) Duh. What Asher said.

2) Your conclusion doesn't follow, because it's perfectly rational to want to be around other smart people.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Asher
Prejudice? It's more like common sense.

Some people are blessed with an analytical mind. Others are blessed with the ability to read. Those who can only read become philosophy instructors.

Hilarious. Did you make this up yourself? I can't help it that philosophers provoke such resentment in you, or that we are your intellectual superiors (although admittedly it's not hard in your case).

And to think I knew what you would say, before I actually bothered to read your post.

At least that is something I can remedy in future. A good idea too. No point in derailing Dan's thread further.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Agathon
Hilarious. Did you make this up yourself? I can't help it that philosophers provoke such resentment in you, or that we are your intellectual superiors (although admittedly it's not hard in your case).

Not all, just the ones (which are admittedly, most) that say crap like "we are your intellectual superiors" when it is demonstrably false. You can't even construct basic arguments on a civilization gaming site properly, to me it is unfathomable that any university could have such low standards to accept you as a student, let alone as an instructor. To me such low standards clearly demonstrate that people who study philosophy in school are certainly not "intellectual superiors".

PS: Go reply to the Mac thread in the tech forum. I can't wait for your rebuttal.

[onodera]

I attended such school for the first 1.5 years of my education. I, too, remember the sandpaper letters and some other stuff, but I don't know how beneficial the whole thing was to me. I don't notice any difference. Maybe it's because it was a Russian school.

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by DanS


Thanks for the info. Is it private or Catholic?

Interesting question, as I see a Catholic School as private; but no, it's not Catholic (I don't think I'd let my children go to a Catholic School).

[Agathon]

Any idea why 3/5 of these schools are in the US?

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
2) Your conclusion doesn't follow, because it's perfectly rational to want to be around other smart people.

Further, I think most would go to a renown university for things like the contacts they gain and networks they can join rather than the schooling or the intelligence of the other students. It's clearly a status symbol.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Donegeal
Interesting question, as I see a Catholic School as private; but no, it's not Catholic (I don't think I'd let my children go to a Catholic School).

I'm only following US convention of private versus parochial, not validating the distinction.

There is some Catholic history with Maria Montessori, and there are some Catholic Montessori schools, but her methods are very practical and non-religious. Your kids aren't being stuffed with RC doctrine, I can reassure you.

Anyway, thanks again for your thoughts and info.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Dauphin

Further, I think most would go to a renown university for things like the contacts they gain and networks they can join rather than the schooling or the intelligence of the other students. It's clearly a status symbol.

This is incorrect. The Ivies do not admit people because they are smart, but because they will be successful in later life. That's why their admission process focuses on what many consider academically irrelevant tripe. That's the whole point of the study. If you are accepted to an Ivy, then you will for the most part be just as successful in your life if you go to a non-Ivy than if you accept the place at the Ivy. It's the selection that matters, not the education. The only people who buck this trend are those at the bottom of the social heap. They actually benefit from going to an Ivy. Nor do the contacts matter, or the status symbol. Actually attending an Ivy makes zero difference for most people.

The point of the study is that, once you understand that it does nothing for you, it is a pointless status symbol and somewhat of a waste of money. Society would be better off if we simply abolished the Ivies, since they promote competitive consumption rather than any real benefit for the consumers or the rest of society.

It doesn't mean that if you don't go to an Ivy, that you are going to be just as successful as people who do.

But if you want to talk about this, start another thread.

[Donegeal]

Originally posted by DanS
There is some Catholic history with Maria Montessori, and there are some Catholic Montessori schools, but her methods are very practical and non-religious. Your kids aren't being stuffed with RC doctrine, I can reassure you.

I know they aren't. I pay as close attention to what goes on at that school as I can.

[DanS]

Originally posted by Agathon
Any idea why 3/5 of these schools are in the US?

I have my ideas about this, but suffice it to say that the US didn't have a head start -- quite the contrary. A quick google search shows that Alexander Graham Bell started the first US Montessori association, but apparently there weren't many/any organized schools until Montessori was reintroduced to the US in the 60s.

Two other big Montessori countries -- India and the UK -- had a several decade head-start.

[Agathon]

What are your ideas, Dan?

My money would be that the US is a more competitive and inegalitarian society. This is what made me think of the Ivy League thing. When I was growing up, almost no-one cared about this. People just went to their local school. Now, as New Zealand has become socially closer to the US, private schooling, ranking schools, whining about districting, and alternative schooling have become more prevalent.

[DanS]

Mainly, in the US, private schools are schools with a religious affiliation (see private versus private-religious versus parochial discussion, above). So it's much less inegalitarian than you think. The closest private school to my home was the Amish one-room schoolhouse a mile away. But you are correct that private schools are a well-known commodity and on the whole they are well-respected institutions.

Add in the fact that private schools are much more free to experiment with ideas and Montessori's ideas were reintroduced at a time of upheaval in US society. The net result is that Montessori is in the acceptable and fashionable portion of the counterculture for respectable society. No matter that in truth Montessori is getting somewhat long in the tooth.