Ten Lessons that Montessori will NOT teach

First posted on Montessori Child by Jessica Langford

Montessori does offer many amazing benefits to children, but sometimes I think that the most valuable part of Montessori is what it doesn’t do. The art of Montessori often lies in the subtle or the unseen, in the hundreds of little conscious decisions we make every day that are barely noticeable to observers but make a huge difference to the child. Often these decisions are about excluding a certain element from our environment – such as rewards and punishments. These omissions are not oversights; they are a deliberate attempt to avoid the hidden pitfalls or unintended consequences of these practices.

As you read about what Montessori will do for the child you might find yourself thinking that it sounds exactly like your own experiences, even though you work in a different system of education or don’t send your children to Montessori. If you work in a non-Montessori environment with similar values and practices to those that I describe here as ‘Montessori’, or if your child attends a setting like that, please feel free to mentally replace the word ‘Montessori’ with a phrase that fits your circumstances, such as ‘Our center will not…’ or ‘Good quality early childhood environments will not…’ or ‘Respectful parents/educators will not…’ or ‘Child-led learning will not…”.

With that in mind, this is my list of lessons that Montessori education will NOT teach a child.

1. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “Learning is a chore you do because you have to when someone makes you.”

2. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “You are only good or valuable if an adult tells you that you are with words or rewards.”

3. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “You are a naughty person if you make a mistake.”

4. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “It is only worth being nice if an adult is watching to reward you for it.”

5. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “You are not competent or capable of performing even the most basic tasks.”

6. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “You are not good enough, smart enough or quick enough.”

7. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “The most important thing in life is being ‘smart’ academically”

8. Montessori will not teach your child that;

   “There is a ‘child world’ with one set of admirable traits and expectations and an ‘adult world’ where all of those things change.”

9. Montessori will not teach your child that

   “You are better than some of the children in the class and worse than others. You should change yourself until an adult says you are better than all the other children.”

10. Montessori education will not teach your child that;

    “How you feel, what you like, and what interests you is not nearly as important as what an adult wants you like and do.”

This is why a Montessori teacher will always answer the child’s unspoken plea of “help me to do it myself”. …View the entire article