Tim Seldin & Paul Epstein Ph.D. An Education for Life

is nothing wrong with law, medicine, teaching, carpentry, or
any other career, as long as it is what is right for the individual.
If the answer to the question of whether or not Montessori
prepares children for the real world is to be judged by
whether or not great percentages of Montessori students pursue
professional careers, then the answer is maybe. If the
answer to the question is to be judged by whether or not
Montessori prepares children for life, then the answer is
unequivocally yes.
As a parent I set very high expectations for my children. I
expected them to be well prepared academically so that they
would be able to follow their dreams wherever that may take
them, but I also hoped that they would be able to make
responsible choices. I also hoped that they would be able to
retain the love of learning and creativity that Montessori nurtured
in them. Although I cared about academics, I felt certain
that my children would achieve similar results from any good
school, Montessori or otherwise. For me, the true value of a
Montessori education went beyond academics.
I have often wished that I had attended a Montessori school
as a child. Things might have turned out differently. For one
thing, I might have saved a lot of money on law school. I really
do believe, however, that all learning experiences have
value and that my years in law school were not wasted. And
maybe a bit of Montessori did rub off on me after all. At the
age of thirty-five, I quit the practice of law to pursue other
interests that I find much more fulfilling — career paths I
probably should have explored in the first place, if I had not
been trying so hard to jam my “round-pegged” personality
into a square professional hole.
When I announced that I wasn’t going to practice law any
more, the initial overwhelming response was, “What do you
mean you’re not going to practice law? How do you think
you’re going to survive without a profession?” Sound familiar?
I hope that as parents we will have the courage to recognize
and continue to support the human values and life lessons
that children learn in Montessori classrooms every day. My
own two children went to good colleges, are now in graduate
school, and seem destined to find satisfaction in their careers
and adult lives. Our world could probably use a lot more
Montessori lawyers, politicians, and doctors who understand
that there’s more to life than being “book smart.” Above all,
though, I think that as parents and educators, we must never
accept the premise that our primary objective must be to
teach children to survive life. Better we should help them
learn to celebrate it!
— Joyce St. Giermaine, Executive Director of
The Montessori Foundation and
Editor of Tomorrow’s Child Magazine
DOES MONTESSORI PREPARE CHILDREN FOR THE REAL WORLD?
My experience with students who leave
the Montessori classroom is that they
keep the Montessori philosophy with
them forever and use what they learned in life. I
have received feedback from students, parents,
and high schools that our students do well in
high school, colleges, universities, and in their
chosen job fields.
Academically, they are well prepared, know how
to learn, and enjoy learning. Since Montessori
offers many different learning styles, students have
acquired the ability to use all modalities, which
allows many options and choices for them. Our
students are pursuing the math and science fields
by winning high school awards and majoring in
these areas in college and universities. They can
take a long-term project and break it down into
“do-able” parts, and they see assessments as feedback
and want to correct their test vs. just get a
grade. Personally, they are self-confident and know
themselves well — their strengths and weakness,
which allows them to make knowledgeable decisions.
They are not afraid to take calculated risks in
pursuing new interests.
Socially, they care about others, know how to
work well in groups, consider the opposite sex as
friends, are student leaders, start new service
organizations, participate in global projects, and
are activists. They are the ones who organize petitions
and are willing take a stand on moral issues
— not only for their own particular causes but also
for larger causes, such as discrimination and religious
preference, which may not affect them personally.
By doing what is best for students at each
plane of development, Montessori prepares them
for the future, because they have developed the
ability to be adaptable and flexible to what is next in
their life.
— Elisabeth Coe, Ph.D., Past-President of
The American Montessori Society;
Faculty Member and Principal of School of
The Woods, Houston, TX, and Executive Director of
The Houston Montessori Center
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