Why there is no full Montessori School in Malaysia?
Montessorimum blog on this some time ago
(1) The teachers
The Montessori philosophy is so alien to most of us who grew up in the traditional classroom and it takes a shift in paradigm, a total change of mindset in order to fully understand Montessori philosophy. Many of us picked and choose at the buffet table of Montessori, applied that in our school setting and called it “Montessori”.
Montessori is more than a house of equipments/apparatus/toys, whichever you called it. It’s a way of life and a philosophy that dictates your practices. This required spiritual preparation of the teacher, she needs to feel a sense of calling, to want to commit herself to the total wellness of the child, and forgo her own personality. How many of us can put up our hands and say “I do”? I am afraid I am not withstanding, I am struggling with this on a daily basis and often failed miserably.
(2) The assistants
(3) The parents
Many parents measured the effectiveness or the quality of a program by the amount of homework given. Developmentally inappropriate not withstanding, much of this homework is just useless and senseless. Well, if your child has excellent visual memory, they will do well in whatever schools you place them. The challenge is: to raise a child who see learning as a joyous experience, not just senseless copying work.
What more are expecting from their children, to do tons of senseless and useless repetative workbooks that feed their own satisfaction that: my child “know” this and that?
True learning is more than parroting and doing activities that doesn’t help the child to grow spiritually and intellectually.
(4) The money
If you enter the teaching profession with the money as the only factor, you will be disappointed. To be an honest, dedicated teacher doesn’t pay well.
In order to make more money, many need to adapt to what parents prefer i.e. single aged classroom instead of multi-aged, dive into academic without preparation through practical life and sensorial activities. It’s NOT Montessori without this essential components. People will pay good money to attend one that is not authetically Montessori, because they see the results. Yes, even if the schools skipped practical life, freedom, sensorial and all the important ingredients, and just concentrated on using the Montessori Language arts to teach English and the maths manipulatives to teach maths, they can still produce acdemically capable children. But, what is missing? It’s the normalisation process that we are missing
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