anarchist views on Montessori education?

Question

Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria montessori and characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom , and respect for a child’s natural psychological,physical, and social development.the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI)  cites these elements as essential:^[

• Mixed age classrooms, with classrooms for children ages 2½ or 3 to 6 years old by far the most common
• Student choice of activity from within a prescribed range of options
• Uninterrupted blocks of work time, ideally three hours
• A constructivist or "discovery" model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, rather than by direct instruction
• Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators
• Freedom of movement within the classroom
• A trained Montessori teacher

Answer 1

i feel about this particular school (of thought and of teaching) as i do most things that are attempts to do good within the system.

to the extent that they encourage/allow people to think for themselves and believe that they can make a difference and reject things that suck, and in those ways do better than most western school systems, i appreciate them.

to the extent that they operate within the system (even if/when marginalized), they encourage people to believe that the system works (is flexible, tolerant, but most importantly all-inclusive) then they are reformist and hence not helpful to my goals.

contradictions abound....

Comments

can you please elaborate what you mean by "within the system"? the way i read it, almost all creative anarchist activity is within the system, while most destructive activity would fall outside. i see both as essential anarchist praxis.

in any case. a montessori school could explicitly teach that the system doesn't work, and teach the skills for resisting it.

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outside the system means to me that it is not acknowledged by, or is actively discouraged by, the powers that be. montessori schools are accepted as part of the educational system, albeit marginalized within it. teachers are paid in montessori schools.

vs, for example, free skools, which are happening less these days, but are what i would say are consistent with an anarchist practice.

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dot: "outside the system means to me that it is not acknowledged by, or is actively discouraged by, the powers that be. "

i really like this description.