Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Montessori slowly catching on in FayetteLocal school adding ages to meet demandBy J. FRANK LYNCH If you love Google, thank Dr. Maria Montessori. In a recent interview with Barbara Walters, Google.com founders Larry Page and Sergy Brin credited their Montessori upbringing for giving them the curious, self-starter attitudes that inspired creation of the popular Internet search engine. Since going public with Google last year, each is now worth an estimated $6 billion. But the lifelong friends still live relatively modest, humble lives something else inspired by Montessoris radical approach to early childhood education, said Margaret Sisson, founder of the 13-year-old Fayette Montessori School. Giving children the freedom to explore their own interests at a reasonable pace is the foundation on which Montessori based her method, said Sisson. Teaching isnt a group thing, Sisson explained. Montessori helps children to become independent, self-confident, and learn to make their own decisions. Students are exposed to the same academic subjects, Sisson said, but decide on their own when and in what way they will master the skills an approach that flies in the face of traditional schooling. Nearly 100 years after the Italian physician introduced the world to her theories, many Americans are abandoning false notions about Montessori schools that they are only for undisciplined, gifted or special-needs children, for example, or that Montessori teachers are all members of some new-age cult. Sissons school has grown steadily since it opened in 1992, and now enrolls about 125 kids in a neat, compact campus on Weatherly Way off Ga. Highway 54 East in Fayetteville. From the beginning, Sisson had room for children as young as 18 months to about age 8, or the equivalent skill level of a third grader. After that, however, many parents had little choice but to enroll their children in more traditional public or private schools, which often was an awkward transition, said Sisson, whose own children attend a Fayette County public high school. With the increased awareness and acceptance of Montessori among the mainstream, and the general growth in the community, the demand to add age levels is finally here, Sisson said. Fortunately, so is the room. Last year, Sisson bought an adjacent warehouse and office building from a local commercial builder, who renovated it into a gym and classroom space for 25 more students, ages 9 to 12 years. The school also built a new soccer field, directly behind Ace Hardware. The expansion will allow current Fayette Montessori students to stay through at least 6th grade, Sisson points out. Already, the parents of a number of rising students have signed up for next year, she boasted, and a several more who aged out over the past two years plan to come back. A lot of our families wanted to stay with Montessori but couldnt, she said. Once parents see what a great thing it is, they want to come back to it. Students already enrolled got first dibs on next years spots, Sisson said. Open enrollment to the community begins March 1 on a first-come, first-served basis. The tuition, about $6,500 a year, is a bargain compared to more exclusive private schools like Woodward Academy. The fact that there are few true Montessori schools on the southside of Atlanta is a concern. Teens wanting to continue in Montessori can transfer to Counterpane School on Ga. Highway 314 north of Fayetteville, which recently began offering class levels through age 18. Fayette and Counterpane are the only local schools recognized by the North American Montessori Teachers Association, as well as the Association Montessori Internationale, founded by Maria Montessori in 1929 to preserve the integrity of her programs. Because the word Montessori was never registered or copyright protected, anyone anywhere in the world can assume the name with no accountability or oversight whatsoever and thousands of have, Sisson said. A Google search for Montessori turned up more than 2 million references, for example. Sisson advised parents seeking out a Montessori school to do their homework and ask for the AMI endorsement. MORE INFORMATION: Fayette Montessori School, 190 Weatherly Drive, Fayetteville, will begin open enrollment for the 2005-06 school term, ages 18 months through 12 years, starting March 1. For more information, call 770-460-6790 or go to fayettems@cs.com or fayettemontessori.com. Who was Montessori? Maria Montessori, born in Italy in 1870, was always ahead of her time. At age 13, she defied her fathers wishes and enrolled in an all-boys technical school. After seven years, she moved on to study medicine and in 1896 became the first Italian woman awarded a medical degree, with a special interest in psychology, education and anthropology. In 1907, while working at the University of Rome psychiatric clinic, she took charge of 50 impoverished children living on the dirty, desolate streets of one of the citys worst slums. Unlike the rest of society, Montessori accepted the children on their terms and nurtured an environment in which they could realize their own fullest potential. Her success won wide acclaim around the world, and in 1915 she was invited by Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison to speak at Carnegie Hall in New York City. From there, she was asked to set up a classroom at the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. For four months, spectators observed 21 children behind a glass wall teaching themselves, as Montessori put it. The experiment led to sweeping changes in American education. Montessoris strong opposition to Mussolinis fascism forced her to flee Italy for Spain in the 1930s. She found exile in India, where she was allowed to lead training courses despite being detained as an illegal alien throughout much of World War II. She was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. She died in Holland in 1952. In her own words Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men. Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed. The first idea the child must acquire is that of the difference between good and evil. The greatest sign of success for a teacher ... is to be able to say, The children are now working as if I did not exist. SOURCE: The International Montessori Index,
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