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Montessori at the Secondary Levels

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Montessori at the Secondary Levels MONTESSORI AT THE SECONDARY LEVELS childhood. Even though Montessori This is important to the entire Mon- schools have spread all over the world tessori community because, unfor- Montessori At during the last century, most schools in tunately, in the eyes of many people the United States stop after kinder- around the world, “real education” The Secondary garten. Some schools run through begins with high school. Just consider sixth grade, but Secondary Montessori the relative respect given to high Levels schools are very rare. This is begin- school teachers compared to the level ning to change as more and more of respect given to those who teach our children have been in Montessori schools open elementary preschoolers. Consider the dollars Montessori all their lives. They classes, and many have either opened contributed annually to high schools YY love school and learn enthusias- or are exploring the possibility of compared to the relative pittance tically. Montessori has been the developing middle school programs. given to early childhood programs. perfect match, but your children are approaching the age where they will have to leave Montessori if their school “The need that is so keenly felt for a reform of secondary schools doesn’t do something soon! And so you ask, “Why aren’t there any is not only an educational but also a human and social prob- Secondary Montessori programs in our lem. This can be summed up in one sentence: Schools as they town? What would it take to start a are today are adapted neither to the needs of adolescence nor middle school class at our school?” to the time in which we live.” Most Americans have the impression — Maria Montessori that Montessori is just for early 147 MONTESSORI PROGRAMS Today, we know that this prejudice is illogical, as research supports the prem- ise that the most important years of a child’s education are not the years of high school and col- lege but those of the first six years of life. This is the foundation of every- thing that will fol- low. Illogical as this prejudice may be, it is a fact of life that Montessorians have not been able to escape. Parents in- variably look for evidence that Mon- tessori works, and the evidence that parents would find ultimately compel- ling is a track record of Montessori pre- paring students to gain admission to the finest colleges and universities. For this reason, as Montessori edu- High Schools can validate the effective- The first American secondary pro- cation slowly develops at the high ness of Montessori as a “whole” in the grams influenced by Dr. Montessori’s school level, it will finally be able to eyes of the average person. ideas, but not openly identified as take credit for those terrific young “Montessori” began to appear in the men and women that we have been The Emergence of Secondary 1940s and 1950s. Co-author, Tim sending off for generations to the Montessori Programs Seldin, attended one of the first of finest public and private high schools. these programs at the Barrie School in Think back. Do most people give cred- The first secondary schools organized Silver Spring, Maryland, which estab- it to the preschools and elementary along Montessori principles were lished its upper school in the 1950s. schools that they attended, or do they founded in Europe in the 1930s. Anne In the late 1970s, a small group of look back fondly on their high school Frank, the young girl made famous by Montessori leaders, interested in the years? For this reason alone, the expan- her poignant diaries, was a student in development of an American Montes- sion of Montessori at the high school the first Montessori high school in sori secondary model, founded the level is an important and essential Amsterdam when it was closed by the Erdkinder Consortium. This group’s trend in the future development of Nazis. At last count, there were eight discussions led to a consensus that Montessori around the world. Only the large, highly regarded Montessori High while Dr. Montessori’s vision of a resi- establishment of successful Montessori Schools in the Netherlands. dential, farm-based learning com- 148 MONTESSORI AT THE SECONDARY LEVELS munity would be a model to work toward, schools interested in devel- oping a modified middle school program in the interim should “My vision of the be encouraged to do so. These future is no longer schools became known as “urban- of people taking compromise” programs. exams, earning a In the 1970s, a number of early secondary diploma, adolescent programs openly identi- fied as being “Montessori influ- and proceeding on to enced,” were established in the university, but of United States, including Near North individuals passing Montessori in Chicago, the Ruffing from one stage of Montessori School in Cleveland, independence to a Ohio, and two that are no longer in operation: the Montessori Farm higher, by means of School in Half Moon Bay, California their own activity, and the Erdkinder School near through their own Atlanta, Georgia. effort of will, which In 1982, the Barrie School constitutes the inner became the first Montessori Junior and Senior High School program evolution of the officially recognized by the Ameri- individual.” can Montessori Society. That year, — Maria Montessori the Institute for Advanced Montes- sori Studies in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Dallas Montes- sori Teacher Education Program in Dallas, Texas, opened the first Mon- tessori Secondary teacher educa- tion programs. During the 1980s, a number of other programs for young adoles- cents opened in the United States and Canada, including the Francis- can Earth School in Portland, Oregon; the School of the Woods in Houston, Texas; St. Joseph’s Montessori in Columbus, Ohio; the Toronto Montessori School in Ontario, Canada; and the Athens Montessori School in Athens, Georgia. Today, perhaps half the Montes- sori schools in America stop after kindergarten, while most of the rest extend to the third or sixth grade. Montessori Middle and High School programs, however, are still very rare. We estimate that there 149 MONTESSORI PROGRAMS are now more than two hundred al setting for young adolescents For many years the idea of a Montessori Middle School programs (twelve- to fifteen-year-olds) as they residential farm school was ex- in North America with numerous oth- transitioned physically, cognitively, plored, but considered impractical. ers in various stages of development. socially, emotionally, and morally to Montessori Secondary schools are There are approximately twenty high adulthood. now found in urban and suburban schools openly identifying them- Montessori believed the demands settings in the United States, with selves as Montessori, and a growing of puberty warranted a holiday from enrollments ranging from fewer number under development. traditional lecture-based instruction. than ten students to public school Instead of confining students to programs with more than 250 stu- Montessori’s Vision classrooms, she proposed a program dents. of the Erdkinder that would help them accomplish The cost of organizing a residen- two key developmental tasks: be- tial Erdkinder program has been Maria Montessori first proposed her coming psychologically and eco- considered far too high for any ideas for the reform of secondary nomically independent. Only then, one school to attempt; instead, education in a series of lectures given she argued, would young adoles- Montessori Middle School pro- at the University of Amsterdam cents escape from the pettiness of grams attempt to incorporate as in January 1920. They were later traditional schooling and engage many Erdkinder components as published during the 1930s as part seriously in the realities of life in possible. of her work From Childhood to society. The Montessori community look- Adolescence. Montessori envisioned the Erd- ed on with considerable interest Dr. Montessori’s model of second- kinder as a small community of in 2001 when David Kahn, Direc- ary education is based on her under- teenagers and adults located in a tor of the North American Mon- standing of the developmental needs rural setting. Here teachers and stu- tessori Teacher’s Association and learning tendencies of early ado- dents would live and work together (NAMTA), opened the Montessori lescents. In addition to conceiving throughout the year, growing much Farm School in Huntsburg, Ohio many of the reforms incorporated of their own food and manufacturing in conjunction with the Hershey into today’s most innovative pro- many of the things they would need Montessori School. Serving stu- grams for early adolescents, Montes- for life in the country, thereby devel- dents from ages twelve to fifteen, sori added a unique idea: she recom- oping a deep sense of their connec- the Montessori Farm School is a mended a residential school located tion to the land and the nature and lovely facility and an exciting project in a country setting. value of work. that has attracted widespread atten- Montessori believed that by living She envisioned students, under tion, including a substantial article independently of their families for a adult supervision, managing a hostel in the London Times. few years in a small rural community, or hotel for visiting parents. The stu- Many leaders in Secondary Mon- young people could be trained in dents would sell farm goods and tessori education believe that the both the history of technology and other products in their own store. future will lie primarily with non- civilization, while learning the practi- These farm management and store residential programs. The opening cal habits, values, and skills needed to economics would form the basis of of the Farm School, and others assume the role of an adult in today’s meaningful academic studies. like it that may follow, provides an society.
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