What are the benefits of sending your child to Montessori vs a traditional primary school?

Answer 1

I’m a public elementary Montessori teacher. My program is in one of public schools in my district so that it has become quite easy to compare traditional and Montessori education.

To begin with my students are primarily a mixture of second language, low income, minority students. Many come with labels such as ADD, Asperger’s, and dyslexia. Many come in below grade level, and yet, by the end of the year they consistently out score not only a similar make up of students, but the white upper middle class students (they are in a another school in my district) and the children in our Gifted and Talented Program(Supposedly the best and brightest in our district.).

Besides their high test scores, other teachers have noticed that the children in the Montessori classrooms have greater self confidence, are intrinsically motivated, take responsibility for their learning, have a higher vocabulary, and are better at conflict resolution.

In the 10 years that our program has been in existence, over 95 percent of the students who have gone all the way through our program (k-5) have been placed in accelerated classes when they entered middle school; this is especially amazing when we remember the “labels” that they come to us with.

Lastly, our 2/3 Montessori students were tested this year in history and geography by an outside source. Their scores were amazing. Their knowledge of history was on a high school level while their geography knowledge rivaled most college graduates.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, then read the December 4, 2006 article titled Montessori the Early Years: Evaluating Montessori Education in the Journal of Science by Angeline Lillard. This research was not done on my program so you can see that the statistics that I quoted are not an aberration, but rather the norm.

Answer 2

Its obvious that Roger N is talking out of his butt. Sending your child to a private school is not keeping them from the real world and not everything is cast off as a sin. If anything private schools teach children to positively handle bad situations and gives them positive options, where as most public schools have a higher rate of behavior problems and most kids are disrespectful and teachers tend to turn their heads the other way. With public schools, you never know what kind of kids your child will be with, because public schools have to accept everybody. Montessori schools are set up so that the child can work at their own pace and allows them to move on once they have mastered what they have been studying. Montessori school was set up by a woman to give poor children a chance to go to school and it was very successful. Unfourtanelty today, these schools charge high tutuion and only the privileged children can afford to go there. It also takes a certain type of child to attend. If your child needs constant supervison and might not have innitative, then this type of schooling might not work. Take a look at all of your options and decide what is best. If I could afford it, I would send my daughter there. Currently she is in the public school system and I'm not very happy with it. She used to go to a private school, but when we moved I put her in a public school and I can't believe the stories about the children's behavior and how they disrespect their teachers. She never came home with stories like that when she was in a private school.
The benefits are she probably will be in a better more positive learning environment where learning, discipline and respect are important.

Answer 3

Hi

I just thought I'd give a younger person's point of view. My 16 year old friend went to a Montessori primary school and she really benefited from it. From what she's told me it sounds so much better than my regular primary, because of the friendly atmosphere and the more laid back approach to learning, rather than test after test that we get in government run schools.

Answer 4

Montessori:
to develop an interest in learning, at your own rate
to develop self disciple from within; because it is the right thing to do
to develop creativity
to develop independence

traditional:
teacher directed
follow the rules because I say so
everyone draw the same tree
follow the leader

Answer 5

Benefits?
Ok....Um...Well, you will have the benefit of paying money for something that could otherwise be free. MOST private school kids are actually worse off because the NORMAL problems that kids have are brushed off as "sin" and not dealt with otherwise. I've notice a common "blind eye" with the parents. They think that the common problems are not found in private schools. Again, things are usually worse because of this "blind eye"
Another "benefit" is that you are isolating your child from the real world. That may sound like a fair thing for a parent to do but what happens when that kid gets out of school? The won't know the evil games that are played on people for others to get ahead. Those kids are usually the ones that are stepped on.