Did Montessori get us into this mess (with democracy and world peace)

Undoubtedly, if one looks at the world’s current geopolitical state, it is clear we are in a precarious position. The Pax Americana that has held since 1945 now appears to be on the precipice.

So what does this have to do with Montessori?

For a long time, Montessorians, especially those in major Montessori organizations, have been primarily concerned with classroom fidelity to authentic Montessori practice. Maria Montessori’s vision of a peaceful society has been largely reduced to isolated areas of the classroom, such as peace tables and grace and courtesy lessons.

The result is that Montessori educators are often more focused on whether a child completes a certain amount of work or when to present a particular lesson than on whether children in a community have access to education (of any kind), food, water, shelter, and health care.

Montessori’s vision extended beyond the classroom, into partnership with parents (caregivers), and then outward to society at large. Yet in an effort to get “bums on seats,” have we relegated her vision to elegant prose rather than action? Have we avoided “rocking the boat” to keep enrollments high, instead of engaging families and communities in uncomfortable but necessary conversations about justice and peace?

During the era of Pax Americana, Montessori education in the US has largely been available to middle- and upper-class families (the recent growth in Public Montessori notwithstanding). Families of means have been the primary consumers of Montessori. I use the word consumers deliberately, because Montessori has become entangled with consumerism. This has meant that certain families could access Montessori education while others could not—further entrenching privilege.

To keep schools financially viable, one is unlikely to encourage discussions about a society where everyone has access to education, health care, and shelter. Such conversations may be considered “too political” and risk alienating those “bums on seats.” Without these uncomfortable discussions, however, we end up with hollow Montessori - education that looks good on the surface, produces students with general knowledge and soft skills, but lacks Montessori’s heart of social change.

A glance at the internet over the last fifteen years reveals countless iterations of Montessorians boasting that certain celebrities were Montessori graduates often tieing such lists to reasons why someone should enrol their child at a certain school. These claims carry both subtle and blatant messages: Your child will be wealthy! Your child will build a mega tech empire that reshapes the world—even at the expense of human rights! Your child will rub shoulders with the powerful! See what your financial outlay will buy you!

These messages do not speak to our better angels.

Running alongside this trend has been a torrent of discourse about what makes an authentic Montessori classroom—debates centered on teacher qualifications and classroom materials. Numerous studies have attempted to demonstrate the academic efficacy of Montessori education obviously it is hard to create a quantitive study on whether a child is more likely to be an advocate of social justice if they have attended a Montessori school!

Which brings us back to the original premise: did Montessori, in some form, help get us into this mess? In a way, yes. Some of today’s oligarchs—Jeff Bezos, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Bill Gates—are Montessori graduates. If we claim them as Montessorians, we must also reckon with their actions: their alliances with world leaders, their pursuit of wealth at any cost, and their role in the erosion of democracy.

What does this tell us about whether the true heart of Montessori?

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I run my own non profit school that reaches a diverse population and is predominantly neurodivergent. I take no wage and Montessorikiwi helps cover my living costs. You can help by buying a resource from my store or making a donation to my school here (we are based in New Zealand but accept donations in any currency)

photo credit: Photo by Valentin Ilas: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bumblebee-on-white-clover-in-sunlit-meadow-33045172/