When we watched the film on the Montessori School in Italy, it was clear what an amazing program it was. It is so important for children to get into a program that develops and enhances their everyday life skills. It’s even a researched fact that early childhood development is effective. I don’t know a lot about the programs that are here in the U.S. and they could be similar to the ones in the video, but from my experiences I haven’t seen anything like it before. If there are similar programs they are few in number. It’s the skills we learn between two and five that really mold us into the person we will become, and it’s unfortunate that programs like the Montessori school in Italy aren’t mandatory for children in the U.S.
Many children early in life miss out on equal opportunity of education because they aren’t wealthy enough to attend high end preschools or they live in an area where maybe only traditional head start programs are offered. It may also have to do with the fact that parents aren’t fully aware of the importance early childhood development plays in their child’s future education so they don’t take the time to teach skills to them or put them in some sort of program. For me, this is where the education gap of racial groups and rich and poor begins to pull away from one another. But that is why it needs to be mandatory to put children into these programs. This would allow children to start the k-12 system on equal playing fields as far as prior education is concerned.
We have these programs now that begin to teach children between two and five reading and math skills, which are important; but in a study that I read I saw that children involved in these programs were effected for only a few years after. I think children are better off having these programs then nothing but what would really have an impact is a program design around introspective learning. The reason I see so much potential in the Montessori school is because it goes beyond the traditional education system which sometimes only teaches us how to learn these facts but not how to apply them to our lives. From watching this film, I saw that the children were learning to figure out what the problem was, asked to solve it and explained their solution. This teaches them to be independent learners and not to depend solely on the teachers. I also thought it was remarkable to see them using many methods of learning to look at one thing. This was allowing their brains to develop in several areas versus one. This will benefit them such a great deal.
Along with the cognitive skills, they too are working on their social skills with their peers and adults. This will help them in the future to work well with others. Although social skills should be developed in a child’s home as well, a school should stress the importance of social skills seeing that they are almost mandatory when you enter the job force.
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Laura,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the Reggio Emilia preschools. You saw in them something different from what you have seen or experienced in the U.S. I was struck by how clearly you saw that children were learning to name their own problems and to find answers to them by using many methods and that this taught social and cognitive skills--both important in life. Educators learn a lot by asking what students already think and what they already understand --and so do the students. I wonder how we can help more teachers to see and think in this way?
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