Montessori Today: Introduction and Preface
With this blog, we begin a new series, reviewing Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood by Paula Polk Lillard. Written for parents and educators, Montessori Today is Lilliard’s overview of Montessori education, with emphasis on the elementary years. Reading the preface for the first time in a while, I found myself moved to share quotes and excerpts with my friends concerning Lillard’s views on Montessori children and the state of conventional education. Although this book was written two decades ago, its message remains timely and relevant. Reviewing Montessori Today: The Introduction and Preface Lillard points to an educational reform movement in the 1960s that embraced an open classroom concept following ideas in John Holt’s book How Children Fail, originally published in 1964. Holt describes how schools work on the assumption that “most children don’t want to learn, are no good at it, and won’t try unless made to.” He further states that scho...