Do Ya Thang

According to Montessori, children go through five major sensitive stages in which they are especially attuned to learning/mastering various tasks such as walking, use of hands, language and establishing order. She stated that every child goes through these stages at their own pace ("from their own maturational promptings") and will move on to the next only after they have mastered their current sensitive stage. Montessori emphasized that children are not meant to be shaped like clay, as they learn independently, and that adults should not try to control learning so much as encourage it. I think it would be beneficial to kids if parents and teachers encouraged independent learning as opposed to rigorous, structured curriculums because learning about one's passions at one's own pace is better than learning something just because somebody says so. Legislators would do well to recognize this, too, and take much of the emphasis off of standardized testing and put it back onto actual learning.

Montessori also criticized the school system's practice of punishment/rewards for grades because it incentivizes the learning process, thus taking the emphasis off of learning and puts it on getting rewarded (by the grade, gold star, whatever) and avoiding punishment (a low grade, "frowny" face, ect.). This is harmful because if the punishment/reward comes first, "learning" is just a means to an end instead of a fulfilling experience in which tasks are mastered for their own sake. While I think it would be difficult to take grades out of the public education system, teachers/schools/society should focus on learning/mastery more than grades, as a grade isn't always representative of a student's understanding of subject material.