Maria Montessori Critical Analysis

1491 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay about innovation in education

Educational Reading Responses:

Response 1: Montessori, Maria. (1949). From The Absorbent Mind. The Theosophical Publishing House. -- http://www.moteaco.com/abcclio/absorb.html

Passage: “Education, as today conceived, is something separated both from biological and social life. All who enter the educational world tend to be cut off from society (Montessori, 1949, para.32).

This passage from Maria Montessori describes the egalitarian approach that teachers and students must create in the learning environment. The current methods of education define the students and teachers are “separated both from biological and social life”, which reflects the disconnect between the learning process and how people actually interact in a social context. …show more content…

The concept of “banking” is based on the teacher’s assumption that they know more than the student, and that the student must completely submit to tier educational curriculum. In contrast to this method of teaching, the educator can also possess the “problem-posing” method, which allows the teacher to engage the student and develop a mutual understanding of the educational process without being authoritarian. Therefore, the banking concept is really a negative and controlling way to educate students, since the teacher cannot possibly know everything or presume to have knowledge that is absolute. This is a danger to the educational system because it merely regurgitates old ideas and does not engage the student’s opinion on new phenomenon that can learned by teacher and student alike. Certainly, Freire (1970) is defining the two different positions of authoritarian and anti-authoritarian methods of learning, which he presents as an interesting dichotomy about the learning process in 19th century …show more content…

However, his wife does not know basic multiplication tables that are typically taught to students at a very young age. Certainly, Kohn’s wife is able to comprehend these mathematical practices, but it also defines the limits of knowledge of so-called "educated people.” More so, it defines the impossibility of any single person having absolute knowledge of everything, which defines the parameters of education that occur within a classroom setting. This is why Kohn (2004) finds a value in the limitations of wife’s education because no single person really knows everything, which makes the learning process a social and cooperative exchange of ideas by people with different expertise. This is part of the “purpose of education” in Kohn’s point of view, which defines the learning environment as a place in which ideas can be exchanged, but not controlled through an authoritarian top-down style of education. In addition to this idea, the teacher/professor should remain open to the idea of their limitations as teachers, which can be expanded by engaging the student to bring their own input into the learning

Show More
Related

  • The Banking Concept Of Education In Paulo Freire's Pedagogy Of The Oppressed

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1970, Paulo Freire caused extreme discomfort throughout the academic community, when the novel Pedagogy of the Oppressed was published. In one memorable chapter, Freire confronts not only the education system but also the overall concept and misfortunate consequences of what he calls “The Banking Concept of Education”. This ideal involves the educator (often referred to as the ‘oppressor’) preaching information as the students submit to note taking and memorization. Pedagogy of the Oppressed suggests, quite convincingly, that this method causes and also reciprocates a system that is actually completely unreceptive to education itself. Paulo Freire proposes another method known as the problem-posing method. While the problem-posing method vastly improves banking method ideas, Freire is ambiguous in his explanation of problem-posing, making it nearly impossible to view problem-posing as a viable and practical solution. The key to education is taking the style of the banking method while implementing the curriculum with a problem-posing backbone.

    Read More

  • Paulo Freire's The Banking Concept Of Education

    1357 Words  | 3 Pages

    One teacher may adopt the banking concept while the other may utilize the problem-posing concept. However, while problem-posing education generates creativity by giving students the ability to communicate, banking education does not. Freire asserts that in the “banking” concept of education, “the teacher chooses the program content, and the students (who were not consulted) adapt to it” (217). Freire indicates that students, who are victims of banking education, have no control over how an instructor chooses to teach. Therefore, creativity is destroyed by the fact that it was not even permitted in the first place. Students are not able to express their opinions or solve problems using their own methods because in order to pass the class, students not only need to adapt to the teaching style of their professors but think like them too. Freire’s quote relates to experiences I have had with “banking” teachers throughout my twelve years of formal education. Those teachers only taught using textbooks, therefore, they insisted that the textbook was always right. If I were to solve a math problem using a technique different from the book, then I would not get points for the problem even though my answer was right. And if I were to interpret an open-ended essay different from how my teacher would then my interpretations would be wrong. By doing this, my teachers destroyed my creativity. I was prohibited from my own thoughts and penalized if I expressed them. The only alternative for me was to become a “robot” that followed the orders of authorities, but being a “robot” was not something I was ashamed of. In fact, my role as a “robot” led me to better understand the “drama of Education” in which teachers attempt to “regulate the way the world ‘enters into’ the students”. I was able to figure out that my own teachers had tried to handle the way the world “entered into me” by

    Read More

  • Freire's The Banking Concept of Education

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    The banking concept is “ a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those who they consider to know nothing'; (Freire 213). The goal of the ‘banking’ concept is to deposit as much information into the students as possible. This results in disconnected memorization without the real understanding and discouragement of creative thought.They cannot think for themselves. As Marx writes, just as there are two types of learning, ‘banking’ and problem-posing, he explains that society is this way also. There is the upper class and subordinate classes. They both struggle for economic and political power and the primary way the upper class keeps its power is through their beliefs and values. They are allowed to think. The subordinate classes believe they are subordinate due to the upper classes prestige and way of thinking. Like Freire’s ‘banking’ concept, education is the way to keep students down and this works because the students accept all knowledge from the teacher, just like the dominant class in Marx’s ideology, keeps the subordinate classes submissive.

    Read More

  • Paulo Freire's Essay: The Banking Concept Of Education

    1363 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the Freire’s “the banking ‘banking’ concept education.” he interpreted that teacher deposit themselves contains reality to students, and take the concept as if reality although it is far away from our life. This kind of education model led students to adapt the world, but not judges the world personally. T The capability of banking education to minimize or annul the students’ creative power and to stimulate their credulity serves the interest of the oppressors, who care neither to have the world revealed nor to see it transformed (Freire, Pg.217). The process of teacher’s teaching just an information transition, this act make students away from real life and world. Hence, banking education makes people apart from praxis. Apart from the way to be a fully human being in the real

    Read More

  • The Montessori Method

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    In American public schools children are sitting still, listening to a teacher, for seven or more hours a day. Students are often denied the ability to go to the bathroom, move around, or even speak openly in their classrooms. Spending long days “without any freedoms is psychologically damaging to many students” (Gray). As “children are required to be in school, where their freedom is greatly restricted,” they begin to resent learning because they associate it with being uncomfortable and discouraged (Gray). In a Montessori classroom, the focus is more on students working independently with guidance as needed, rather than as a group being instructed. Students work for “long interrupted periods of time” (Israelson). During these periods, students may move around at their leisure and work how they want in any activity they choose. Many “Montessori programs can have large classes” with multiple age groups in one class (Israelson). Montessori schools can have “children from as many as three grades in one class” (Israelson). This class structure benefits the students because the younger children can learn from the older children, and the older children have a chance to be role models or leaders, and often help younger students understand what the teacher wants them to learn

    Read More

  • Styles of Teaching: Banking Concept vs. Problem Posing

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through this essay I am going to try and show the advantages of “problem posing” style to education. In my opinion this style of education is very effective in expanding the minds of the receiver by making them more interactive in their learning rather than the typical lecture and take notes. In this style of education people teach each other and the teacher is not the only one enlightening the class with their knowledge. I cannot only speak this opinion from my own experiences, but also others who share in the same view sculpted by their experiences. The two authors whom I used for a base of my point of view are Paulo Freire and Richard Rodriguez. Freire wrote the essay called “The Banking Concept of Education,” in which Freire shows how “problem posing” education is the most effective way to teach and be taught at the same time. Rodriguez wrote the essay call...

    Read More

  • My Education Philosophy

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    I believe that teaching and learning is both a science and an art, which requires the implementation of already determined rules. I see learning as the result of internal forces within the person student. I know that children differ in the way they learn and grow but I also know that all children can learn. Students’ increased understanding of their own experience is a legitimate form of knowledge. I will present my students with opportunities to develop the ability to meet personal knowledge.

    Read More

  • Contributions Of Piaget And Vygotsky's Cognitive Development

    1707 Words  | 4 Pages

    Furthermore, Vygotsky declares that knowledge is constructed by social interactions with people who surround the child. The author also presents the concept of “zone of proximal development” as the distance between what children do without any supervision and what they are not able to achieve unless a more knowledgeable person guides them through it. In other words, the zone of proximal development refers to activities children cannot do, though they manage to fulfill with certain level of difficulty by following their better skilled fellows' suitable guidance. In the educational field, teachers play an essential role on their learners’ developmental process. Educators serve as models and provide a vast range of learning opportunities that enable their students reach their next level of development and become more autonomous each

    Read More

  • Maria Montessori: Italian Physician and Educator

    837 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first woman that became an acceptation concerning women and education was Maria Montessori. Thinks to Maria Montessori and her efforts in education, women all over can be inspired to achieve an education in any area that they aspire. The reason why Montessori is so important is because of her philosophy that children should be taught and treated respectfully. “Perhaps this stemmed, in part, from her school experiences”.4 When Montessori was a child, she developed this way of thinking that grownups should respect kids, after overhearing a teacher talk about her. As she became older and wiser, in 1896, Montessori achieved one of her greatest accomplishments by becoming the first woman to earn an MD in Medicine. Montessori was a caring person and wanted to dedicate her time to both educating and assisting kids, specifically special needs children. This led her to start working with special-needs students, “developing principles that would promote the achievement of disenfranchised children”. Finally, after a prosperous journey, Montessori opened the "Casa dei Bambini" in Rome in 1907, a school for –After achieving such great success, Montessori would become a two time Pulitzer Prize winner.

    Read More

  • Maria Montessori Research Paper

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Maria Montessori a pioneer for helping women and children. Whether it being medically or educational wise, Maria devoted and dedicated her life to helping teachers in Europe then around the world understand why it’s it key to learning and studying early childhood development. Maria broke down gender barriers and advocated for disabled children when others wouldn’t, this is why Maria Montessori is an inspiring legend to millions of women and children.

    Read More

  • Essay On The Montessori Method

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maria Montessori was the first female doctor in Italy. Her background in science guided her discoveries of children in Rome. It was these discoveries that led her to creating a method that would impact many students. The Montessori method in the United State has had in impact on US education. The story of its humble beginnings to its rise of influence supports just how impactful it has been in the United States.

    Read More

  • Two Key Perspectives Of Physical Development: Arnold Lucius Gesell

    1338 Words  | 3 Pages

    Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 and influenced childcare massively in the 20th century. Montessori believed that children learn best through using their hands. She felt that one of the main factors that contributed to the child’s development was the ‘prepared’ environment. Children learn through exploration and the adult’s role is to create an environment where they can do

    Read More

  • The Montessori Method

    2410 Words  | 5 Pages

    According to Maria Montessori, 'In the special environment prepared?in our schools, the children themselves found a sentence that expresses their inner need, 'Help me to help myself.' ? (Standing, 1957). The ?prepared environment?, according to Montessori, consists of clean, bright, multi-sensory stimulating materials that are engaging for the child and that are placed in at their level so they can be accessed freely. There is a concentration on ?discovery moments?, defined as when a child learns new information through personal exploration (Fisher, 1964), in reading, math, social skills, and other subjects. The guided discovery approach means careful planning and direction for the child and that adults must know the purpose and meaning of each activity the child chooses in the classroom. Montessori teachers attempt to instill an internal drive into the children using this child-centered approach to teaching. An example of this is the use of mats or rugs in the classroom. Each child has a mat or rug to spread their materials out on. Every other child is respectful of this child?s space and he/she, in turn, is respectful of others. The result of this approach is a classroom full of self-monitoring students.

    Read More

  • Paulo Freire: The Banking Concept Of Education

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    In The “Banking” Concept of Education, Paulo Freire effectively uses tone, ethos, pathos, and logos to argue that his proposed Problem-Posing education system is better than the common banking concept of education (Freire 33). The audience that Freire is writing to is going to consist of teachers and students. Teachers and students are effected most of all by the system of education that is used, and they are the ones that care most about how students are educated. In The “Banking” Concept of Education, Freire compares the current method of education to a monetary banking system where the information is deposited by the teacher into the students, and then the teacher withdraws the information when they please (27). Freire argues that the banking

    Read More

  • Classroom Observation Reflective Essay

    1220 Words  | 3 Pages

    "The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as every child should be instilled with the wish to learn."

    Read More

More about Maria Montessori Critical Analysis

Open Document