About Montessori - Key Differences Between a Montessori and a Typical Public School

Montessori:	Typical Public School:
Focuses on the child asking questions	Focuses on the child finding right answers
Peaceful and calm learning environment	Often busy and over-stimulating learning environment
Child is able to immerse her- or himself in works uninterrupted and with minimal time constraints	Child is allotted predetermined time on each subject in order to adhere to strict time schedule
Homework is minimal at most, with learning to live in the family and larger community serving as the child’s homework	Beginning in 1st grade, daily homework is an inherent part of educational experience
Community classrooms of three years or more age span	Divided up in grades of one year age span
The teacher is the keeper of the environment	The teacher is the center of the environment
With teacher’s guidance, the child leads the learning process	Teacher leads the learning process
Educational plan is individualized to accommodate various learning styles	One-size-fits-all method is applied to all children with minimal accommodation of different learning styles
Each child is allowed the freedom to learn at his or her own pace	Each child is expected to, with very few exceptions, learn at the same pace as all other children in the class
Focuses on offering the child an education for life	Focuses on the child’s performing well on tests and “passing” one grade to the next
Emphasis is on obtaining satisfaction through the act of learning itself	Emphasis is on grades and competition
Desired behavior is encouraged to come from within through developing awareness of, and connection to, the community	Conforming behavior is obtained by using external and sometimes arbitrary rewards and punishments
Utilizes a portfolio and collection of works to track progress	Utilizes test scores and graded report cards to track progress

 

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