Montessori system boosts confidence, say experts

Updated on: Monday, January 23, 2012

Schools are not factories and children are not empty slates. These were the lessons taught to teachers and parents by montessori experts Ms Paula Polk Lillard (80) and her daughters, Ms Lynn Lillard Jessen and Ms Angeline Lillard, from the US at the MAITRI conference held in the city on Saturday.

The trio enlightened the audience with several examples of how children become more confident and content when they learn through the montessori education system.

The three will visit Montessori and conventional schools in Chennai to observe the behavioural differences among children in different schools.

“Teachers should not give rewards to students for their learning. The child will stop learning once it gets bored with the rewards. Don’t reward them, but allow them to learn at their own pace,” the experts told this newspaper on the sidelines of the meet.

The experts, who run a school in the US, said children start learning from birth and they enrolled children as young as 18 months old.

“Children should be allowed to learn gradually. We found that children in the Montessori system turn out to be well-informed and possess sharing and good problem-solving abilities than children from top conventional schools,” they said.

Ms Paula Polk Lillard said the Montessori system enabled children to work on their own. “No matter whether the child belongs to an underprivileged or affluent family, this system instils confidence and empowers the student to face challenges and take the right decisions,” she said.

Ms Angeline Lillard said when children are punished, their joy of learning is affected. “Children are graded and judged all the time in conventional schools.

Parents and teachers should understand that if kids are punished, it will affect them. And the purpose of punishing children to correct them will be lost,” she said.

Montessori system boosts confidence, say experts

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