Clearly you can see what happened to our son would not happen at a self directed learning center like Sudbury and if it did, the outcome would be dramatically different. These evil people running Montessori schools would be fired by the students and no longer allowed to prey on children or hire a law firm to coverup bullying for years on end as they have done at Marin Montessori School. As we learned the hard way, these corrupt people at Montessori schools will do everything to protect their positions of power. As Peter points out, Montessori schools are authoritarian top-down institutions where children are not given the autonomy and respect they deserve. Sudbury schools also don’t have a hierarchy and parent organization that ONLY CARES ABOUT MONEY like Montessori schools do.
Back in 2011, someone anonymously posted a comment on a blog post by Peter Gray, Ph.D., who is a developmental psychologist and author of the book, “Free to Learn” saying that they find Montessori very similar to self-directed learning to which he replied with the following:
(5th & 6th comments in this article)
Hi anonymous,
It’s always great to hear about a child who loves school. My first concern, always, for any child, is happiness. If a school regularly makes a child unhappy, the parents should not allow that school to take their child.
You comment on the similarity between Montessori and Sudbury schools. There is, indeed, some similarity, in that Montessori schools take steps in directions toward Sudbury schools, but do not go all the way. e.g.:
-Montessori schools enable some degree of age mixing (often students over a range of three years in age are in the same classroom); Sudbury Valley does not segregate students at all–children aged 4 through 18 all mix together freely. And Sudbury schools have no classrooms–students go wherever they wish in the school building and grounds.
-Montessori schools believe in project learning–the teachers give or suggest projects, which students do largely on their own or in groups, and from which they are expected to learn. Sudbury students also learn through doing projects, but the projects are entirely their own, not chosen or monitored by teachers, and there is no requirement to do any projects at all. Students spend their days entirely as they choose.
-Montessori schools offer some degree of choice. Students generally have a menu of options from which to choose. At Sudbury schools the whole world of choice is available, completely up to the student (as long as no school rules, designed to protect students and the community from harm, are violated).
-In other respects, the difference between Sudbury schools and Montessori schools is vast. Montessori schools are still within the tradition of top-down schooling, in that the assumption is that teachers are responsible to be sure that the students learn a certain curriculum. At Sudbury schools, it is all up to the individual students. At Sudbury, the adult staff (not called teachers) are hired and fired by the school meeting, which includes staff and students together; so, in reality, the staff are employed by the students. That is not true in any other type of school I know of.
-Most people, as I understand it, see Montessori schools as most appropriate for younger children. Few such schools continue into the high-school or even middle-school years. Sudbury schools, on the other hand, are seen as schools for all ages.
So, despite some similarities, the differences are larger than the similarities. All in all, Montessori schools are much closer to typical schools in their procedures and modes of operation than they are to Sudbury schools.
I have not made a study of this, but people involved with Montessori schools tell me that there are rather big differences among them. Since the teachers have considerable power, schools and classrooms can vary considerably in quality and amount of freedom depending on the teacher. I know of some parents who moved their kids from Montessori schools to Sudbury schools, because the former gave their kids a taste of freedom in education, and then they wanted to go the whole way. I know of at least one adult who went from being a teacher in a Montessori school to a staff member in a Sudbury school for the same reason.
My answer here is probably more than you were looking for.
But, again, thank you for your comment and I wish you and your daughter well. It would be nice to hear from others who have had experience with Montessori schools.
-Peter