Posted By: food for thought
One of my many questions about Montessori is this. Despite it being a money drain on the taxpayer, and favoring out-of-district kids, do we really want this method used at the Middle School age? Have any of these parents ever experienced the joys of living with a pre-pubescent? Do we really want to tell these kids at a typically rebellious time in their lives that they can run their own lives? How will this freedom translate to the high school and the traditional curriculum? Has anyone thought ahead? Or did the board just quickly slip this in, before anyone could actually stop it from happening, just hoping to be novel in having this experimental program as the first in the area? I would think that the current Montessori parents, if they really thought this through, would have a few of these concerns themselves. Of course they would never voice them, because then they would be branded a "traitor", but if you really want your child to succeed in the REAL world, wouldn't you think that your child would need to adapt early to the concept of being told when, where, and what to do? A professor, a career or a boss probably won't support the Montessori method. It is one thing when the kids are before the age of five and the parents pay to play, so to speak, but any later, I think you are letting the inmates run the asylum.
Good luck parents, (you are going to need it.)
P.S. Also, if we are supporting a Montessori Program why not a Hindu school, or a Jewish school? Why don't we offer a military program or one of any countless special interest groups who would love to train their children a different way, all at the taxpayer expense?