Back to School
Breaking Down the Approach to School
Fall is a season of change. It’s the time of year when we watch the trees change color. When students across the nation are adjusting to new routines and getting to know their new teachers. It’s the start of the school year, and time to lean into learning. But has the modern approach to school elevated all learning styles? In the spirit of the back-to-school mindset, class is now in session.
Passing down knowledge to children is as old as humanity itself. Coming together in groups to learn skills was the first step toward schools as we know them today. In the United States, we have been sending our kids off to school for centuries. Early classrooms used a much different approach than today’s modern, standardized system. The definition of a classroom is not a concrete, across-the-board, definition. To get a better understanding of the past and future of learning, I’d like to introduce you to two educational movers and shakers, Horace Mann and Maria Montessori.
THE FATHER OF MODERN EDUCATION
Horace Mann once said that you cannot be free and ignorant at the same time. The year was 1837 when he took the education system into his own hands in an effort to offer new opportunities for growth. His biggest claim to fame is how he redefined and modernized the approach to education: he stood for free schooling for all using a non-religious approach.
THE LEADER OF OPEN EDUCATION
Maria Montessori is the creator of the Montessori approach, based on self-directed activity, hands-on learning and collaborative play. It creates a less strict learning environment that doesn’t have a rigid schedule. Today there are many Montessori schools around the world. They offer different start times and end times for children who are night owls and those who are early birds.
THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Once we look at the two approaches, you might be asking, where did it all go wrong? Is one better than the other? Horace Mann, the believer of free education, invented the most modern approach to the education of children about 184 years ago, which could hardly be called “modern” today. Then we have Maria Montessori, the creator of a holistic, hands-on approach to educating children. While public education is not fully free to all, Montessori schooling is much more expensive. The cost of materials and hiring professionals is much bigger than Horace Mann’s public system.
The overall question we are facing is accessibility. We have been shown throughout history that children learn at different paces. That means it would be beneficial for children to have more diverse opportunities to learn. Most of the arguments against the current education system are about the lack of diverse learning opportunities for children and the outdated approach to learning. Each of these two approaches, Mann’s and Montessori’s, could take a page out of the other’s textbook. Neither has been statistically proven to be better academically than the other. That being said, one has proven to be more nurturing yet inaccessible to low income populations. The other is often the only option for low-income individuals even if it excludes diverse learning styles. Despite the intentions they may have, public school educators are often overworked and underfunded.
When we settled in our seats and looked around at our classmates and the classroom, we were never given the chance to ask ourselves, “Is this learning experience fully serving me?” Educational innovators like Horace Mann and Maria Montessori present an opportunity to future educators to grow and adapt. It’s our job to make sure all children are benefiting from their learning experiences. No two humans are exactly the same, and it might benefit the school system to make room in their backpacks for a few more of us. As fall shows us every year, it’s time for change.
