Confusion has always existed between the Montessori and the kindergarten styles of learning. Despite both being different parents often find themselves facing a dilemma when choosing between the two for their toddler for many years. Parents have a reason to be concerned because it’s a question of the child’s future. That is precisely why we decided to explain the two styles or methods of learning and education to remove the concerns in your mind.
Most schools throughout the world are using the kindergarten method of education while the Montessori method of instruction is only used to educate. Therefore the kindergarten method can be considered as educative one the other is looking at the approach or the method to educate. The Montessori way education may not be present or used in the school while kindergarten is found in most schools as mentioned earlier.
Parents looking for a structured system of education for their child will find the kindergarten system where the rule of the teacher is predefined to adopt a similar technique of education for every student favorable for children attending primary school. On the other hand, the Montessori system uses an unstructured approach allowing every student to express himself or herself allowing the teacher to adapt to the style of the student when imparting education.
The infants need to be at least between the ages of 3 to 5 when primary education is considered safe to begin before he or she is given admission in a kindergarten school. The Montessori system is for children until the age of six years after which it is considered optional. Studies have proven that the Montessori approach is beneficial even for teenagers.
The teacher forms the crux in the kindergarten education system and is responsible to determine the methods of imparting education and teaching. There are authorized to decide what or how the students learn about topics or skills all at the same time. Teachers in the Montessori system on the other hand have a limited role in determining what the child should learn because they are not authorized to decide on this subject. They simply introduce a subject to the child to let the student explore the different possible outcomes of the particular topic or problem. Unlike the kindergarten system where teachers form the crux the the Montessori system allows children to form the crux to learn through their own experiences by just receiving guidance from their teachers.
The role of the parents and the teachers is similar in the kindergarten system of learning. The parents are required to adopt the methods of education imparted in the school even at home. The criteria for learning does not change when the child reaches home from school but the parents are required to adopt certain techniques. The Montessori style of learning limits the role of parents just like it has done to the teachers. Parents in this case are required to let the children explore and express their creativity attempting to learn from their experimentation even though they are not in school.
The Montessori set up allows children to set their own pace for learning and even taking up time to learn each particular skill. Therefore the pressure to perform does not exist in the Montessori set up of learning. The kindergarten model is entirely different because the child is expected to learn at a pace as other students in the class. Lacking in skills to pick up the education imparted classifies the student as falling behind in the education.
The value of self-esteem is advocated in the Montessori style of learning and understands that self-esteem can come from a feeling of self pride which the child could learn from their achievements. The kindergarten style is different because it believes that self-esteem can come from external assessment and judgment.
This discussion is not encourage or discourage parents from accepting one method of education over the other for their child. It is just an attempt to make parents understand what they can expect if they choose a particular version of education after considering the method used during imparting the education in both systems of learning.
