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phil
@phil
Welcome @matt! Matt Bateman is a philosopher & historian of education. He’s a cofounder of Guidepost Montessori, the world’s largest Montessori school network. He has agreed to do an AMA for the /books channel. Reply with your questions (please make sure to tag him so he can easily find them)
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jd 🌺
@jdlewin.eth
thanks for being here @matt! - would say Montessori is something kids can transition into after being in more traditional educational environments? what are the advantages / challenges - what's the state of Montessori generally, or Guidepost in particular, in western Europe, e g. France, Italy, and Spain
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Matt Bateman
@matt
1. Yes. If the classroom is very good, it’s very easy to have 2 or 3 non Montessori children come in every month or so. Children adapt to established social norms amongst other children *very* quickly. If the classroom isn’t good it’s harder but there are also other problems. Also children are so variable! Some “traditional” children are effectively Montessori kids anyway—I never saw there inside of a Montessori school until I was 32, I went to very traditional public schools in the US rural south, but I think I would have thrived in one as a child at any point, like a sudden enrollment in PK or late elementary or whatever. 2. We have one or two schools in Paris (can’t remember if second is open) We’ve been flirting with Spain for years but don’t think anything has happened yet
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Matt Bateman
@matt
For Montessori *generally* in Western Europe there is a great deal of it! Barcelona is a hub. Italy is surprisingly more complicated, because of the WWII history where she had to flee the country and her schools got banned. But it’s there. In France there is also quite a bit.
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Zenigame
@zeni.eth
Would love one in Okinawa. I've visited about 6 or 7 "Montessori" schools now, and only one of them (which was in a different prefecture and about to close) fit the image you describe. Everything else seemed average or worse...very much not Montessori. Anything I can do to persuade Guidepost to open one here?
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