Montessori in the blogosphere

one more from Steve Denning...

in the plex

"...both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids....It's really ingrained in their personalities."

This is a powerful, profound statement -- and it is NOT about Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It is about the big picture impact of Montessori education. It is CAUSAL, not casual.

Montessori education shapes the learner. This is not about skills or information or test scores. It is about the formation of personal traits: the way we learn shapes us.

"This is really baked in to the way Larry and Sergey approach problems." BAKED IN.

"They're always asking, 'Why should it be like that?' It's the way their brains were programmed early on." THE WAY THEIR BRAINS WERE PROGRAMMED.

The way we learn shapes who we become.

Recently we interviewed parents of older children at our school. Some complained that they were tired of hearing my message about the significance of Montessori methodolgy. What they want to hear about is evidence of their own children's progress.

An interesting dilemma. How do we help them see our progress engraining personality traits?

Baked In

“You can’t understand Google,” vice president Marissa Mayer says, “unless you know that both Larry and Sergey were Montessori kids.” She’s referring to schools based on the educational philosophy of Maria Montessori, an Italian physician born in 1870 who believed that children should be allowed the freedom to pursue their interests. “In a Montessori school, you go paint because you have something to express or you just want to do it that afternoon, not because the teacher said so,” she says. “This is baked into how Larry and Sergey approach problems. They’re always asking, why should it be like that? It’s the way their brains were programmed early on.”

But the dominant flavor in the dish is his boundless ambition, both to excel individually and to improve the conditions of the planet at large.

From “Larry Page Wants to Return Google to its Start-up Roots”