Did Montesorri schools give the children who attended/attend them an unfair advantage?

[sandyRoe]

To be fair shouldn't all education be the same? Then, like the kids who use the sports grounds of Eton, they'd all be on a level playing field.

[Dee Sa]

I have always told younger members of our family and my neighbours that if you can afford send thm to a Montesoori school from a young age, to do so , as they get a better grounding which lasts them for life. I wish I had sent mine but unfortunately I did not know at the time, the teachers I know of and graduates usually send their children there too.

[naomi24]

If ‘fair’ means some sort of dour, grey, equality that is applied to all and results in pandering only to the ‘average’, then no. Life isn’t fair and it never will be because people don't come in 'one size fits all. That’s life. There can never be a level playing field. Most parents do the best they can for their children - and good for them.

[emmie]

that is the problem SR, some pundits would like all education the same, they have tried Secondary Modern, but it doesn't seem to work well. I am all for sending your children to the best schools possible. Until whichever government can make it work, to have the best schools for all, we are stuck with the system that now operates. Whilst we are there, not all pupils have the same ability, the same outlook, and the same backgrounds. Even those from wealthy families can be dunderheads.

[sandyRoe]

I'm a champagne socialist. I don't say posh schools should be reduced to 'bog standard' level but rather that a child should get as good an education at one school as at any other.

[emmie]

agreed, find the money to do it, add in proper discipline, no interference from the powerful teaching unions, and you might find a more level playing
field.

[emmie]

many seem to think all being equal is being right, it isn't, you have to earn your place in school, work, society, it shouldn't ever be given to you on a plate. Must go now, have a good day

[Duncer]

I have fond memories of great p1ss-ups with a group of teachers from the Montesorri school in Al Ain UAE many years ago. Boy could they drink?

[naomi24]

//a child should get as good an education at one school as at any other. //

They should but they don't because varying factors apply - not least cultural background, class sizes, and attitudes to discipline. I'm willing to bet that the parents of a child reprimanded in a public school wouldn't dream of going to punch the head teacher on the nose for doing it.

[Dee Sa]

Duncer did u live in Al Ain,Abu Dhabi, Dubai or Sharjah in the 80s ? we lived in Sharjah when the infamous Nell Gwynn pub was alive and doing well.

[nannybooby]

yes Montesoori schools do give children a good grounding and if you can send your child then its great to do so,my daughter went to independant school untill she was 11 and it was the best money everspent.No apology from me for sending her there I was doing the best I could for my child.

[commoner]

Was it George Orwell who said, or something like it, that "all men are born equal, but some are more equal than others."

Forget the actual words but that seems like fair assessment of society in general.....

[sandyRoe]

I'd like to see the day when parents, considering the education of their children, would give as much thought to a place in a revamped Dotheboys Hall as they might to Westminster School or St Pauls.

[commoner]

That would be lovely sandy but it won't happen, not ever...as the saying goes.."That'll be the day!"

[woofgang]

Sandy lets take your idea a step further. Lets ban parents from reading with their children, playing games that will help them develop and feeding them healthy food.

[emmie]

as to Dotheboys Hall, that was based on real schools, but we don't have those now, unless you know something i don't.

[emmie]

this one size fits all mentality has got us to where we are now, sad isn't it.

[sandyRoe]

If there had been an equivalent of OFSTED in Dicken's time it could have turned Dotheboys Hall around and made it as good as any in the land.

[emmie]

doubt it, those schools, and i use that term very loosely, were places to dump your illegitimate, or unwanted offspring, very little teaching, lots of hard work, but not necessarily in the classroom. You don't have to read Dickens to get the idea.

[Duncer]

Dee Sa - I was in Al Ain from 1990 to 1993 and visited Sharjah many times to see a friend called Keith Wilson who lived not far from Crazy Road. We used to frequent the Blue Goldfish or the Sharjah Wanderers rugby club.