Children learn at own pace at Montessori

Children learn at own pace at Montessori

By Rudy Madanir

JAKARTA (JP): It was half an hour before noon. Dozens of
luxury cars, each with a name-card posted on their windshield,
lined up at a school gate in Kemang, South Jakarta.

A car with a famous Italian name on its windscreen took its
turn to stop at the gate. Its left back door opened, ready to
receive a beautiful child, handed over by a teacher to a
babysitter inside. As soon as it had received its precious cargo,
the car sped away.

The other cars did the same. There were 80 of them in all, one
for each student in the school.

That is how students leave the Srikandi Montessori school.
Their departures are carefully arranged to avoid traffic
conflicts with other motorists.

"It is also part of the school's program to teach orderliness
and discipline to the children," said Gloria Kalff, the school
principal.

The children, almost all of whom come from high society, are
between two and a little over five years old. They are just among
a few fortunate children in Jakarta who are growing up in a
Montessori way.

They stay from 8 a.m. to 11.40 a.m. daily at the school which
they call "another home". The teachers prefer to call it "a
prepared environment".

The Srikandi Montessori school is attended by students of 22
nationalities, including 20 Indonesians. It is the oldest
international school in Jakarta and the only one recognized by
the Ministry of Education and Culture.

It follows the method created by Dr. Maria Montessori, who
formulated an education method for early-aged children that has
been practiced for years all over the world.

Dr. Montessori emphasized that the goal of early childhood
education should not be to cram children with facts from a pre-
selected course of studies, but rather to cultivate their own
natural desire to learn.

She proved that a young child can learn to read, write and
calculate in the same natural way that he learns to walk and
talk.

Kalff, who established the school in 1982, denied that the
school is expensive and just for the elite few.

The school tuition fee per student is about the same as other
international schools in Jakarta, which may range from US$3,000
to $5,000 per year, she argues.

Kalff admitted that a high tuition fee does not necessarily
correspond with the best education.

"At the current tuition level, 70 percent of our money is used
to pay the teachers' salaries," she explained.

All of the teachers, who are mostly foreigners, must meet
special qualifications set by the school. They must also have
completed training on the Montessori method, she said.

"They deserve a salary that is consummate with their high
qualifications," she said.

Classroom

Although the starting age varies per individual school,
children can be admitted into a Montessori classroom between the
ages of two-and-a-half and four depending on whether they can be
happy and comfortable in a classroom situation.

"Most of them cry on their first day but after a little while
they to love the school," said Vilma Salarda, a Filipino teacher
at Montessori school.

The absence of a teacher's desk in the classroom is
intentional. This is because, according to the Montessori
tradition, the stimulation for learning comes from the overall
classroom environment.

The tables and chairs are movable, allowing a flexible
arrangement for many activities. Educational materials enable
children to learn when they are interested and ready.

The classrooms are neither a baby sitting service nor a
playground. Instead, they usually give the child an excellent
preparation for traditional kindergarten classes, said Kalff.

"Babysitters are not allowed here. All children are directly
handled by the teachers," said Kalff. He added that the school
always maintains an ideal ratio between the teachers and the
students.

The children are grouped based on improvement in ability.
Unlike other schools, there is no level or grade division. The
students' ability is identified with colors such as yellow, red,
and pink or animal names such as the elephant, monkey or
crocodile.

"This system is also good for the parents, who worry when
their children are grouped in the same class with younger
students," she said.

Kalff added that the grouping system is not a rigid one since
it also serves to simplify the administration procedures.

"The most important thing is that every child is treated
individually," she said.

Materials

Children usually retain the ability to learn by absorption
until they are almost seven years old. For this reason, the
administration feels that the children's experience is enriched
in a classroom where they can handle materials which demonstrate
basic educational information.

"The learning process is approached in two ways. First, by
allowing each child to experience the excitement of learning by
choice rather than by being forced," Kalff said.

"Second, it is by helping the child to perfect all his natural
tools for learning," she added.

The Montessori learning materials carry this dual, long-range
purpose, in addition to the immediate concern of providing
specific information to the child.

The use of materials is based on the child's unique aptitude
for learning, which Dr. Montessori identified as the "absorbent
mind".

The materials can be divided into three main groups: The
practical life exercises, which are the beginning activities for
three and four years old children, the censorial materials, which
can be used by all ages in the class, and the academic materials,
which are in store and ready for use if a child expresses
interest in reading, arithmetic, or geography.

A censorial exercise called the Pink Tower, for example, is
aimed to teach a child how to make three-dimensional
measurements. This is a series of ten pink cubes whose sizes vary
from one to ten centimeters. All the blocks are of the same
color, shape and texture.

To perform the exercise, a child must recognize the gradation
in size and build the tower starting with the largest cube and
finally placing the smallest cube on top.

"The exercise is self-correcting because a block placed in an
improper order will be immediately noticeable and may cause the
tower to topple," said Kalff.

Parents may wonder why the school introduces grammar,
geography and math to children that young.

This is because, according to the Montessori method, at this
age youngsters can joyfully absorb many difficult concepts if
presented in concrete form. The common stumbling blocks of the
middle elementary grades can be exciting if they are presented to
youngsters at an earlier age when they enjoy manipulating
materials.

"The construction of children's characters during their
childhood is determined by what they find in their surroundings.
If the materials are poor, the construction is also poor," wrote
Dr. Montessori.

Unique

The materials at the Montessori schools might have already
been used at other schools. Does it mean that the Srikandi
Montessori school is no longer unique since the materials are not
exclusively owned by the school?

"They may have the materials. The question is, do they have
the teachers who have been specially trained to use the materials
with the proper Montessori method?" asked Miranda, another
Filipino teacher in the school.

Kalff admitted that many schools, which are actually simply
traditional schools, claim that they practice the Montessori
method.

"That's why I always suggest that parents have a thorough
observation of our method before enrolling their children in our
school," she said.

Although the materials are similar, not any two Montessori
classrooms are exactly alike, she added.

Each classroom reflects the individual characteristics of the
teachers and children. Some teachers, she said, only use the
materials or mix them with local area situations.

"We, the teachers, also have to follow the latest development
in the Montessori method, using the newest and most modern
materials," said Miranda.

Kalff also said that a school practicing an original
Montessori method allows the students to do anything they want
to, turning the classrooms into a play area.

"This school cannot do that because most of the students are
foreigners and may move to other places where there are no
Montessori schools," she said.

It will make it difficult for them to adapt to the traditional
schools, she explained.

"But it does not mean that we lack discipline," said Miranda.

Like other school children, for example, they have to line up
wash their hands before eating.

There are some parents who sought out the school specifically
because of the Montessori method, while others chose it because
it provided a fertile learning environment for their children.

"I don't think the school practices the original Montessori
method. Frankly, I don't care whether it is Montessori or not.
What I care about is that the school accommodates social and
intellectual development of early age children," said Olivia
Jacob, whose son Jonathan is four.

Sonal Nair, whose son has been with the school for a year and
a half, said she was not specifically looking for a Montessori
school to enroll her son, then two-and-a-half years old.

"I wanted to have a school where my son, who is overactive,
could channel his energy into a creative and constructive work. I
think the school was the right place for him," she said.

"The thing that I like is that the teachers don't push the
children to learn something, but until they are ready," she
added.