As my 3 year old daughter, Emerson, has grown and excelled in
her Montessori school, I’ve thought more and more about what my
hopes are for her future education and what I believe an
education should provide. There’s a great deal of talk these
days about standards in education. I believe that it’s time for
a new type of standards. I’ve attempted to put together a set of
10 belief statements that highlight the positive perspective of
Emerson’s education and my own learning experiences. I didn’t
set out to write statements that are exclusive to Montessori,
but rather aspirational for the schools that I hope will help
Emerson become the best possible version of herself. I believe
children deserve a PERSONALIZED and PURPOSEFUL education. They
should be free to do INDEPENDENT, SELF-DIRECTED and FASCINATION-
DRIVEN work. The classroom should be an ENVIRONMENT OF BEAUTY
that allows for FREE MOVEMENT and COLLABORATION. A commitment to
EXPERIMENTATION and DISCOVERY during childhood will create a
foundation for lifelong