Hot take - I agree with almost all of your opinions
Public school really is set up for only a small subset of specific people to succeed.
Extrinsic/intrinsic motivations are incredibly interesting and difficult to understand, and I think an important aspect of learning is being able to characterize our own motivations. This is something I find hard to do sometimes, especially now that I’m realizing that extrinsic motivations that “worked” for me as a kid (grades at school for example) might subtly inform some of my misplaced “intrinsic” motivations as an adult. Nothing that bad overall, but definitely interesting to think about
And thinking about education in a less structured way, and more from a design perspective has been interesting - like how do we design and cultivate environments that help foster resilience/genuine curiosity/being okay with failure and trying hard things like you said.
But that being said I also struggle with where some forced structure/discipline might fit in here - there are some things my parents made me do that I hated as a kid, but now I’m incredibly thankful for them (learning Marathi/hindi for example)
I also think having as much human interaction as possible, with different groups of people of all ages in different settings is something I would want for myself and future children - that goes back to the importance of curating the environment we’re all in - especially in this hyper tech focused world we’re all in.
And definitely agree that children are smarter than we give them credit for, and respond shockingly well to logic and reason, which is awesome.
All that being said I’m obviously no expert and have very little experience with kids but for some reason have always been fascinated by this topic so thank you for this post!!! hope it’s okay that I turned the comment section into a discussion thread lol - I should’ve done my homework (read your posts) before hanging out with you this past weekend!
Hmm interesting, how do you think things like grades affect your "intrinsic" motivations as an adult? Asking bc it's an area I've also observed in myself during this time off.
Yea, I definitely recognize the conflict around forced structure/discipline vs allowing kids to do what they want. Don't think I have a clear answer there yet tbh, beyond just that it's best to invest coercion, not spend it (from https://x.com/diviacaroline/status/1206332185541611520). I do think that there are many times where parents make kids do something really for their own benefit while justifying it is for the kid's – I think that can be perfectly OK (like making kids go to bed early or something so you can get time to yourself) but it's important to be aware of when you are using that justification & if it's the right decision, especially for more important things.
Completely agree on the human interaction bit, tbh my favorite part of Montessori as a philosophy is the mixed-age classrooms. Based on the theories I've read about how children develop socially/culturally, IMO there are a ton of benefits to getting to experience the spectrum of being the youngest in a group to becoming the oldest and being a mentor/tutor, even if it's just over a 3 year age band (which is what Montessori does).
And haha no worries at all, really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!!
Hot take - I agree with almost all of your opinions
Public school really is set up for only a small subset of specific people to succeed.
Extrinsic/intrinsic motivations are incredibly interesting and difficult to understand, and I think an important aspect of learning is being able to characterize our own motivations. This is something I find hard to do sometimes, especially now that I’m realizing that extrinsic motivations that “worked” for me as a kid (grades at school for example) might subtly inform some of my misplaced “intrinsic” motivations as an adult. Nothing that bad overall, but definitely interesting to think about
And thinking about education in a less structured way, and more from a design perspective has been interesting - like how do we design and cultivate environments that help foster resilience/genuine curiosity/being okay with failure and trying hard things like you said.
But that being said I also struggle with where some forced structure/discipline might fit in here - there are some things my parents made me do that I hated as a kid, but now I’m incredibly thankful for them (learning Marathi/hindi for example)
I also think having as much human interaction as possible, with different groups of people of all ages in different settings is something I would want for myself and future children - that goes back to the importance of curating the environment we’re all in - especially in this hyper tech focused world we’re all in.
And definitely agree that children are smarter than we give them credit for, and respond shockingly well to logic and reason, which is awesome.
All that being said I’m obviously no expert and have very little experience with kids but for some reason have always been fascinated by this topic so thank you for this post!!! hope it’s okay that I turned the comment section into a discussion thread lol - I should’ve done my homework (read your posts) before hanging out with you this past weekend!
Hmm interesting, how do you think things like grades affect your "intrinsic" motivations as an adult? Asking bc it's an area I've also observed in myself during this time off.
Yea, I definitely recognize the conflict around forced structure/discipline vs allowing kids to do what they want. Don't think I have a clear answer there yet tbh, beyond just that it's best to invest coercion, not spend it (from https://x.com/diviacaroline/status/1206332185541611520). I do think that there are many times where parents make kids do something really for their own benefit while justifying it is for the kid's – I think that can be perfectly OK (like making kids go to bed early or something so you can get time to yourself) but it's important to be aware of when you are using that justification & if it's the right decision, especially for more important things.
Completely agree on the human interaction bit, tbh my favorite part of Montessori as a philosophy is the mixed-age classrooms. Based on the theories I've read about how children develop socially/culturally, IMO there are a ton of benefits to getting to experience the spectrum of being the youngest in a group to becoming the oldest and being a mentor/tutor, even if it's just over a 3 year age band (which is what Montessori does).
And haha no worries at all, really appreciate you sharing your thoughts!!