Page 4 - TMS Observations Magazine ~ 2018 (Flip Book)

Horses & Zebras

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community,

and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can…

—George Bernard Shaw, 1903

arly on in nursing school, we learned about horses and ze- Dr. Montessori never really saw her life’s endeavor as for-
Ebras. mulating a method of education, but rather as a social move-
Horses are the run-of-the-mill conditions that you can ex- ment designed to improve the lives of children.
pect are going to arise given a certain set of conditions. Zebras The values we hold as an authentic Montessori school take
are rarer and represent conditions that are outliers but must root in our children from the youngest age and absolutely af-
always be part of your differential diagnosis. The trick is not to fect the way they see the world and their place in it. Montessori
be so obsessed with finding the zebra that you miss the horse children grow into Montessori adults and they carry the belief
along the way. that (even in a world that does not always exhibit these values)
Montessori schools are often accused of being pie-in-the- these qualities are normal—common. Horses. The truth is, in
sky. How will children do when they get out in the real world, my experience (which now includes what some call the real
people wonder. The real world. world) these ways of approaching life are more prevalent than
These days, I spend time caring for children including those the skeptics would admit. But they have to be in your sphere of
in marginalized populations: refugees who’ve fled unspeakable experience in order to recognize them.
violence, immigrants unsure of deportation, children who live I know my years at The Montessori School had a profound
in generations-old cycles of poverty. To these clinical encoun- effect on my choice for what would come next in my life. What
ters, I bring my years of Montessori values: I couldn’t have imagined is the degree to which their lessons
emboldened me to find, encourage, and fight for those things
• Respect for the child. for others.
• Individual endeavor in the context of benefit to the greater A Montessori education, whether we are young or old,
whole.
never stops unfolding or informing.
• Advocacy and leadership.
—Dana Eisenberg
• Intellectual curiosity.
Former Assistant Head of School, Director of Admissions,
• Compassion in the face of differences.
Director of Development, and French Specialist

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