Unleashing Potential or Measuring Up?

Some schools measure success by test scores,

Montessori schools empower people to set their own measures.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Steve Jobs

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."  Maria Montessori

“We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned so as to accept the life that is waiting for us.”    Joseph Campbell

The Human Potential

Albert Einstein said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting to get different results.
Take education.
Despite significant changes in cultural and global needs, traditional school models and outcomes have remained pretty standard over the years. What do you think the world would be like if schools valued creativity, innovation, dedication and flexibility over single dimensional test scores?
Sir Ken Robinson (a featured speaker at two upcoming Chicago conferences; ISACS in November and AMS in March) challenges us to explore new educational paradigms. Maria Montessori's educational philosophy (while over 100 years old) is a wonderful model of an educational environment designed to unleash the potential within each child.
If you have a few minutes, watch this RSA Animation of Sir Ken Robinson's lecture.
I can't help but think that Montessori schools are part of this new paradigm of learning. How about you?

It's here! October 1! Drum roll, please!

Here it is October 1 and I can say with 100% certainty that my plea to get 500 "likes" for Maria Montessori on the Voices for Education site was a dismal failure.
On the plus side the "likes" did increase by 6.
6 hits, instead of 491 hits.
Good thing I don't gamble!
(If you are reading this and you are not one of the 15 people-give it a click!)