Chapter 3 -Don't Be Evil: How Google Built its Culture Q1

[Alauna Thornton]

1. The author described Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, as “Montessori kids” who challenged authority and he argues that their Montessori background influenced Google’s culture. What is the Montessori style of education and how can it influence success in schools and other settings?

[Beverly Pell]

Montessori style teaching is student-focused, purposeful, and experiential, where teachers assist students to facilitate learning. Students are encouraged to teach themselves, whatever they desire ,while teachers recognize the enthusiasm a child has for a subject and guide and direct the child's activities. This teaching is attuned to the “whole” child (mental, social, and emotional), drawing on the values of respect, freedom, responsibility, and joy.

The fact that both Page and Brin were Montessori kids is an extraordinary and fantastical coincidence; but I think it explains Google’s success. Children in Montessori style environments have a sense of control over what they do. Because they have the freedom to learn the way they naturally process information, children can become experts at anything. Brin and Page are experts. They are like-minded, driven individuals, with core values of excellence, joy, and responsibility. They are fully self-aware and empathetic toward their followers/users. They are incredible individuals who were heavily influenced by their learning experiences.

Not all children do well in a Montessori school environment. Many children (perhaps the majority) want a teacher-directed (not student-directed) learning model for their schooling. This is how traditional education has flourished over the last century. Our present schooling system does not cater to “Outliers” as, I believe, Malcolm Gladwell would call Brin and Page. There are strengths of the Montessori style that I think should be adopted into the American education system, but integrating those strengths with traditional methods would be best.

 Retrieved from http://www.montessoritraining.net/what_is_montessori/overview.htm

[Alauna Thornton]

Excellent overview of the Montessori style of teaching!  You mentioned that many student wants a teacher-directed learning model, I wonder if that is because that is what they are use to or have been trained to believe this is how we learn?  When I think of teacher directed I think that the teaching is teacher centered not student centered.  I certainly enjoy a good lecture and have trained myself to figure out a way to learn the content but as a secondary student, I was not very good at it.  I spent a lot of time daydreaming.  What I remember are the things I did and created that were student centered.  I wonder how many outliers are in public education that get bored, disgruntled, misguided and are not taught to be self-directed?