I love this, in that sick-to-my-stomach kind of feeling I get when capitalism's seamy underbelly is gloriously brought into the light of day.

just as a side-note, not all montessori schools are private. In Tacoma, WA, we have at least one public one, Bryant Montessori. So, conceivably, they *could* be made available for every child, just not from the folks making the ironic statement.

Just curious, anyone know if that school offers scholarships or reduced tuition based on income? Some private schools do, which is why I have to wonder. And are there any government grant programs in Canada for schooling? I'm not saying that would open it up to "every" child, of course, but it would be a bit fairer.

And when they say "every child", I don't even assume that they mean "every child" as in all the children in the area, let alone the world. That would be physically difficult. I think the message they're trying to send is that they care for every child *in their school*, i.e. they don't play favorites like some schools do with their honors programs. (I've seen first hand schools segregated by the honors programs and they were like two different schools -- and yes, VERY racially segregated, despite all the talk of being "magnet" schools that would help them desegregate.)

Not all students at private schools have rich/elite parents -- at least not what most people in the U.S. would call "rich". I've known several people that went to various small private schools in the area and they definitely weren't rich. Two were probably subsidized by their churches, and one had a parent that worked there and so probably got tuition waved. Also, some parents do take out loans for that sort of thing, for better or worse.

Of course, I do think there is a problem with a public school system that gives schools in rich areas money for bleeding edge tech and gym equipment while some schools in poorer areas don't even have money for toilet paper let alone new textbooks (and then people wonder why kids in poorer schools feel so hopeless). But I think the problem lies more with the public school system as a whole and how it's set up and that private schools are more a reaction than a cause. So, I don't blame parents for spending the money when they have it to send their kids to what they believe are better schools.

I think what they're getting at with "every child" is that the Montessori method is unusually well-suited to educating students across a wide range of ability levels within the same classroom.

As SereniT03 noted above, it is more and more common for public school systems to include Montessori programs -- Washington, DC, has a half-dozen across the city, most in less-affluent neighborhoods.

Montessori also isn't strictly K-12; it's better known for early childhood education.

For working parents whose kids who are too young for public school, Montessori is not a bad deal; in the metro Washington, D.C., area, a Montessori program for 18-month-olds can actually be less expensive than many day care centers.

Irony? Capitalism's seedy underbelly? I admire the mission of using the sociological imagination to question culture, but this blog suffers from a toxic amount of resentment (envy?). At least most of the other commenters seem to understand the meaning of this ad.

The fact that the ad is on a bus bench, and the background doesn't appear entirely ritzy indicates to me that they aren't aiming for such an elitist message as the post suggests. I'm really curious where this Montessori school is located. As I understand it, Montessori can be more about a set of teaching principals than a packaged franchise-type thing.

Just to make things specific.

According to the phone number, this ad comes from the Montessori School of Sudbury. Their tuition information is on this page:

http://www.sudburymontessori.ca/tuition.html

That would seem to put a full year's schooling (assuming they don't have a summer trimester) at between C$5k and C$7k a year for a full day student.

Cheaper than suggested in the original post, but still a little pricey. No mention is made on the webpage about financial aid.

However, as a financially aided private school kid myself (pre-K through high school, and a private university after), I fully agree with many of the other commenters here. "Every child" isn't exactly about capitalism's "seedy underbelly."

As for questions about the school's location, you can see it on Google Streetview:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=295+Victoria+Street,+Sudbury,+ON&hnear=295+Victoria+St,+Sudbury,+Greater+Sudbury+Division,+Ontario,+Canada&ll=46.489219,-81.006789&spn=0.008229,0.022724&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=46.489219,-81.00666&panoid=PRauSztEkAFFEy1O-hiOoQ&cbp=12,159.56,,0,18.87

(Hope that link works.)

Most of the evil capitalists I know support school voucher programs that would give all people more options about where to send their children to school.

hmmm, I don't know about that... they charge money because they have to pay for the services they provide... conversely you don't see public schools advertising anything like "it's free!". And when they say "Every child", I read it like any child can have his or her potential developed, how much money the parents have and whether or not they can afford to pay for this particular school is a different story altogether, and it is not part of what the child is. I disagree that there is anything noteworthy about this ad.

Montessori is not necessarily private! I attended three separate public Montessori schools from pre-k through 8th grade. They provided a wonderful learning environment, competitive with the pricey private schools in our area, and the curriculum could be tailored to EVERY CHILD in the school with a lot of personal attention so, for example, my special needs brother didn't have to enroll in a private program and could stay at the same level and social environment as his peers.

I think my father did something right by putting me in a private school for my early years. I know not every parent can afford the education but every parent has the opportunity to do what they can for their children by way of experiencing a good education. Even if it means spending the little time they have with them to enforce rules, good study habits, and to encourage their children.

Granted, I never get to see my father, because he works so hard but he never let me forget the importance of an education and I truly appreciate that.

I think people should also remember that a good school is only good if the children, parents, teachers, and administration are all working together.

Labeling Montessori as "an alternative pedagogy" is rather loaded, no? (Can anybody articulate what the dominant pedagogy is, either in Canada or the US?) Montessori is a well-defined approach to education with more than a century of proven results. It works well for many but is certainly not for everyone.

Montessori schools often emphasize social justice – even in toddler and pre-K settings – so to me the slogan on the bench reads more like an aspiration than as an ignorantly elitist taunt.

This is why, as a liberal, I support school vouchers.

I went to a Montessori school, it was public. Montessori schools are, as previous commenters have mentioned, not always private and in some countries they are pretty much always public schools. The slogan is awkward but it does describe what Montessori education provides for children. I have severe dyscalculia and I would probably have fallen far behind in regular primary school education. Montessori schooling actually helped me to focus more on my strengths instead of marking me as inferior because of my weaknesses.

I saw a NUMBER of public Montessori schools in a Communist district of Kolkata! I went to a private one in the US, and it was such a great thing to see.

There are plenty of schools that use the Montessori name, but very few that are actually accredited as such by the Montessori organizations.

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/30/local/me-montessori30

So I'm sure there's plenty of variation - the range may run from public schools that have incorporated Montessori practices, to private schools that charge exorbitant tuition fees.

Talking about Montessori schools is in no way talking about one particular organization.

As I said in the original post, I do like the Montessouri schools teaching methods... and I wish I could afford to enroll my children, but, unfortunately, as a grad student I hardly have that kind of money. I find it depressing to drive by two of these benches every day, especially because my oldest is quite intelligent, but struggles with certain aspects of the public school system.

This particular school, which I believe was linked above by a previous commenter, is in a very poor part of the city. I used to live just down the street, and would often see parents in nice cars pulling up to the gated schoolyard to drop off their children.

The Montessori philosophy was actually designed as a way of teaching street urchins important skills that they weren't missing because of their absent caregivers. At its core, it is particularly beneficial for children from unstable or impoverished environments. It is ironic that now it is (mostly) presented as a philosophy for students whose parents can afford or finagle them into private schools. That parents are not afforded more options like this in their children's public education is a sad commentary on our educational system.

As a teacher in a private Montessori-esque school, I can assure you that we wish we could reach more students than we do.

Yay vouchers! Let all children have the opportunity to attend any school!

I'm confused by this sentence:

"In Ontario, Ms. Marx reports, tuition is $7,000 per year; in Toronto, tuition is 10,300 for kindergartners and $19,895 for juniors and seniors in high school."

Toronto is a city in Ontario, so I'm not really understanding where the $7000 for tuition "in Ontario" is coming from.

I'm a teacher at a Montessori pre-school. Montessori philosophy is based on social justice and was developed with disadvantaged kids in an Italian slum. There are lot of private Montessori schools around, but there are so many great public models that it's a shame to pigeon-hole this social justice and peace based philosophy because some schools decide it's better to have the most expensive materials and be pricey than to be open to all. Milwaukee, Wisconsin has some amazing public Montessori schools open to all district students, they are part of the k-8 school district. The waiting lists are so long that the number of schools needed to accommodate demand continues to grow.

Now I'm curious how many of us regular commenters attended Montessori schools at some point in our lives!