The Issue at Hand

It is a sad day when our country, constantly boasting about being a world superpower and being a "true democracy" (it's not a democracy by the way; it's a democratic republic), is faced with a generation of students who have a lower chance of graduating high school than their parents. While of course there are obvious causes of this, such as a lack of school funding and a shortage of teachers, it's plausible that it may be the education system itself that is flawed. Already parents have the choice of sending their children to private "alternative" school if they're rich enough. One of the most well-known of these alternatives is the Montessori method, which has mainly pre-school and kindergarten students participating in self-directed lessons while adults evaluate their progress and growth. Even without any background information, the differences between the traditionally teacher-directed public system is obvious.

However is the cost of sending a child to a Montessori school, which can cost more than $800 a month, really worth it? Despite all of the praise that is given to the Montessori method, is there really a significant difference in the quality of education between private Montessori schools, which are not legally obligated to hold up to any "Montessori standard" and the run-of-the-mill public schools? And finally, would it be beneficial to the education of United States citizens as a whole to incorporate Montessori teaching in public schools or perhaps even adapt it as a widespread alternative to the traditional methods of rote learning? Ultimately, these are the questions I hope to be able to answer in my paper.